South Africa’s government-allied mining union has lost up to 20,000 members since the start of 2012, a year marked by painful strikes and loss of life, the union’s leader said recently. The exodus from the once-dominant National Union of Mineworkers began in January, when an upstart rival union promised pay hikes for drill operators at a mine in Rustenberg operated by Impala Platinum.
See http://www.minesandcommunities.org/article.php?a=12021&l=1.