Lonmin NUM Chairman killed

[OrbitalDawn]

From this dude's twitter. City Press guy.

"BREAKING NEWS: Chairperson of the NUM at Lonmin's Western Platinum had been shot dead."

"The NUM leader was shot execution-style last night around 9pm."

-----------SAPA Article---------------
A man was shot eight times and killed at the Marikana koppie, near Lonmin Platinum mine, North West police said on Friday.

"The man was gunned down on Thursday night between 7pm and 8pm. He was on his way to visit his girlfriend when four men came out of the bushes and shot at his car," spokesman Brigadier Thulani Ngubane said.

He was hit once when he was driving, and when he got out of the car, the men fired another seven bullets at him and he died on the scene.

Ngubane said forensic experts were still on the scene by 8.30am on Friday morning.

He said the motive for the killing was unknown and said no one has been arrested.

National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) spokesman Lesiba Seshoka said the man was the union's branch chairman at the Western Platinum mine owned by Lonmin in Rustenburg.

"We are disturbed at the shooting. When someone is killed like that you should be very worried," he said.

"We call for calm and call on members to be unprovoked by the shooting."

Source : Sapa /dm/tk/jje
Date : 18 Oct 2013 08:47

 

[cr@zydude]

eNCA and SABC are both running it now. This could lead to another round of serious violence.

 

[Seriously]

Just ban all Unions already. It's just a legal cover for gang activities and urban terrorism!

 

[killadoob]

Just ban all Unions already. It's just a legal cover for gang activities and urban terrorism!

People will cry about that though. I don't think unions should be banned, they serve a valuable purpose to ensure people are not underpaid and so on but striking should be banned or they should just strike in a peaceful manner if their reasonable demands are not met. They use striking as a means to get what they want but the union or the concept of a union is pretty good actually. Sadly striking, burning whatever they can and so on is where the problem comes in. It stems from unacceptable demands.

Strikes should be a last report to resolve issues that perhaps need a strike but for the most part striking is the first option, it's used as a scare tactic. Unions though have their place if implemented properly and run properly. Look at china and those asian countries where people work incredible hours in terrible conditions and so on, they have no one looking out for them. Greed causes unions to look bad in this country and violent striking.

That is the way i see it, doesn't mean i am right but without unions who would protect the workers? Sadly the unions in this country don't care about the work force and the work force don't seem to really put much thought into the demands they make or the unions have made on their behalf. Stop the violent striking, be reasonable and unions will be fine. Entitlement leads to greed which leads to unreasonable demands which leads to striking because no company is going to give people 60% increases and whatever other ridiculous demands they make.

 

[R13...]

eNCA and SABC are both running it now. This could lead to another round of serious violence.

As the police pointed out, people shouldn't be quick to chalk this down to union turf wars. The last union person killed was in fact a taxi war related hit.

 

[OrbitalDawn]

As the police pointed out, people shouldn't be quick to chalk this down to union turf wars. The last union person killed was in fact a taxi war related hit.

Ya, Lesiba Seshoka (NUM spokesman) also said they're not jumping to any conclusions or blaming anyone just yet. They just want the police to investigate.

 

[Sinbad]

As the police pointed out, people shouldn't be quick to chalk this down to union turf wars. The last union person killed was in fact a taxi war related hit.

Considering all the shady business the union leaders are involved in, this wouldn't surprise me.

My opinion on unions - they have FAR too much power, and there's massive conflict of interest with union bosses having other businesses that profit off strikes.

 

[OrbitalDawn]

Considering all the shady business the union leaders are involved in, this wouldn't surprise me.

My opinion on unions - they have FAR too much power, and there's massive conflict of interest with union bosses having other businesses that profit off strikes.

Yeah, agreed. I think they have way too much political influence as well. The ANC cannot tell them where to get off because they need their support come election time.

 

[killadoob]

Yeah, agreed. I think they have way too much political influence as well. The ANC cannot tell them where to get off because they need their support come election time.

