The South African government expects public sector workers and the public at large to pay for the incompetence and larceny carried out by its kleptocratic faction and their cronies. This could mean a winter of discontent as pay and conditions talks loom.
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 […]
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.
April 22, 2011
South Africa's annual battle over wages and conditions has this year been all but obscured by reports of political infighting focussed largely on the May 18 local government elections. Troubling news from Swaziland, Libya and Côte d’Ivoire has also tended to push this yearly tussle between bosses and unions into the background. Yet the 2011 wage round is arguably more critical than any in recent years — and will almost certainly have a direct bearing on the outcome of the May 18 poll.
June 25, 2017
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