With the platinum strike finally over, a friend in the mining sector helped me crunch the numbers. They lead to an obvious conclusion. Talk is cheap. Money buys the whisky. The cold fact is AMCUs mathematically-challenged leadership cost its members. Big. The lowest paid underground workers are to get R356 more each month than had they accepted the initial offer. Once the emotions have died down, theyll realise thats what they got for five month of sacrificed pay - at leastR45 000 in lost earnings. Recouping that lost pay at the monthly benefit of R356 will take 126 months. Ten and a half years. Meanwhile, a new phase of retrenchments beckons and, having been hurt so badly, those managing the capital of investors are sure to accelerate fledgling mechanisation plans. Simple arithmetic proves the financial point. The rapidly sliding labour:capital ratio proves the economic one. If you think education is expensive, try ignorance. Alec Hogg....with thanks. And the masses will now believe what NUMSA is doing will be any different!
Posted on: Fri, 27 Jun 2014 08:24:29 +0000
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