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Inside Labour: Save jobs but also improve quality of life

THERE are many issues currently being fiercely debated in South Africa, all of which involve serious questions around the actual or potential loss of thousands of jobs. They include:

  • Energy policy: closing coal-powered generators, nuclear power and renewable energy;
  • the problem of rising obesity and the tax on sugary drinks;
  • alcohol abuse and the banning of advertising; and
  • The enforcement of plain packaging for cigarettes.

The trade unions in the different sectors involved are campaigning for urgent, short-term measures by government to save jobs, which are or could be at risk as a consequence of actions taken in these areas. 

They are absolutely right to insist that everything is done to save jobs. With unemployment already at such high levels, any more job losses are a blow not only to the workers and families directly affected, but to the country’s economy as productive wealth creators and consumers are reduced to survivalist poverty.

It is important however for the unions not to lose sight of some of the longer-term issues which these debates raise, which will be of no less concern to workers, and in particular not to allow their legitimate concern about jobs to be exploited by employers’ organisations.

Their only concern is about their profits, and the moment their businesses cease to be profitable they do not care about their own workers’ jobs and don’t hesitate to retrench them. 

So we should  be sceptical when employers use the possibility of job losses as their reason to divert attention from criticism of the harmful effects of their products and oppose measures to restrict their practices. 

This is most clear in relation to the tax on sugar-sweetened drinks, alcohol advertising and cigarette packaging. 

There is abundant evidence that obesity, diabetes and other life-threatening conditions are spreading and made worse by the excessive consumption of sugar. 

There is even clearer evidence of alcohol abuse leading to increased crime, road deaths and serious illnesses. Smoking still leads to thousands of early and painful but avoidable deaths

In all these cases, the government has the duty to take steps to deal with these problems. There are legitimate arguments for and against the specific measures the government is proposing - a tax on sugary drinks, a ban on alcohol advertising, and the plain packaging of cigarettes.

But the companies who produce these goods cannot ignore the problems these products cause.

In the case of energy supply, there is a profound debate as to the best way to generate electricity in the future. The underlying problem is that carbon fuels - both coal and oil - will not be there for ever. Long before they are totally exhausted, they will be more and more difficult and expensive to extract. There will also be ongoing problems with the health and safety consequences of extracting coal and oil - for the workers, communities and the environment.

Nuclear power poses all these problems multiplied many times, with potentially disastrous consequence as we saw in Chernobyl in Ukraine and Tokaimura in Japan. 

So there are strong arguments for moving towards renewable energy sources if we want to guarantee future access to power. 

Industries are driven purely by the profit motive

The underlying problem in all these cases is that the companies which run these industries are driven by the need to maximise profits. The same applies to state-owned enterprises like Eskom, which adopt exactly the same capitalist mentality. 

Eskom is not wanting to close coal-fired power stations in Mpumalanga out of concern for the future of the environment, or an eagerness to encourage the use of renewable energy, but simply to maximise profits or minimise losses. That is why the unions are absolutely right to fight against these closures.

In the long term however, workers, like everybody else, will benefit from safe, renewable energy, a healthier environment, fewer killer diseases and less crime.

So while the unions are fully justified in their campaign to save jobs, they should recognise that the only way to secure jobs into the future is to change the whole basis on which the economy is run, and campaign for public ownership and democratic control of all these and other key industries.

That will be the only way to ensure that investment decisions are taken not on the basis of how to make the biggest profits, but based on a plan to not only eradicate the negative effects of dangerous products, but more importantly create jobs and radically improve the lives of workers, communities and the environment in which future generations will live.

If that were done, there would be opportunities to transform the economy, create many new jobs, reduce working hours, make working conditions safer and healthier and provide and a better life for all.

* Patrick Craven is a former national spokesperson of Cosatu and Numsa and a supporter of the Movement for Socialism, which aims to build a new revolutionary socialist workers’ party. Opinions expressed are his own.



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