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Periodical article Periodical article Leiden University catalogue Leiden University catalogue WorldCat catalogue WorldCat
Title:Grounds for a Strike: South African Gold Mining in the 1940's
Author:James, Wilmot G.ISNI
Year:1987
Periodical:African Economic History
Volume:16
Pages:1-22
Language:English
Geographic term:South Africa
Subjects:strikes
1946
gold mining
Economics and Trade
Labor and Employment
Ethnic and Race Relations
History and Exploration
External link:https://www.jstor.org/stable/3601267
Abstract:The argument developed in this article is that the strike of about eighty thousand African gold miners in South Africa in August 1946 should be seen against the background of particular developments in the gold mining industry during the Second World War. These developments, which included a labour shortage and a growing profitability crisis, prompted an already obdurate Chamber of Mines to steadfastly resist any improvements in the conditions of work and life for African miners. The response of the mine houses and individual mines was, variously, to seek greater mechanization, to rationalize work rules, and to establish more disciplined supervision. They also rationalized and reduced food rations and resisted any increases in African wage rates, even as white wage rates rose. These, in turn, generated a cluster of acutely experienced grievances among African miners, upon which the African Mine Workers Union built and mobilized worker support. That the strike occurred just after the war is, therefore, not accidental nor solely the product of worker militancy. Note, ref.
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