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News & Views by Terry Bell
Browsing All Posts filed under »Inside Labour Column«
Cosatu: the end draws nigh
So the slow-motion disintegration of Cosatu seems likely to continue, whatever the efforts of the ANC, the decisions of the courts or the votes at whatever national congress is finally staged. After 30 years of sporadic squabbling about party politics, bureaucracy and worker independence, it now appears that an end of some kind is nigh.
Eskom: wake-up call to SA govt & unions
March 22, 2015
The generating and distribution problems at South Africa's power utility, Eskom amount to perhaps the greatest crisis ever to face the country's fragile, non-racist democracy, especially given the global economic climate. It provides a wake-up call to both government and the unions.
The Aurora factor & SA worker unity
March 8, 2015
Infighting, bickering and the pursuit of power and patronage have largely paralysed South Africa's largest labour federation, Cosatu, in recent years. But a politically charged court case involving President Zuma's nephew, Khulubuse Zuma, may trigger a rank and file move toward greater worker unity.
Real SA Budget: a frantic daily struggle
March 1, 2015
Wednesday was Budget day in South Africa. But the plaudits and the protests reflected in the media will not cause any excitement for more than half the population that has to deal with a daily struggle merely to survive.
Nationalisation, silver linings and the SA Post Office
February 15, 2015
Many postal workers and their trade unions seems to have learned a valuable lesson: nationalisation — state control — does not necessarily mean any improvement. But worker control, they feel could be the way frward.
Inherent inequality of the World Economic Forum
January 25, 2015
The annual World Economic Forum (WEF) extravaganza got underway last week. It is not the UN-style institution it is often portrayed as being. It is a private club where the heads of immensely rich corporations wine, dine, bribe and bully various power brokers and wannabe tycoons to do their bidding and to adopt policies that suit the corporate world.
Unions: potential bulwarks of democracy
January 18, 2015
The founding principles of the labour movement are liberty and equality on a global scale, and although some areas the movement have become corrupted, all too often infused with the poison of nationalism, they remain potential bulwarks of democracy.
Terry Bell Writes 
April 6, 2015
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