Inside Labour Column | Terry Bell Writes

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The most exploited — and largely ignored — workers

July 29, 2011

Fancy being able to walk to work and to pay just 10% of your wages for accommodation? Sounds idyllic? Perhaps. Unless you are a farm worker in South Africa where the latest pay increase of 4.5% made the minimum wage just R1,375 a month and where between R400 and R700 could be charged for electricity alone.

The volatile mix behind the strike wave

July 24, 2011

(First published 15 July 2011) Nobody should have been surprised at the current strike wave or the anger manifested. In April this column noted that “levels of disgruntlement — the “gatvol factor” — are everywhere in evidence throughout the labour movement, both in terms of politics and economics. Awareness of widespread corruption, of increasing joblessness […]

Technology and the race to the bottom

July 24, 2011

The labour movement is under concerted attack, globally, with capital now trying to play the role of defenders of the poor and unemployed. At least, thanks to modern communications, the facts will out and the real arguments can be aired, perhaps providing solutions to this crisis-ridden system.

The role of unions — and threats they face

July 10, 2011

The labour movement has always professed — and has the potential — to be the bulwark against authoritarianism, a standard bearer of such concepts as liberty and social justice. Unfortunately, there are many instances where these goals have been subverted, where governments, political parties and organised crime, sometimes as overlapping entities, have dominated, corrupting or badly weakening organised labour.

Seeking union relevance in a world in turmoil

June 30, 2011

With the global economy in turmoil, the labour movement everywhere is having to adapt to changed — and changing — circumstances while avoiding the bribes, blandishments and bullying of governments, political parties and business. It could be a question of: adapt, fragment or fade away to irrelevance.

ANC faces a turbulent post-election period

May 29, 2011

The government as employer, together with the governing ANC, could be sailing into some turbulent post-election waters. A series of meetings, some of which started this week, will determine quite how turbulent, but the prospects for smooth sailing look remote. On May 26 representatives of the 14 unions in the public service were in Cape […]

An SA winter of industrial discontent looms

May 13, 2011

Promises and appeals to political loyalty secured industrial peace in the run-up to South Africa's May 18 local government elections. But it could be a lull before the storm if the government, as employer, cannot honour all its promises.

The Concourt, the military and arson

May 7, 2011

A 12-year-old case of arson in the SA Navy, based on the controversial doctrine of common purpose, finally makes its way to South Africa's Constitutional Court. The result should have considerable impact, both within and outside the military.