Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union

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The Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (AMCU) (German: "Association of Miners and Construction Workers Union") is a South African miners' union. It was founded in 1998 in Mpumalanga Province and has been an official trade union since 2001. Its Chairman President is Joseph Mathunjwa , it has around 50,000 members and receives around 700,000 Rand monthly membership fees.

history

The AMCU split off as an independent association in 1998 from the National Union of Mineworkers . During the first years of foundation, it was mostly miners from the coal fields of the Highveld and from Mpumalanga who overflowed from the NUM to the AMCU. The head office is in Witbank ( Mpumalanga ). It is considered to be the more radical of the two unions and describes itself as "independent of the government and anti-communist". The AMCU is not a member of COSATU , the umbrella organization of South African trade unions, which maintains a so-called three-party alliance with the African National Congress and the South African Communist Party .

Miners strike 2012

A competition between the rival trade unions NUM and AMCU for collective wages led to a bitter and bloody labor dispute from the beginning of 2012 , especially in the mines of the so-called Bushveld complex around Rustenburg .

On August 22, 2012, the strike spread from the region around Rustenburg to other areas. For the first time, workers at a South African mining company (Rasimone mine, Royal Bafokeng Platinum ) were prevented from starting their work by supporters of the AMCU, while so far only foreign companies such as Impala Platinum and Lonmin were affected. The NUM, with its larger number of members, refuses to take part in the strikes and invokes the recently concluded collective agreements .

Miners strike 2014

In 2014, AMCU members went on strike from January to the end of June. The strike ended on June 23, 2014 with a 20 percent wage increase.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Emerging AMCU mine union favors competitive coexistence. Retrieved August 22, 2012 .
  2. ^ Registered Trade Unions in South Africa. Retrieved August 22, 2012 .
  3. ↑ Emerging AMCU mine union favors competitive coexistence. Retrieved August 22, 2012 .
  4. ^ Congress of the South African Trade Unions, Structure. (PDF; 17 kB) Retrieved on August 25, 2012 (English).
  5. ↑ Mining unrest in South Africa is escalating. Retrieved August 22, 2012 .
  6. ^ Month-long strike in South Africa's platinum mines ended. June 23, 2014, accessed June 24, 2014 .
  7. ↑ 20 percent more wages. Miners in South African platinum mines end strike. June 23, 2014, accessed June 24, 2014 .