Labour Wrap: Time to steel ourselves - and act

As the country faces economic stagnation, news has come that once again highlights the lunacy of the economic system, says Terry Bell in his latest Labour Wrap.  And he feels it is high time that trade unions, that once were proactive, should again come to the fore to propose and campaign for alternative policies.

The latest news he refers to is that the South African steel industry may be on its last legs with the Vanderbijlpark steel works facing possible closure with the  loss of nearly 5 000 jobs.  This, he says, comes only months after Highveld Steel and Vanadium shut down, leaving nearly 2 000 wage earners without jobs.  

And these workers, Bell notes, left without being paid. They have now instituted a legal claim for more than R290 million in unpaid wages, bonuses and retrenchment packages.

All this is happening, says Bell, at a time when Transnet is upgrading rail and rolling stock and needing steel and steel products. This in a country that possesses some of the highest grade iron ore in the world along with the plant, machinery and expertise to produce what is required.

He also points out that we should not be surprised because we live in a system that sees millions of South Africans go to bed hungry each night and many more millions of people globally who are in the same boat, inadequately fed, clothed and housed. This in a world where there is more than enough to provide a decent life for everybody.

It is a world, says Bell, where the crisis is not one of shortages, but of over capacity and over production;  a situation that results in the widespread squandering of non-renewable resources and the pollution and despoilation of the planet itself. It is time, he argues, for everyone — and especially organised labour — to take stock and to act to bring about change.