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Browsing All posts tagged under »labour«

The global deficit is democracy

September 5, 2020

The stark, frightening reality of the consequences of Covid-19 and the reactions to it are becoming increasingly obvious. And no more so than in the estimates for the rate of unemployment in a country already recognised the world’s worst in the jobless stakes. An official level of 50% – half the adult population between the […]

‘Ye are many’ — the basic lesson for a better future

August 21, 2020

The Covid-19 pandemic and the responses to it, have highlighted as perhaps never before, the gross injustice and inequality that has been regarded as 'normal' until now. Time perhaps for the many to say to the few: Enough. It is a normal to which we shall never return.

Prospects for a new social compact

June 28, 2020

The "basics" of the early modern trade union movement were extremely democratic. Perhaps it is to these the country must turn to create a new and truly democratic social compact.

Declarations of war & pie in the sky

February 28, 2020

South African finance minister Tito Mboweni's 2020 Budget was a classic example of pie in the sky and it therefore — and unsurprisingly — triggered declarations of war from the labour movement. The only fulsome support seems to have come from from those at the top of the financial pile.

The potentially explosive reality of joblessness

February 19, 2020

While some commentators clutch at straws of optimism, citing unchanged quarterly unemployment statistics, the reality is that what exists is not just a crisis, it is a tragedy of massive proportions with socially explosive potential.

Statistical facts and reality

February 18, 2020

It is necessary to look behind the bald unemployment statistics to discover the truly frightening reality. An "official" rate of joblessness at 29.1% if far fromn the more accurate "expanded" figure of 38.7%. And even that does not reflect the true measure of unemployment in South Africa.

Time to stop thinking & acting in silos

December 15, 2019

If wishes were dinners, the hungry would eat. It's a variation on an old Scottish proverb about beggars and horses, but it seems worth bearing in mind as this year draws quite grimly to a close. Because wishes and hopes are, in themselves, futile at a time when clarity of thought and analysis, followed by appropriate action is called for.

Who is really responsible for the economic mess

November 17, 2019

Workers and their organisations are not responsible for the debt trap and the economic muddle the country now finds itself in. And while sections of the public sector may be bloated, perhaps the excess lies in areas that do not impact on the facilities required by the majority of the population.