South Africa: Unrest as 12,000 Striking Miners Are Sacked

October 05, 2012 from Al Jazeera English

Anglo American Platinum, the world's largest platinum producer, has sacked up to 12,000 miners in South Africa for staging what the company said is an unlawful strike. The industrial action has also spread to other mining industries with over 75,000 miners striking across the country. South Africa, which produces an estimated 75 per cent of the world's platinum supply, has been facing labor unrest in recent weeks over the issue of pay rise. Al Jazeera's Tania Page reports from Rustenburg.

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2012 South African miners' strikes

Starting with the a wildcat strike at the Marikana mine close to Rustenburg, workers at many mines across South Africa have begun staging strikes -- often unofficial -- for improved pay and conditions. The strikes have exposed the low wages of many of the miners working to ext... Explore this topic

Anglo Platinum

Anglo American Platinum Limited is the world's largest primary producer of platinum, accounting for about 38% of the world's annual supply. Based in South Africa, most of the group's operations lie to the northwest and northeast of Johannesburg. A majority of the company's ope... Explore this topic

Rustenburg

Rustenburg is a city situated at the foot of the Magaliesberg mountain range in North West Province of South Africa. It was one of the official host cities of the 2010 FIFA World Cup, being in close proximity to Phokeng, capital of the Royal Bafokeng Nation, where the Royal Ba... Explore this topic

South Africa

South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa, is a country located at the southern tip of Africa. It is divided into nine provinces and has 2,798 kilometres of coastline. To the north lie the neighbouring countries of Namibia, Botswana and Zimbabwe; to the east are Mo... Explore this topic

Mining industry of South Africa

Mining in South Africa has been the main driving force behind the history and development of Africa's most advanced and richest economy. Large scale and profitable mining started with the discovery of a diamond on the banks of the Orange River in 1867 by Erasmus Jacobs and the... Explore this topic

Strike

Strike action, also called labor strike, on strike, greve, or simply strike, is a work stoppage caused by the mass refusal of employees to work. A strike usually takes place in response to employee grievances. Strikes became important during the Industrial Revolution, when mas... Explore this topic

Industrial action

Industrial action or job action refers collectively to any measure taken by trade unions or other organised labour meant to reduce productivity in a workplace. Quite often it is used and interpreted as a euphemism for strike, but the scope is much wider. Industrial action may ... Explore this topic

Labor dispute

Labor unrest is a term used by employers or those generally in the business community to describe organizing and strike actions undertaken by labor unions, especially where labor disputes become violent or where industrial actions in which members of a workforce obstruct the n... Explore this topic

Politics of South Africa

The Republic of South Africa is a unitary, parliamentary republic. The President of South Africa is both head of state and head of government; in the same manner as the prime minister of other nations, the President is elected by the National Assembly and must enjoy the confid... Explore this topic

Marikana miners' strike

The Marikana miners' strike or Lonmin strike was a wildcat strike at a mine owned by Lonmin in the Marikana area, close to Rustenburg, South Africa in 2012. The event garnered international attention following a series of violent incidents between the South African Police Serv... Explore this topic

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2012 South African miners' strikes

Anglo Platinum

Rustenburg

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