Publications
Partners
PEOPLE as diverse as Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (Amcu) president Joseph Mathunjwa and Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan now seem to acknowledge that the digital "Fourth Industrial Revolution" will spell serious job losses; that something must be done about this “rise of the robots”, says Terry Bell in his latest Labour Wrap.
However, he maintains that such fears are being expressed within a context where it is generally accepted that the way out of the present economic crisis is greater productivity and economic growth. He sees this stance as “ridiculous”, since he maintains that the crisis is the result of overproduction and overcapacity caused by greater productivity.
So searching for a recipe in increased production and growth is, he maintains, a futile exercise. But he admits that there have been benefits gained from greater productivity and economic growth.
However, these have flowed mainly to a tiny minority of the world’s growing population. In short: the rich have become richer, in the process creating an ever-widening pool of often hungry and increasingly desperate and angry people.
This, Bell claims, has seen the emergence of strongly policed and protected islands of affluence in what is beginning to look like a spreading and turbulent sea of discarded humanity. It is this that has resulted in growing calls, especially within the labour movement, to radically alter a political and economic system that seems bent on self-destruction.
But that minority who benefit greatly from the system seems mesmerised by the illusion that constant rises in productivity and growth within the current order are possible. And they do all in their power to persuade the bulk of an increasingly cynical populace that this is so.
The latest remedy proposed is that a "Fourth Manufacturing Revolution" must be ushered in; that using technological breakthroughs such as 3D printing manufacturing, once outsourced to countries such as China, can be “brought home”.
This sounds seductive, says Bell. Except that it is based on exactly the same false premise of greater productivity within a system incapable of ensuring that this will be to the benefit of all.
* Add your voice or just drop Terry a labour question. Follow Terry on twitter @telbelsa
Read Fin24's top stories trending on Twitter: Fin24’s top stories
