During the last half of 2012 South Africa has been gripped by labor unrest. Disturbances have been seen primarily in the mining industry, but strikes have also occurred in the shipping and textile industries, and now some experts inside the country fear labor disruptions in the timber industry are on the horizon, as well, according to Climate Connections.
Unless worker issues like low wages, job security and lack of benefits are addressed, Jeanette Clarke, a South African forestry researcher, fears the forestry sector might suffer an event similar to what happened in Marikana, South Africa, where police killed 34 illegally striking platinum miners who demanded higher wages. In an article published in SA Forestry, Clarke wrote that a voluntary forestry sector code of conduct should be established that gives regular employees and contracted workers in the forestry industry fairer wages.
Many workers were forced from regular, unionized forestry jobs to contract jobs during the '80s and '90s as South Africa's large players restructured operations to save costs, Clarke told Climate Connections. With their regular employment went higher wages and benefits.
Terry Bell, a journalist in South Africa covering labor issues, wrote that worker conditions in the forestry sector are worse today than when the country was ruled under apartheid.
