The unmaking and remaking of industrial relations: the case of Impala Platinum and the 2012–2013 platinum strike wave

Crispen Chinguno

Review of African Political Economy, 2015, vol. 42, issue 146, 577-590

Abstract: This article reviews a form of corporatism, underpinned by the institutionalisation of industrial relations as a means of attaining order post-apartheid. Drawing from the experience of Impala Platinum, it examines why an industrial relations system may become inadequate, generating insurgent unionism. The article shows how corporatism comes with a cost, undermining trade union internal democracy and alienating it from the shop floor. The article argues that the institutionalisation of industrial relations is not fixed but precarious and is continuously being reconfigured, generating new forms of conflict and solidarity. Moreover, it crystallises a particular balance of organisational and institutional power that may be configured into various forms. Ultimately, the crisis of the National Union of Mineworkers presented in this case study highlights the crisis of the corporatist social contract that constitutes the basis of post-apartheid order.

Date: 2015
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DOI: 10.1080/03056244.2015.1087396

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