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News & Views by Terry Bell
Browsing All Posts published on »April, 2011«
A critical — largely ignored — wage battle looms
South Africa's annual battle over wages and conditions has this year been all but obscured by reports of political infighting focussed largely on the May 18 local government elections. Troubling news from Swaziland, Libya and Côte d’Ivoire has also tended to push this yearly tussle between bosses and unions into the background. Yet the 2011 wage round is arguably more critical than any in recent years — and will almost certainly have a direct bearing on the outcome of the May 18 poll.
A tale of two funerals
April 8, 2011
Both funerals were conducted with military pomp and included the flag of the African National Congress draped over the coffins. One was for a hero of the anti-apartheid struggle, the other for a reputed racketeer killed in a gangland drive-by shooting. Media publicity concentrated on the latter.
Resistance grows as the political edges fray
April 3, 2011
Trade unions around the world are being forced to fight back as a consequence of what many bankers claim is the “gradual recovery” of the word’s “fragile economy”. But, as the unions tend to point out, such improvements are paid for largely by the unemployed and working poor. “We are paying for their crisis,” is a common labour movement cry.
Terry Bell Writes 
April 22, 2011
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