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News & Views by Terry Bell
Browsing All Posts filed under »Inside Labour Column«
A wage to fuel the fires of discontent
The South African government intends to introduce a minimum wage of R3,500 a month in March next year. But, given the reality of the cost of living and the level of existing poverty pay, this seems likely to fuel further the fires of discontent.
The poison of unprincipled unity
October 7, 2017
The poisonous belief that unity of an organisation must be maintained at all costs is the primary cause of the present crisis in South Africa's governing ANC. It is a concept that became embedded in that organisation from its earliest years in exile and it allowed corrupt elements to thrive.
Looming battle about SA state pension funds
October 1, 2017
The South African government and its ailing state owned enterprises certainly have their eyes on Africa's largest pension fund pot. And assurances by finance minister Malusi Gigaba that there will be no attempt to raid the funds have so far failed to allay fears.
I have seen the future & it frightens me
September 23, 2017
The automated future is upon us — and it works. But only at the expense of the majority of people who have to sell their labour in order to survive. Yet, if properly managed, such technological innovation could liberate humanity.
As Brexit looms, London’s migrants keep building
September 6, 2017
Immigrant Irish “navvies” (labourers) are credited with much of the construction work of the last century that made London the city it is today. And now once again, it is the sweated labour of migrant workers that is changing the face of Britain's capital.
Back to a messier present
August 4, 2017
In many ways the relationship between members of the governing, ANC-led alliance and the unions that stand in opposition is, on one level, an apparent repeat of the situation that existed 30 and more years ago when internal "workerists" were opposed by the exiled ANC alliance.
Statistics, labour & a no-confidence vote in Zuma
July 28, 2017
There is nothing sinister in the delay in the release of the South African Labour Forces Survey for the second quarter of this year. But it's crucial look at unemployment and income decline is likely to be swamped by media concentration on the no-confidence vote in parliament.
The bigger picture of patronage and corruption
July 22, 2017
South Africa's finance minister Malusi Gigaba has announced his 14-point plan aimed at “taking the country out of recession”. Instead it will almost certainly guarantee ongoing discontent, especially with the labour movement.
Terry Bell Writes 
October 14, 2017
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