At the same though the ANC are party to investment fleeing our country. Lost jobs, more poverty etc but if they do anything about the unions then they lose support so again the people are causing their own issues. The ANC will do what is needed for votes if the people could grasp that the unions are killing this country and support a crack down and ensuring the unions are reasonable the ANC could actually do something about it. Well ideally that is the way it should work

 

[OrbitalDawn]

At the same though the ANC are party to investment fleeing our country. Lost jobs, more poverty etc but if they do anything about the unions then they lose support so again the people are causing their own issues. The ANC will do what is needed for votes if the people could grasp that the unions are killing this country and support a crack down and ensuring the unions are reasonable the ANC could actually do something about it. Well ideally that is the way it should work

Well, it's a mutually beneficial relationship for them so they won't. The unions need the ANC and the ANC need the unions.

 

[R13...]

Well, it's a mutually beneficial relationship for them so they won't. The unions need the ANC and the ANC need the unions.

And the losers are the rest of the country. The ANC cannot move the country forward economically because the unions won't like the tough choices that would need to be made to create jobs. They were just telling the government not to listen to the IMF comments about reigning in the unions just the other day.

 

[dlk001]

Sad...We just received a safety alert from our Union to avoid the R556 (Suncity road past Marikana ) at night and remain vigilant.

 

[blunomore]

That is the way i see it, doesn't mean i am right but without unions who would protect the workers

Amen.

We are currently doing an assignment for a client and interviewed both management and the unions - and the things that came out are shocking.

Trust me, management does in no way, shape of form have the employees' best interests at heart.

 

[Devill]

Just ban all Unions already. It's just a legal cover for gang activities and urban terrorism!

No, Unions are great if/when they are regulated well.

The problem is the ruling party can not even regulate itself.

 

[Sinbad]

Amen.

We are currently doing an assignment for a major university and interviewed both management and the unions - and the things that came out are shocking.

Trust me, management does in no way, shape of form have the employees' best interests at heart.

Nor do the unions.

 

[blunomore]

Nor do the unions.

That is debatable.

 

[ToxicBunny]

That is debatable.

No its not...

The fact that the every year the unions put their members in a worse position financially is clear evidence that they actually don't give ROCKS for their members best interests.

 

[Sinbad]

That is debatable.

OK, let's begin.

3 week strike, over a difference in offered vs demanded increase of say 5% (IE, unions want 12%, company offers 7%). Not an uncommon scenario in SA nowadays.
Say they settle on 10% increase.

3 weeks without pay to buy that extra 3%

Assume an 8 hour day, 5 days a week. That's 120 hours of lost wages. Assume R10 an hour (including the 7% offered increase) for simplicity. That's R1200 in lost wages.

With the extra 3%, they now earn R10.29 per hour. That's 30c per hour more than if they hadn't gone on strike.
R1200, divided by R0.3 = 4000 hours. They have to work 4000 hours to make that up. 4000 hours is 100 weeks. 2 years. TWO YEARS before the 3% they fought for recoups the hours they lost in the strike.

Please explain how this is in the worker's interests.

 

[blunomore]

No its not...

The fact that the every year the unions put their members in a worse position financially is clear evidence that they actually don't give ROCKS for their members best interests.

(As is the case with management), unions often lack the negotiating skills, the knowledge, etc to do the best job.

 

[blunomore]

OK, let's begin.

3 week strike, over a difference in offered vs demanded increase of say 5% (IE, unions want 12%, company offers 7%). Not an uncommon scenario in SA nowadays.
Say they settle on 10% increase.

3 weeks without pay to buy that extra 3%

Assume an 8 hour day, 5 days a week. That's 120 hours of lost wages. Assume R10 an hour (including the 7% offered increase) for simplicity. That's R1200 in lost wages.

With the extra 3%, they now earn R10.29 per hour. That's 30c per hour more than if they hadn't gone on strike.
R1200, divided by R0.3 = 4000 hours. They have to work 4000 hours to make that up. 4000 hours is 100 weeks. 2 years. TWO YEARS before the 3% they fought for recoups the hours they lost in the strike.

Please explain how this is in the worker's interests.

See post 19.