Workers lucky enough to belong to a big-company union that negotiated its annual wagecontracts along with those of workers for other big firms in the same industry tended to do better than average.
At the same time, pending increases in electricity costs and the potential of further labor unrest over the coming months, when wagecontracts will be up for renegotiation, as well as uncertainty over mining legislation, have all helped exacerbate an already challenging situation.