[lg policy] South Africa: May Day and pro-labour Umbrella policies-Part 2

Sat May 12 16:21:41 UTC 2012

May Day and pro-labour Umbrella policies-Part 2

Chronic food insufficiency blights the lives of 24 percent of the
population.

   Article Tools  0
Comments<http://www.mmegi.bw/index.php?sid=10&aid=163&dir=2012/May/Friday11#mmegi_comments>
Share
this!!!  E-mail a friendPrint   In 2006 the International Food Policy
Research Institute's Global Hunger Index concluded that Botswana has a
serious hunger crisis which has worsened over a period of ten years when
the country experienced economic growth.

These social ills are compounded by declining public spending vis-a-vis
escalating defense expenditure. Although the security our people real need
is social security - security against hunger, poverty, disease, arbitrary
power and exploitation, and not military security, the country's defense
expenditure of three percent of the GDP is the second highest in the SADC
region after South Africa - having escalated  up to seven percent of the
GDP around 2007.  Between 1990 and 2002 education expenditure as a
percentage of GDP declined from 6.2 percent to 2.2 percent, health
expenditure stagnated at 3.7 while defense expenditure remained as high as
4.1 percent.

It is against this backdrop that the four opposition parties adopted a
progressive Social Democratic Programme in October 2011 whose main thrust
supports the minimum social demands of the workers and poor peasants. For
instance, the adoption of producer and consumer agricultural cooperatives
and housing cooperatives will benefit and empower the working class.

The programme explicitly rejects the BDP's commitment to a neo-liberal
minimalist state and asserts the principle of a
developmental/interventionist 'people-centred' state.

The radical inequalities alluded to above can only be addressed by a state
that deliberately intervenes in the economy on behalf of the oppressed.  In
this vein, the Umbrella policies reject the BDP's privatization juggernaut
into every sphere of our lives  including the selling off parastatals or
public enterprises to the private sector with its concomitant scourge of
laying off thousands of workers. In the words of the BMD, the Umbrella
programme undertakes to 'optimize and promote public enterprises' to render
these 'national assets' more efficient and save jobs.

In its totality the Umbrella programme  can be characterized as  a
democratic developmental state. Contrary to the ideology of globalization
historically of all  successful industrializations have relied on a strong
state, but the later the industrialization, the greater the need for
stronger state intervention in the economy.

Hence the decision by the Umbrella United Front to pursue a selective
industrial policy which entails the identification and promotion of key
strategic industries in areas such as mining, food production, transport
and medicine and to prioritize the establishment of manufacturing
industries with forward and backward linkages that will maximize skills
development and  employment creation.

If India which is not a major diamond producer employs a million people in
that industry, it  stands to reason that  under visionary leadership
Botswana as a leading producer of diamonds should be able to employ all its
people in this single industry.

In the manufacturing diamond industries in countries like Canada, most
entry level and general administrative jobs as well technical and skilled
jobs such as boilers, materials clerks, office clerks, bruters, diamond
polishers, laser operators, diamond sorters, diamond graders,
scaif/polishing wheel operators, automatic machine setters etc require Form
V  with basic math, physics, basic computer skills, good reading and
writing skills. Secondary diamond industries would  go a long way in
combating youth unemployment in this country. Entry requirements for most
supervisory and professional jobs in the manufacturing of diamonds are a
first degree or college certificate and this would help arrest the growing
problem of the educated unemployed. Secondary diamond industries would
stimulate a range of tertiary industries creating further employment. Under
the BDP regime, these jobs are exported to countries like Belgium and
Israel while our youth are roaming the streets without jobs.  The Umbrella
United Front adopted a range of policies designed to improve the material
living conditions of workers, including the right to unionize and engage in
collective bargaining which will be facilitated by the adoption of a policy
requiring 'companies to disclose information' on their profit levels 'for
purposes of collective bargaining'.  For 44 years (1966 - 2010) the BDP
regime denied public servants the right to unionize by refusing to sign ILO
Convention No. 151. The Umbrella government will 'sign and domesticate all
internationally accepted labour conventions'.

