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Johannesburg – Strikes are death penalties for workers, ANC secretary general Gwede Mantashe said yesterday.
“I know the impact a long strike has on workers . . . and I know what it can do to the operations and the economy,” he told reporters in Johannesburg.

“I know that most of the time after long strikes operations end up reducing the workforce . . . you see that all the time. A strike means the death penalty for a number of workers.”

Mantashe used to be a National Union of Mineworkers shop steward. He said a solution to lengthy strikes needed to be found. “We should never tamper with the right to strike . . . (However) we should be more innovative about how we allow a strike to go on.”

The country just came out of a five-month strike in the platinum belt in the North West and a four-week strike in the metals and engineering sector.

Mantashe was briefing media after an African National Congress national working committee meeting held on Monday.

Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa earlier this month reportedly said labour laws should be amended so that union members had to vote before striking.

Mantashe said a strike ballot was an important tool used by trade unionists.

“It gave you a sense of how far was your support  . . . and it mobilised workers in the workplace,” he said.  “When I was a shop steward . . . I called a strike ballot for every strike because it tested them and mobilised them (workers).”

Mantashe said he did not know why unions today did not like the idea of a strike ballot. — Fin24.