This paper examines the diverging trajectories of the labor movement in mining industry in Ukraine and South Africa. It compares the economic situation in the two countries, and defines the leading role of the miners’ movement in bringing forth social transformations in the early 1990s. Possible explanations for diverging paths in the miners’ movement in Ukraine and South Africa in the last decade are discussed in light of miners’ structural and associational power, and taking into account socio-economic factors, historical legacies, and the role of trade unions.