Platinum producers may be breathing a sigh of relief at the ending of the costliest strike in the country's history, but there will be little respite for our battered economy.
Two potentially devastating new strikes are on the cards. About 200 000 members of the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa have threatened to down tools on July 1 and the National Union of Mineworkers has declared a dispute with Eskom.
The strike in the engineering sector could hobble the auto industry, which accounts for 30% of the country's manufacturing output.
Last year, a protracted Numsa strike in the manufacturing and components sector had a crippling impact on the auto industry, leading BMW to rule out South Africa as a site for production of a new model. Further protracted labour instability in the sector this year could prove to be a tipping point.
Eskom, which is already battling to keep the lights on, will find it that much more difficult if the dispute with NUM is not resolved quickly.
Apart from losing out on precious foreign exchange reserves, South Africa is beginning to suffer potentially irreversible damage to its reputation as a result of these protracted strikes.
Together with our well-documented power-supply constraints, the stoppages played a role in the recent credit rating downgrade, which increases the cost of the country's ability to raise finances on international markets.
It would be naive, in these tough economic times, to expect trade unions to put the national interest ahead of their members' wage demands. If anything, Amcu's ability to prise above-inflation increases out of platinum producers is likely to embolden other unions in different sectors.
Mineral Resources Minister Ngoako Ramatlhodi should be supported in his quest to bring about moderate reforms to our labour laws to head off a repeat of the devastation wreaked in the platinum sector.
Some form of lasting accommodation between companies and unions is necessary to prevent the economy sinking.
Without it there may be no jobs to protect.
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