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News & Views by Terry Bell
Browsing All Posts filed under »Inside Labour Column«
Mining, job losses & the system
August 15, 2015
Large scale redundancies in the South African mining sector, running to tens of thousands of jobs, are probably inevitable. But only because of the system in which we have to operate. Even in the gold sector, there will be mines and shafts that remain profitable without job losses, but each shaft and each mine will […]
Playing games with women’s rights
August 9, 2015
Every year as August dawns there is an annual media ritual in South Africa about women’s rights and, on August 9, national Women's Day, a positive rash of declarations. But this year there was great irony in the media murmurings about national “Women’s Month” being eclipsed by news of the awarding of the 2022 winter Olympics to Beijing. And not only because China has a hardly sterling record for human as well as women’s rights.
Unity, cohesion and a pink flag
July 25, 2015
A façade of unity and cohesion continues to be promoted by Cosatu and, even more interestingly, by the SA Communist Party that is itself under pressure break from the ANC-led alliance. This pressure comes members who believe that party offers a radical alternative. But perhaps the SACP's red flag is now just "palest pink".
A case of confusion, contradiction & irony
July 21, 2015
Behind a very flimsy screen of unity and cohesion promoted last week by Cosatu president S’dumo Dlamini, the divisions in the country’s largest labour federation have become even greater. And, amid a welter of contradiction and debates about constitutionality, it is not surprising that so much confusion reigns.
Marikana, Aurora: where the buck should stop
July 5, 2015
Two of South Afr1ican labour’s greatest modern tragedies provided a media focus over the past week or so: Aurora and Marikana. The buck — the responsibility — for both should top at the highest levels if there is to be any hope of real change
Why trade unions are even more relevant today
June 27, 2015
As the micro chip rvolution continues to gain pace, trade unions — as democratic organisations of the sellers of labour — are probably more relevant now than they have ever been. Especially for anyone who feels that democracy is an important concept.
South Africa on a “slippery slope”
June 24, 2015
Is South Africa on the slippery slope to authoritarianism? It’s a valid question to ask since both the Cosatu and the national constitutions have been undermined. And they were both, in their own way, flag bearers of the democratic promise of the new South Africa.
Terry Bell Writes 
August 23, 2015
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