The first article is titled: “The 4th Industrial Revolution – How Should Organised Labour Respond?” In this article we try to unpack the 4th Industrial Revolution, especially what it means to workers in general and the mining sector. We put forward a proposal on how organised labour should respond to this phenomenon. The intention of this article is to provide an alternative view and approach to the 4IR phenomenon that organised labour should consider in defence of workers’ interests. The next article “Exploring the Transformative Likelihood of Mine Community Development Programmes” outlines the community development approach and framework as a conceptual and methodological tool for understanding what constitutes community development, especially in the context of mining. The third article is titled: “Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme: Where are the Fulltime Sustainable Jobs for Local Communities? “. The paper attempts to gain a sense of whether this approach is creating full time sustainable jobs. It highlights that the renewable energy industry is not labour intensive; after the construction period has been completed approximately only two per cent of the workforce is retained for operational and maintenance requirements. The next article is titled: “Indebtedness of Mining Workers in South Africa: What Interventions can be implemented for Sustainable Debt Relief?” This paper seeks to look at the factors that contribute to mining workers’ indebtedness in South Africa, and how the stakeholders can intervene. The aim is to shed more light on the level of mineworkers’ indebtedness and come up with educational programmes on assisting workers to manage their finances and avoid sinking into debt further.
