In 1987, the National Union of Mineworkers called the biggest strike in South African mining history, bringing the sector to a standstill. More than 300,000 NUM members, led by the union's then president, Cyril Ramaphosa, declared a dispute with the Chamber of Mines over wages and working conditions. The strike cost the chamber about R250-million. Mining companies retrenched more than 50,000 workers. Membership of the trade union, at the time the second biggest in South Africa, has been in free fall since. NUM general secretary David Sipunzi said on Thursday that the union had never recovered from the strike. "We declared a dispute and for the first time in many years NUM embarked on a [protected] strike in the industry - gold was the biggest contributor," he said. "I don't think we recovered fully from the blow of that particular strike. Close to 60,000 workers were dismissed and thereafter we have struggled to get back to the 300,000 mark, in terms of membership." story_article_le...
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