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News & Views by Terry Bell
Marikana, Aurora: where the buck should stop
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
Posted in: Inside Labour Column
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.
Posted in: Inside Labour Column
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.
Posted in: Inside Labour Column
The real causes of our economic distress
June 24, 2015
Blinded by the chimera of Stock Exchanges and the smoke and mirrors of booming futures and derivatives trading, mainstream economists and commentators lost sight — if ever they had it — of the real productive economy. Their god was profit and their church, the market. Now the system has failed.
Posted in: Commentary
A desperate need for radical change
June 15, 2015
Over more than a century there have been warnings that the current global economic crisis would arrive — and what would be the cause. Yet most mainstream economists and commentators persist with an almost religious belief that somehow, sometime, the tide will turn and all with reurn to as it was. It will not.
Posted in: Commentary
Mired in a parochial midset & ignorant of history
May 31, 2015
The parochial mindset of nationally-based companies and trade unions reveals asn ignorance of economic history, including the fact that shareholder companies — a cornerstone of our system — were banned in Britain for 105 years because of their inherent tendency to be corrupt.
Posted in: Inside Labour Column
Don’t blame workers for managerial incompetence
May 26, 2015
Don’t blame workers for poor management. And feel some sympathy for any competent managers, whether in a large school, a government department, or parastatal who often have to deal with a legacy of maladministration, all too often accompanied by levels of corruption.
Posted in: Inside Labour Column
No worker joy in SA public sector pay deal
May 25, 2015
By comparing last week the pay and conditions of nurses and teachers to those of cabinet ministers and MPs I seem to have touched a raw nerve, especially among paramedics and fire fighters. They too have concerns — and not only about money.
Posted in: Inside Labour Column
Terry Bell Writes 
July 5, 2015
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