Members of South Africa's biggest union National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (NUMSA) gather as they take part in a strike in Johannesburg, March 19, 2014. REUTERS/Siphiwe Sibeko

As trade union elephants fight, economy’s grass gets flattened

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03 Jul 2014, 7:21 am

We buried a friend yesterday. Funerals have a way of focusing us. And serve as a reminder that too often we live as if by rote. Warren Buffett insists on doing what he loves because, as he puts it, that way he'll never work a day. And the 83 year old who still tap dances to the office, reckons working with someone who churns your stomach is like marrying for money – never a great idea, but really dumb if you're already rich.

Our nation seems to be wasting much precious time. First it was AMCU's five month platinum mining strike where everybody lost. With those same disruptors very close to achieving recognition in the metals sector, the for-now dominant NUMSA is being forced into taking a far harder line than it would otherwise. Ironically, competition is alive among trade unions. But when elephants fight, the economic grass gets flattened. Costing even more than our precious time.