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