LETTER: Businesses are not a problem to labour, they are solution
Much time and effort in SA is spent bashing enterprises, yet they are the lifeblood of any economy
Here we go again. The headline reads “Workers trapped in a serial injustice cycle” (February 4). In the SA of today, anyone is lucky to be a worker at all. No matter who we blame for the economy, the constant harping against business is the serial injustice that really matters. The columnist uses a story covering about 40 years during which some related employees were dismissed; one for failure to attend training sessions, and another a temporary employee retrenched (but securing another job). At one time “negotiations with management” had resulted in a doubling of the hourly pay rate. The columnist mentions one employee’s father who, 16 years earlier as president of Cosatu, had called for a consumer boycott of the cereal company, thus contriving to interpret these events as some sort of family-worker vendetta, or as he states a “familial bout of déjà vu”. When will we acknowledge that the blessing of enterprise is sadly a fragile concept which is subject to competition and vicissit...
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.
Subscribe now to unlock this article.
Support BusinessLIVE’s award-winning journalism for R129 per month (digital access only).
There’s never been a more important time to support independent journalism in SA. Our subscription packages now offer an ad-free experience for readers.
Cancel anytime.
Questions? Email helpdesk@businesslive.co.za or call 0860 52 52 00. Got a subscription voucher? Redeem it now.