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Periodical article Periodical article Leiden University catalogue Leiden University catalogue WorldCat catalogue WorldCat
Title:The anatomy of a rural strike: power and space in the Transvaal lowveld
Author:Mather, CharlesISNI
Year:1993
Periodical:Canadian Journal of African Studies
Volume:27
Issue:3
Pages:424-438
Language:English
Geographic terms:South Africa
Transvaal
Subjects:labour migration
strikes
women
External link:https://www.jstor.org/stable/485693
Abstract:Migrant women employed on a small farm in the Transvaal lowveld successfully organized a stay-away in 1989 in an effort to increase wages and improve working conditions. This article is about the events leading up to the stay-away and strike, the implications of various strategies, and the problems involved in organizing on small labour intensive farms in the Transvaal countryside. It is based on the oral testimony of the white farmer and a number of the women involved in the collective action. The gains made by the women after the strike suggest that this form of protest may be used more frequently and with more confidence in the future. However, any unified collective action on this, and similar labour intensive white farms in South Africa, still poses serious problems for workers and union organizers. The division between workers, particularly between resident and non-resident employees, and the vulnerability of farm workers in general, continue to play an important role in preventing unified action and organization. Sum. in French.
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