unions | Terry Bell Writes

Browsing All posts tagged under »unions«

‘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.

The green irony at Davos

January 31, 2020

It is ironic that the 50th annual meeting of the World Economic Forum has announced that the “transition to a greener and more equal economy is not just possible but imperative for restoring productivity”. Because the members of this private rich boys' club, representatives of the 1% who comprise the apex of the global wealth pyramid, are primarily responsible for the crisis: they are part of the problem, not the solution.

Knaves, fools and responsibility

November 19, 2019

It may be too simple to say that only fools institutes the same policies time after time, on each occasion expecting a different outcome. This could be knavish behaviour, with the policymakers and their backers — the few — continuing to benefit at the expense of the many they profess to support.

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.

A fight for the many, not the few

November 15, 2019

Workers and their unions will once again be castigated as greedy, selfish and unpatriotic as they fight back against having to pay for the maladministratio0n, incompetence and corruption of the existing order. But they are, for all their faults, battling to protect the many from the increasing predations of the few.

SA unions: still seeking a coherent political role

November 2, 2019

Ever since making a tentative move toward principled unity 23 years ago, South Africa's modern and militant trade unions, once to the forefront of the struggle against apartheid, have steadily weakened, with a degree of fragmentation. Now, with the realities of the digital revolution being felt, time is not on their side if they wish to remain relevant and play a role of protectors and extenders of democracy.

Thuma Mina (send me): to Geneva?

June 14, 2019

At a time when belt tightening is called for and greater austerity looms, South Africa arrives at the International Labour Organisation's 100th birthday bash, with one of the largest delegations. Now there are calls for the public to be given a cost/benefit analysis of what seems to be an expensive junket paid for by working people through one o other means.

Facts behind the sacking of SA union boss

June 2, 2019

While sacked Federation of Unions of South Africa (Fedusa) general secretary Dennis George maintains that "white monopoly capital" and a media hostile to "transformation" were behind his recent dismissal, the facts seem to tell a vefy different story.