LETTER: Amcu boss Mathunjwa’s quest for relevancy causes pain
Joseph Mathunjwa claims victory for a five-month, violent strike that achieved nothing but suffering and misery
Joseph Mathunjwa is always exploiting workers' desperation. He took workers into a five month-long unpaid and unproductive strike just because he wanted to solidify his relevancy in the face of poor workers. The five-month strike by the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Workers Union (Amcu) was characterised by intimidation, violence and the killing of innocent mine workers. Instead of viewing that as a total failure, Mathunjwa shamelessly went on to claim a victory for a five-month, violent strike that did not achieve anything but suffering and misery. He further insulted the workers by accepting essentially the same wage agreement signed in November 2018 by the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM), Uasa and Solidarity. Now that the strike has been called off, the workers will be paid what is called a “hardship payment” of R4,000 and will be forced into a cash loan of about R5,000 to be repaid over 12 months. It goes without saying that poor workers lost in a big way. They...
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