National Union of Mineworkers (South Africa) Collection
Item set
- Alternative Title
- NUM (South Africa) Collection
- Description
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This collection comprises materials produced by and relating to the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM), a South African trade union representing workers primarily in the mining, energy, and related industrial sectors. The materials functioned as instruments of communication, organisation, and record-keeping and include publications, organisational documents, reports, and related ephemera documenting union activities.
The collection records aspects of trade union organisation and labour relations through workplace and regional reports, policy statements, educational material, and commentary on social and political developments affecting mineworkers and their communities. The materials document organised labour activity in South Africa during the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries and constitute primary source material for research into labour history, mining history, industrial relations, and worker organisation. - Subject
- National Union of Mineworkers (South Africa)
- Mine workers — South Africa
- Mining industry — South Africa
- Trade unions — South Africa
- Labour movement — South Africa
- Industrial relations
- Labour organisation
- Trade union publications
- Workers’ rights
- Subject - Occupation
- Trade unions — South Africa
- Identifier
- National Union of Mineworkers (South Africa)
Items
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This document serves as the foundational framework for the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) educational initiatives. It outlines a systematic approach to trade union education, designed to align the union’s developmental goals with its available resources and internal capacity. The plan is structured to provide a clear reference point for the ongoing assessment of progress, ensuring that educational outcomes are both measurable and realistic. By analysing both internal organisational conditions and external socio-economic factors, the document articulates a long-term vision intended to inspire and motivate union members. Key objectives include the formulation of manageable strategies, the optimisation of resource allocation, and the accurate measurement of educational impact on the union's overall success. -
In 1991 and 1992, the NUM accepted basic wage increases on the gold mines that were far below the annual inflation rate because of the crisis in the industry. The priority of the union was to preserve employment. But this left the door wide open for rich mines (like Kloof, Elandsrand and Vaal Reefs) to hide behind the low increases that are set in the Chamber negotiations at levels that Free gold, BuffeIsfontein and marginal mines can live with. The NUM decided that workers need a way of adding more money onto their wages If the mines can afford to pay more. The ideal is for a national wage policy in which the richer mines can help the poorer mines to pay the same wages. But this will mean new tax laws, new ownership rules and a new government to force it all through. Right now, the union needs a special policy for collective bargaining in an industry that is in long term decline. The economy is not growing, few new mines are opening, so workers who get retrenched are threatened with starvation. NUM has already accepted a reduction in real wage standards to slow down the speed at which mines are contracting.