As their Saturday shift came to a close on March 25th, 1911, 500 young New York City immigrant women, many of them teenagers or in their early twenties, worked feverishly, many of them probably looking forward to getting out of work in twenty minutes or so.

US giant Walmart is expanding its operations in Africa by bidding for a controlling stake in South Africa's Massmart, the continent's third-largest retailer with 288 stores in 14 countries.

But South Africa's trade unions are not happy. Despite Walmart's promise to create jobs and its assurances that it will honour existing labour agreements and rules, the union are threatening to boycott its operations because of its reputation as a company that engages in unfair labour practices.

The world's biggest retailer already has tills ringing across the Americas, Europe and Asia. Now the sprawling Arkansas-based discount megalith Walmart is trying its luck in Africa.

South Africa's labour movement is bracing itself for its biggest campaign since its anti-apartheid heyday as it faces up to the likely arrival of Walmart – a company notorious for its anti-union tactics, with annual sales worth three times the country's budget.

In the wake of the Massey Energy tragedy that killed 29 coal miners in West Virginia, there appear to be two steps that could improve worker safety there. First, as the mine accident record of the last decade suggests, join a union.