Articles for Terry Bell

Unions justified to demand double digit pay increases

But is the labour movement sufficiently united, independent and democratic to defend workers?

By

Opinion | 8 February 2016

World leaders fail to face our biggest economic crisis

No change in mindset at World Economic Forum in Davos means job losses will continue

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Opinion | 1 February 2016

Cosatu decision to host WFTU questioned

Federation's hosting of controversial congress might cause rift with overseas trade unions

WEF has no answers for job losses

Klaus Schwab has blinkered view of robotics revolution and employment

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Opinion | 25 January 2016

Echoes of 1998 in the student protests

Time for a new economic policy

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Opinion | 20 January 2016

Robots will replace most jobs

And our current economic system is not prepared for it.

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Opinion | 11 January 2016

Cosatu is not dying, but better leadership is needed

The American writer and humourist Mark Twain once wrote, following an erroneous report of his death, that it was an exaggeration. The same can be said about Cosatu.

Terry Bell

Opinion | 7 December 2015

Cosatu can learn from Corbyn to avoid slipping into irrelevance

“The ANC came before democracy.” This statement by President Jacob Zuma was obviously incorrect since the concept of democracy pre-dated the formation of the ANC in 1912 by about 2,500 years.

Terry Bell

Opinion | 30 November 2015

Sunday Times editor ‘was a spy’

One of the most successful agents of the apartheid state was the editor in chief of the country’s leading Sunday newspaper, the Sunday Times. This claim is contained in a book by veteran journalist John Matisonn to be released this week.

Terry Bell

News | 30 November 2015

Socialism: myths, prejudices and reality

The global economic crisis continues and makes for a widespread and desperate need among the lowly paid, the poor and the hungry for something better to look forward to.

Terry Bell

Opinion | 26 November 2015

The cost of death for the living

We, as a nation, are deeply in debt. And that is very worrying, with declining disposable incomes the rising costs of living and with another festive season fast approaching. Government admits that many households are drowning in debt”. So the plea is for citizens to save more and to retain pensions rather than cash in existing provisions.

Terry Bell

Opinion | 5 October 2015

Getting the facts right on assessments

To test or not to test? That is not the question although it is the way the current row about basic education has largely been presented.

Terry Bell

Opinion | 29 September 2015

Making robots work for us

If the rise of robots — the spread of automation — is killing jobs and threatening the world with disaster, how can this be seen as potentially beneficial? It’s a question that is frequently asked and seldom answered.

Terry Bell

Opinion | 21 September 2015

Act now to protect Western Cape’s bees

South Africa’s R7 billion a year fruit industry is threatened with potentially massive job and financial losses. It is a looming crisis that calls for urgent and comprehensive action at government level before the threat, still restricted to the Western Cape, spreads. It is also something that highlights the integrated nature of the modern economy.

Terry Bell

Opinion | 14 September 2015

Is the sale of sexual favours work?

What is work? This question came very much to the fore over the past week after Amnesty International, called for “sex work” to be decriminalised. The international human rights organisation made the call after a two-year investigation into the “sex industry”. It came shortly after two local gender equality and human rights groups also called for law change.

Terry Bell

Opinion | 7 September 2015

What solution to a world in crisis?

Oh, when will they ever learn? It’s the last line in every stanza of a famous Pete Seeger anti-war song. And it is wholly appropriate this week as we digest the latest GDP figures against a background of ongoing crises especially in the steel, mining and manufacturing sectors. Along with, of course, the continuing collapse of the rand.

Terry Bell

Opinion | 31 August 2015