Speaker 1: On this term working class history. The thirty first of
Speaker 1: December and on the thirty first of December nineteen twelve,
Speaker 1: about one hundred and sixty out of one thousand African
Speaker 1: workers at the Wanky coal mine in Zimbabwe, then Rhodesia
Speaker 1: came out on strike. Workers were protesting against the poor
Speaker 1: conditions they were being made to live and work in,
Speaker 1: with dozens of workers contracting scurvy, which resulted in nine
Speaker 1: deaths in the previous three months. Moreover, the mining company
Speaker 1: response to the deaths was to force the remaining workers
Speaker 1: to work harder to maintain productivity, thus exacerbating the issue.
Speaker 1: The workers, both sick and healthy, called for a meeting
Speaker 1: with the manager of the mine to discuss these issues. However,
Speaker 1: when the manager arrived, his first act was to assault
Speaker 1: one of the sick miners, which led to the workers
Speaker 1: present walking out. On January third, one hundred and fifty
Speaker 1: eight workers appeared in court and were found guilty of
Speaker 1: insubordination and refusal to work. They were each find the
Speaker 1: equivalent of one month wages. The judge declared that quote
Speaker 1: the authority of the management must be maintained even in
Speaker 1: the face of mismanagement. End quote by the following day
Speaker 1: the strike was over. The sources, maps, and all of
Speaker 1: our anniversaries each day, check out the on this Day
Speaker 1: section of our stories at at stories, Stopworkingclasshistory dot com,
Speaker 1: and if you value our work, support us at Patreon
Speaker 1: dot com slash working class History. Links in the show
Speaker 1: notes the music by a decade See you tomorrow.