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‘AMCU by day, workers’ committee by night’: Insurgent Trade Unionism at Anglo Platinum (Amplats) mine, 2012–2014

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  • Luke Sinwell

Abstract

This article investigates the relationship between the workers’ committee, the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) and the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (AMCU) at Amplats between 2012 and 2014. Drawing from in-depth interviews with worker leaders, it explores the contestation over representation and recognition in the platinum mines during a time when workers waged historic strikes putting forward radical demands for pay increases. There has been a rocky transition (one that is incomplete) from the values and culture of the workers’ committee at Amplats to that of the union – AMCU. Gouldner's critique of Michels’ classic ‘Iron Law of Oligarchy’ provides a useful starting point from which to understand this transition as well as the contemporary mineworkers’ movement in South Africa more generally. Gouldner suggested that Michels ignored democratic impulses thereby putting forth a model which was monolithic and static rather than socially constructed and contextually specific. The article advances the concept of Insurgent Trade Unionism in order to argue that when the rank and file takes on an insurgent character, the trade union's bureaucratic or official power (at the national, regional and branch level) becomes marginal, but only relatively so in this case, as the events reveal.

Suggested Citation

  • Luke Sinwell, 2015. "‘AMCU by day, workers’ committee by night’: Insurgent Trade Unionism at Anglo Platinum (Amplats) mine, 2012–2014," Review of African Political Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 42(146), pages 591-605, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:revape:v:42:y:2015:i:146:p:591-605
    DOI: 10.1080/03056244.2015.1086325
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Michels, Robert, 1915. "Political Parties: A Sociological Study of the Oligarchical Tendencies of Modern Democracy," History of Economic Thought Books, McMaster University Archive for the History of Economic Thought, number michels1915.
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    Cited by:

    1. Mnwana, Sonwabile & Bowman, Andrew, 2018. "Mine mechanisation and distributional conflict in rural South Africa," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 227-237.

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