Discussion l Grant Wilkinson on the impact of the NUMSA strike on the economy

Watch Youtube – Recent writing by Gilad Isaacs on the conclusions of the long platinum strike have prompted a vigorous debate about the nature of inequality in South Africa. Gilad Isaacs is a researcher at Wits University’s Corporate Strategy and Industrial Development or CSID research unit. Gilad co-authored a report “Demanding the Impossible – Platinum Mining, Profits and Wage Demands in Context”. In the report the authors looked at the question of affordability, but it does look at labour costs and profits over the past 13 years. Some economists argue that demands for higher wages will lead to more inequality, not less. Some employers say they simply can’t afford to pay their workers a double digit salary.