In an unequal society, and especially one suffering an economic crisis, the sellers of labour will always be disadvantaged. That is the simple reality of the system in which we live.
Terry Bell
Opinion | 25 August 2014
All who sell their labour in order to survive are workers. And all workers are, to one or other degree, exploited in that they are paid less than the final value of the work they do. Within a profit-driven system it could hardly be otherwise.
Terry Bell
Opinion | 18 August 2014
“A scab’s charter.” This was one published description of the Labour Relations Act (LRA) when it came into being 19 years ago. Because, although the bulk of the Act was warmly accepted by the labour movement, it contained a clause that seemed to undermine its basic precept.
Terry Bell
Opinion | 12 August 2014
“A scab’s charter.” This was one published description of the Labour Relations Act (LRA) when it came into being 19 years ago. Because, although the bulk of the Act was warmly accepted by the labour movement, it contained a clause that seemed to undermine its basic precept.
Terry Bell
Opinion | 5 August 2014
Nationalise the mines. That is a demand taken up loudly in recent months by the Economic Freedom Fighters. It is a demand long made by many in the labour movement and it has been given added impetus with the Anglo American Platinum (Amplats) deision to dispose of, or close down, some of its older underground mines.
Terry Bell
Opinion | 1 August 2014
Official statistics note that South African household borrowings have declined slightly. However, we remain a nation wallowing in debt. And this applies from the government down to the humblest of families.
Terry Bell
Opinion | 21 July 2014
“The misery of people here is very great, with beggars innumerable and increasing every day....pigs and calves live better than they.” That rhyming comment could apply to the legions of the poor in many parts of the world today. And South Africa is no exception.
Terry Bell
Opinion | 14 July 2014
There seems to be renewed confidence and determination abroad among organised workers at rank and file level. Increasingly, there are fresh demands for a “living wage”, for the historic wage gap to be closed, and for the voices of the members to be heard.
Terry Bell
Opinion | 7 July 2014
The South African economy is facing a rocky period. But don’t blame the platinum strike or the union or workers involved. That labour dispute was a symptom, not the cause, of problems that had developed outside of the control of the workers.
Terry Bell
Opinion | 30 June 2014
The platinum strike has correctly been categorised as a national crisis, but it is only one aspect of a much more severe crisis that confronts the country. This was highlighted on Tuesday by President Jacob Zuma in his State of the Nation (SoNA) address in which he stressed the economy.
Terry Bell
Opinion | 23 June 2014
Gwede Mantashe, former chairman of the SA Communist Party, former general secretary of the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) and now the powerful secretary-general of the governing ANC, sounded furious this week. In what must qualify as the most ironic case of “we’ve heard all that before”, he blamed the platinum belt strike and the consequent crisis on “white foreigners”.
Terry Bell
Opinion | 13 June 2014
The recent allegations of financial impropriety in the upper ranks of the SA Municipal Workers’ Union are only the latest in a string of similar scandals over the years. And it is little wonder that these have erupted, for many trade unions have transformed themselves into bureaucratic organisations with business links.
Terry Bell
Opinion | 11 June 2014
Misunderstanding and confusion about the platinum sector pay issue persists. And much of the media is to blame for repeating, without analysis, the public relations spin of the mining companies.
Terry Bell
Opinion | 2 June 2014
For all the special pleading by the major teachers’ union, Sadtu and the assertions by basic education minister Angie Motshekga that all is well, our schooling system is in crisis.
Terry Bell
Opinion | 26 May 2014
Nursing unions and the media noted last week that Monday was a day dedicated to nurses, to those who treat the sick and the ailing. And, as they did so, they continued to perpetuate a myth.
Terry Bell
Opinion | 19 May 2014
The voting is over, the counting complete — and there have been no major surprises. But for many it will be recriminations rather than celebrations that will follow what will almost certainly be regarded as a watershed election, signalling changes to come.
Terry Bell
News | 12 May 2014