Has South Africa Just Pushed The Restart Button For Mining?
Part of that decline is due to geology — with deposits here being deep and expensive. But there’s another big reason for South Africa’s mining issues: labor problems that have plagued the gold and platinum sectors the last several years.
But a landmark court ruling this week may change that. With South Africa’s highest court severely curtailing the ability of mineworkers unions to stage crippling strikes.
South Africa’s Constitutional Court delivered a verdict Tuesday in a case brought by the Associated Mineworkers and Construction Union (AMCU). Where the union was appealing a 2014 Labor Court ruling that forced it to accept collective bargaining as part of wage negotiations.
The original case here stems to 2013. When AMCU’s fellow unions National Union of Mineworkers, UASA and Solidarity all accepted a pay deal with major gold mining companies — one which AMCU leaders disagreed with.