A month-long strike during July and August by some 4,000 Namibian mineworkers exposed the hazardous working conditions, low rates of pay and poor fringe benefits and housing conditions to which they were subjected. The striking miners were employed at three copper mines owned by the transnational-controlled Tsumeb Corporation Ltd (TCL).
It was one of the longest strikes on record in Namibia and a critical test of the strength of the Mineworkers Union of Namibia (MUN). An almost total strike, it showed overwhelming support for the union. Production at TCL was cut by half and the company lost approximately R8 million during the course of the dispute.
However, employers and the authorities appear to have selected the strike to try to break the emerging union movement in Namibia which has scored several victories since mid-1986. TCL pursued a hard-line policy of refusing to negotiate over substantive demands. The miners were dismissed en masse and the MUN's base at TCL mines was severely undermined.
During the strike, the authorities detained key leaders of the SWAPO-aligned National Union of Namibian Workers (NUNW), which includes the Mineworkers Union of Namibia (MUN) among its affiliates. Several strikers were also detained during the dispute.
The strikes took place at TCL's main site and smelter plant at Tsumeb and at its Kombat and Otjihase mines. Low wages and other grievances had earlier been the cause of a widely supported consumer boycott of white-owned shops by Tsumeb miners and residents of the local township, Nomtsoub. There were indications in the local press that businesses were being seriously affected. The mine management refused to concede on the issue of wages however, claiming that they were not 'financially in a position to meet the demands'.
In late July worker committees affiliated to the MUN at the three sites drew up a list of 15 demands which were presented to mine management. These included wage increases of between 120 and 150 per cent; paid leave; an end to the practice whereby miners had to buy their own safety equipment; provision for family living quarters; improvement in hostel conditions and abolition of racial segregation of mine facilities. They also called on TCL to demand that the South African Government agree to UN Resolution 435 in order to end the Namibian war and bring about independence for the territory. The majority of the workforce at the three mines were contract workers from the north of the country, the region most affected by the war.
Although TCL management agreed to negotiate with individual worker committees at the mines, officials of the MUN were barred from the meeting. Management said that 'negotiations to recognise the union had not been finalised'. Workers decided to strike when it became clear that TCL was not prepared to make concessions on the substantive issue of wages.
On 28 July an estimated 4,600 workers (mainly unskilled and semi-skilled contract workers) came out on strike - the biggest single stoppage in the country since the general strike by contract workers in 1971-2. It later extended to domestic workers employed in the homes of TCL personnel and to farms owned by the company. Workers at the Oranjemund mine owned by Consolidated Diamond Mines threatened sympathy action.
TCL management formally dismissed strikers who failed to observe an ultimatum to return to work. Almost all the workers failed to do so, occupying their hostels and refusing to be paid off. Although negotiations continued between TCL and the individual worker committees, the company refused to make concessions unless the strikers returned to work. It reiterated its opposition to any increase in wages. The MUN initially insisted that its members would not return to work without negotiations. It later modified its wage demands, dropping its ceiling for increased wages to between 34 and 65 per cent; it also stated that strikers would return to work if TCL would put in writing that no action would be taken against strikers and commit itself to a definite date for negotiations. TCL management, however, failed to respond positively to these offers.
There was a high level of police intervention in the strike. Truckloads of police were brought into Tsumeb and more Casspirs than usual were stationed at the local police station. In the first week of August, 16 workers were detained in police raids in Tsumeb and intensive police patrols in Nomtsoub were reported. There were regular police roadblocks in the region well into mid-August. At the end of August another four workers were detained for a week and later charged. The charges were not specified in the press.
TCL management followed its dismissal of the workforce by taking legal action to evict strikers from hostels on mine property. The union unsuccessfully appealed against a ruling of the Windhoek Supreme Court that TCL was acting legally in doing so.
In late August some 3,000 workers were bussed out of the mine premises and TCL began recruiting a new workforce. Although strikers were invited to re-apply for their jobs, the MUN alleged that union members were being 'systematically victimised' in the re-selection procedure. TCL used employees of 'the Labour Control Office, the Mine Captain and informers' to identify workers suspected of being MUN members. According to MUN estimates only one-third of those dismissed were re-employed: 'The majority had lost their jobs because they were suspected of belonging to the MUN'. Many who were re-employed were not appointed to the positions which they had held before dismissal. There were further allegations that TCL was recruiting workers from the bantustans of Caprivi and Kavango in preference to those from Ovambo, the traditional TCL recruiting area. Workers also alleged that TCL was weeding out employees approaching pensionable age and those who had been injured to avoid compensating them.
