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In what has become an annual event, South African unions are again striking for better wages. While the unions claim wage hikes will reduce inequality, critics say they cause youth unemployment. Union activists say that South Africa is the most unequal society in the world and that their demands seek to fix that.
COSATU Secretary General Zwelinzima Vavi argues that it is a disgrace that 57 percent of South Africans live on less than R325 a month while some company executives earn up to R59 million a year. The effects of a hard strike season go beyond the usual shortages of fuel at petrol stations or the piling up of garbage; they go into the politics of who rules South Africa, and the future economic competitiveness of a developing country that desperately wants to attract foreign capital and create new jobs.
Join us for a discussion of these issues with Leonard Gentle, Director of the International Labour and Research Information Group.
Speaker: Leonard Gentle, Director of the International Labour and Research Information Group
When: Thursday, 1 September, 2011
Venue: Auditorium 1, New Lecture Building, Church Street, University of Fort Hare, East London
Time: 17:30
Refreshments will be served
For more information and to RSVP please contact Colleen on 043 701 3442 or email colleen@ecsecc.org
Published in Cosatu Today 23 August 2011
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