Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union | |
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Founded | 1998 |
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Headquarters | eMalahleni, formerly Witbank |
Location |
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Members | 250,000 |
Key people | Joseph Mathunjwa; Founder and President, Jeffrey Mphahlele; general secretary, Jimmy Gama; national treasurer, Dumisani Nkalitshane; national organiser |
Website | www.amcu.co.za |
The Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (AMCU) was formed in Mpumalanga, South Africa, in 1998 as a breakaway faction of the COSATU-affiliated National Union of Mineworkers (NUM). It was formally registered as a union in 2001. [1] According to Mining Weekly, the union sees itself as distinct from NUM in that it is "apolitical and noncommunist". [2]
Competition with NUM over bargaining rights, especially at the Impala Platinum and Lonmin mines in the Rustenburg area culminated in the violent Marikana miners' strike and what became known as the Marikana Massacre on 16 August 2012, in which police shot and killed over 30 strikers. [3] [4]
In 2013, AMCU represented over 70% of Lonmin employees, compared to the 20% representation of the NUM. It is also the majority union at Anglo American Platinum (Amplats) and Impala Platinum. [5]
The National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) is a trade union for coal miners in Great Britain, formed in 1945 from the Miners' Federation of Great Britain (MFGB). The NUM took part in three national miners' strikes, in 1972, 1974 and 1984–85. Following the 1984–85 strike, and the subsequent closure of most of Britain's coal mines, it became a much smaller union. It had around 170,000 members when Arthur Scargill became leader in 1981, a figure which had fallen in 2023 to an active membership of 82.
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Lonmin plc, formerly Lonrho plc, was a British producer of platinum group metals operating in the Bushveld Complex of South Africa. It was listed on the London Stock Exchange. Its registered office was in London, and its operational headquarters were in Johannesburg, South Africa.
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The National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) is a mainly mining industry related trade union, an organisation of workers with common goals through organised labour, in South Africa. With a membership of 300,000 as of 2014, it is the largest affiliate of the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU).
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Joseph Mathunjwa is the head of the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (AMCU).
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