Private sector begins strikes in South Africa

A month-long public sector labour action in South Africa is spreading into the private sector, with miners announcing a strike of their own.
A month ago, 1.3 million workers in key sectors including education, healthcare and the judiciary began to walk off the job and demand a double inflation 8.6 percent pay rise and a 1,000 rand ($135) a month housing allowance.
The editor of South Africa’s leading Catholic weekly, Southern Cross, Gunther Simmermacher says there is concern the public sector action could lead private sector workers to strike as well.
“There is a concern that there will be a ‘strike wave’”, he told Vatican Radio. “But again, the public sympathy is going to be bandied about, depending of course on where in society you stand.”
On Monday, South Africa's National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) announced that its members at Northam Platinum have started a strike over pay.