Strikers march at S Africa's platinum mine

[al bupp]

Source: Aljazeera English

More than 1,000 striking South African miners have demonstrated at Lonmin's Marikana mine, where
police shot dead 34 of their colleagues last month.

Dozens of police arrived at the scene on Wednesday while a helicopter hovered above the protesting rock-drill operators, whose strike to demand a hefty pay hike is now in its fourth week, crippling Lonmin.

One man at the front of the column waved a placard reading "We want 12,500 or nothing else", a reference to the group's demand for a hike in base pay to $1,500 a month, more than double their current salary.

Another protester, who did not wish to be named, said the demonstrators were heading to Lonmin's nearby Karee mine to "take out the people who are working in the mine shaft".

Read more: http://www.aljazeera.com/video/africa/2012/09/20129584616278329.html

[Victor_c3]

1. crazy crazy

Just expanding this to a more broad topic, people love their cheap mass produced goods. As much as we love our $500 laptops, people somewhere in the world have to make them - and they do so for next to nothing. Pt is a precious metal, but it also is used a lot in high-end electronics like Au and Ag.

We want a world that is fair and equitable for everyone and everyone can make a decent living. However, we also want cheap goods and we (as a country) embrace consumption. As the affluence of the rest of the world rises, I'm willing to bet that many things we take for granted as being "cheap" will become more expensive and our excessive consumption will have to be curbed. Instead of being able to buy a $500 laptop, we might have to spend $600 on a laptop so that the laborer in China can get their fair(er) wage. I'm not an economist and I can't back this with any statistics, this is just a hunch.

I'm personally willing to pay a reasonable ammount more for my goods if it means the world is a better place (and I'm willing to bet most of you guys are too).

Anyways, good luck to the miners on strike. We went through all of this stuff in the early 20th century and see how affluent our society is 100 years later? Workers demanded things like a fair wage and silly stuff like a safe working environment and a reasonable working day (I hope my sarcasm is clear there) and we are all the better for it.

[Comrade Grumpy]

2. Will the cops gun them down again and charge them with murdering themselves?