Trade union support following an underground explosion

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Abstract
We examined emotional support offered by a trade union and psychological distress four months after an underground explosion in a South Africa gold mine, which caused 63 fatalities and five injuries. The disaster occurred the day after the end of a three‐week, industry‐wide strike by the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM). Statistically controlling for industrial relations stress, no psychological distress differences were recorded between the experimental group (21 NUM members who were underground at the time of the blast) and a control group of 22 NUM members employed at a different gold mine in the region. Union emotional support interacted with exposure to the disaster: Whereas union support was significantly and inversely related to psychological distress for the experimental group, the relationship was non‐significant for the control group. Results are discussed in terms of the importance of trade unions as a source of social support.