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Periodical article Periodical article Leiden University catalogue Leiden University catalogue WorldCat catalogue WorldCat
Title:Undermining Labour: The Rise of Sub-Contracting in South African Gold Mines
Authors:Crush, Jonathan S.ISNI
Ulicki, Theresa
Tseane, Teke
Van Veuren, Elisabeth J.
Year:2001
Periodical:Journal of Southern African Studies
Volume:27
Issue:1
Period:March
Pages:5-31
Language:English
Geographic terms:South Africa
Lesotho
Subjects:labour relations
labour migration
trade unions
mining
gold mining
Labor and Employment
Economics and Trade
External link:https://www.jstor.org/stable/823288
Abstract:This paper explores the growth and implications of sub-contracting in South African gold mines since 1990. It has three main objectives. The first is to document the dimensions and trends of sub-contracting operations in the industry. Secondly, the veracity of claims about the negative impact and implications of sub-contracting on the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) and the working conditions of black miners is tested. Thirdly, the paper explores the perceptions of sub-contracting by workers themselves, many of whom are not, or no longer, NUM members. Lesotho was chosen as the research site. A companion survey of ordinary miners in Lesotho in 1997 allows systematic comparison between regular and sub-contract workers. As this study shows, the conditions of employment under contractors are significantly worse than for regular miners. Sub-contracting has also been very damaging to the NUM. It produces new tensions within the union, between regular and sub-contract miners, and between union and ex-union members. Notes, ref., sum.
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