Does COSATU really care about the poor? If you read between the lines in Francis Teal's latest CSAE blog post, the answer is a definitive no. He argues that labour unions - in the spirit of the International Labour Organisation - claims to fight for "decent jobs" for poor people. It sounds noble, but it has the effect that only "the lucky (well-educated) few who get these good jobs" benefit at the cost of the rest. These capital-intensive "decent jobs" could have benefited millions more. He cites South Africa as prime example: while the country "has by far the largest number of decent jobs in sub-Saharan Africa, it also has one of the highest unemployment rates in the world."
COSATU and the poor
COSATU and the poor
COSATU and the poor
Does COSATU really care about the poor? If you read between the lines in Francis Teal's latest CSAE blog post, the answer is a definitive no. He argues that labour unions - in the spirit of the International Labour Organisation - claims to fight for "decent jobs" for poor people. It sounds noble, but it has the effect that only "the lucky (well-educated) few who get these good jobs" benefit at the cost of the rest. These capital-intensive "decent jobs" could have benefited millions more. He cites South Africa as prime example: while the country "has by far the largest number of decent jobs in sub-Saharan Africa, it also has one of the highest unemployment rates in the world."