In August, roughly 65 per cent of the black labour force on South Africa's gold and coal mines went on strike following a deadlock in the annual negotiations over pay and conditions with employers. It was a critical test of the strength of the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) which has been organising in the mining sector since 1983. Action to break the miners' strike took place in the context of attacks on several unions affiliated to the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU).
In previous disputes the NUM stopped short of calling out its entire membership. Some 340,000 miners participated in the August strike, 120,000 more than the NUM's paid-up membership of 220,000. Forty-seven coal and gold mines were affected, two-thirds of all the country's mines.
A combination of mass dismissals at some mines, increasing violence against miners by mine security forces attempting to force them back to work and hardline employer tactics, forced the NUM to call off the strike after three weeks without gaining concessions on its wage demands.
The strike highlighted an enduring problem faced by emerging unions, especially on the mines and in the services sector where many contract workers are employed. Even where unions hold legal strikes, employers can still dismiss strikers in terms of common law. During the strike some 75,000 miners were issued with dismissal notices giving them an ultimatum to return to work. More than half were issued following the miners' rejection, by ballot, of a Chamber of Mines offer to improve fringe benefits, but not wages, in the third and final week of the strike.
Nevertheless, the NUM made significant gains. It won some concessions on fringe benefits and leave. By returning to work before the employers had dismissed large numbers of strikers, the union retained much of its organised strength on the mines. It showed that it had the support of the majority of the mining workforce and sustained its action for longer than two to three days - the duration of previous strikes on the mines. It was the largest and longest mineworkers' strike.
The strike cost the mine employers an estimated R250 million in lost revenue from production, well in excess of what it would have cost to meet the NUM's wage demand. The mineworkers' wage loss was roughly half that amount.
The seven mining companies combined in the Chamber of Mines appeared to have used the strike to try to undermine the NUM before it consolidates its strength. The Chamber refused to concede on the NUM's principal demand for across-the-board wage increases, even when, in the closing stages of the strike, it reduced its claim from 30 to 27 per cent. The Chamber unilaterally imposed increases of between only 15 and 23 per cent. In previous strikes on the mines the NUM was able to win concessions because Anglo-American, where the union has most of its support, broke ranks with other employers and increased wages for its employees. In this dispute, however, the Chamber remained united.
## REPRESSION During the strike there was a high degree of repression, an enduring feature of industrial action on the mines, where workers are sealed off in hostels, isolated from the rest of the community and under the control of mine security forces.
At some mines the NUM tried to prevent violence to their members by bussing them back to their homes at the outset of the strike. At other mines, however, workers were reluctant to leave and thereby dissipate their strength.
By the third week of the strike, 320 miners had been injured in clashes with mine security guards and police and more than 300 were arrested or detained in spite of government claims that they would not interfere in a dispute between workers and their employers. The most serious incidents occurred at the Vaal Reefs, Western Deep Levels and President Steyn gold mines. At Vaal Reefs security guards tried to force workers down the shafts using sjamboks and clubs. At the President Steyn Gold Mine at least 44 miners were injured - some seriously. In one incident guards tried to force workers underground. In another, police randomly opened fire on miners waiting for buses and taxis. At Western Deep Levels miners were forced underground with teargas and rubber bullets. At the Braken Mine, over 2,000 miners staged a six-hour underground sit-in after being forced down the shafts with teargas and dogs. Similar sit-ins occurred at the Harmony and Kloof Gold Mines. Violent clashes between miners and mine security forces occurred on at least six other mines.
Over 300 strikers and union officials were arrested or detained during the strike. Seventy-eight NUM members were detained during a raid on a meeting in Klerksdorp, including the union's entire regional strike committee. They were charged with conspiracy to murder. Twenty-six strikers were arrested in Johannesburg on charges of trespass and another 23 at the Ergo plant, following a sit-in. Fifty NUM shaft stewards were also arrested at Westonaria.
## ATTACKS ON COSATU Action against the miners occurred against a background of continued repression of other unions affiliated to COSATU.
In the Pietermaritzburg region vigilantes linked to the Kwazulu bantustan authorities and its surrogate union movement UWUSA attacked COSATU unions, along with local community organisations affiliated to the United Democratic Front. Violence against anti-apartheid organisations has been a feature of the Natal region since UWUSA was founded in May 1985 to counter the influence of COSATU. More than 200 clashes took place between the opposing groups between January and October in which 89 people died and some 150 were injured in the Pietermaritzburg region, alone. Vigilante attacks also occurred in Northern Natal, a COSATU stronghold.
At the same time there were attacks on the premises of COSATU affiliates. Following the bombing of COSATU's head office in Johannesburg in May and acts of vandalism against regional offices of its affiliates several unions experienced difficulty in obtaining new premises. Landlords refused them space following government pressure. In late August COSATU's regional offices in Cape Town were the target of a second major bomb attack. This followed arson attacks on the Krugersdorp office of the National Union of Metalworkers of SA (NUMSA) in July. In early September there were arson attacks on the East London offices of the South African Allied Workers Union and of the UDF. In the second half of the year, offices of at least three COSATU affiliates were burgled and items removed.