Bolstered by their new trade union status public sector workers embarked on
a historic strike in 2011 demanding a 16 percent hike in their wages. Under
the BDP regime members of the 'disciplined forces' are voiceless. Umbrella
policies call for the right of 'members of the disciplined forces' to form
'associations'. In addition to the ILO conventions, the Umbrella government
will sign and ratify the UN International Covenant on Economic, Social and
Cultural Rights, which the BDP regime failed to sign. Many of rights
denied workers are covered in that covenant.

Umbrella policies commit themselves  the establishment of 'a tripartite
labour forum'  made up of trade unions, employers and government  to
improve the living standards of workers by determining a statutory living
wage and maximizing employment creation.

This forum will accord workers decision-making powers to influence
national  economic and social policies adopted by government. Many European
countries attribute the success and gains in workers living standards to
the tripartite tradition.  In Austria they are referred to as the 'Social
Partnership', in Belgium they have the 'central economic council',  in
Portugal they are called the 'economic and social pact' while Finland and
other Scandinavian countries have had a long-standing tripartite tradition.

Umbrella policies address the need to 'foster empowerment of citizen
employees, through labour laws, collective bargaining etc and the
localization of positions that are in the hands of expatriates'.  The
localization policy will put an end to the neo-colonial two-tier salary
structure of the BDP regime which has been handsomely paying expatriates
possessing the same qualifications and performing the same jobs as their
Batswana counterparts salaries that are three times higher than what locals
are paid since 1966.

The simple principle  propounded by the 1948 UN Declaration on Human Rights
article 23 (2) that 'Everyone, without discrimination, has the right to
equal pay for equal work'  and the 1951  ILO Convention No. 100, the  Equal
Remuneration Convention, which asserts 'the principle of equal remuneration
for men and women for work of equal value'  will be implemented by the
Umbrella government for first time in this country.

In sharp contrast to the BDP regime's commoditization and privatization of
education the Umbrella programme commits itself to the principle of the
right to education which will be compulsory from 'early childhood to form
V'.

Under the BDP early childhood education is privilege of the rich who can
afford the ever-escalating prohibitive fees which serve to widen the gap
between the rich and poor, while under the Umbrella government all children
will enjoy the right to early childhood education.

Allied to this policy is a commitment to the progressive principle of
Education with Production (EwP) which will bridge the BDP's artificial  gap
between theory and practice and put an end to the current elitist, bookish
and white-collar oriented system of education.

It is in the best interest of the working class to bridge the gap between
theory and practice and make education more accessible to all - replacing
the system wastage of the current conventional system of education which is
an expensive way of educating an elite  at the expense of the vast majority
who are thrown by  the wayside as 'drop-outs' every year.  The scourge of
so-called dropouts has assumed frightening proportions with the number of
degree holders roaming the streets increasing every year as Ronald Dore's
classical case of the 'Diploma Disease' wreaks havoc in Botswana.

'Affirmative action policy to education for previously disadvantaged
communities' will put an end to the BDP regime's one-size-fits-all
curriculum which in the case of the ethnically distinct Basarwa communities
amounts to assimilation into the cultures of the dominant Tswana ethic
communities. The language ecology of this country  continues to be
dominated by English - the  overrated language of our former colonial
masters. On the hierarchy of languages English is  at the top followed by
Setswana, subordinated to  English,  and then all other languages receive
no official recognition. They are neither used in schools nor in the public
domain.

*The language policy in schools is outdated and ineffective as it is
informed by research on bilingualism conducted  during the pre-1950s period
which wrongly assumes that subtractive bilingualism or early immersion in
the dominant language, in this instance, English, 'will improve
performance'. In line with the 1953 UNESCO Declaration that 'it is
axiomatic that the best medium for teaching a child is his (sic) mother
tongue' the Umbrella policy of conducting 'instruction in mother tongue at
pre-primary school and primary school' will benefit non-Sotho Tswana
minorities for whom Setswana and English are second and third languages
respectively. This policy has severely compromised their academic
achievement in school. *

The BDP regime finally relented to persistent pressure from the BNF and
trade unions by instituting a rudimentary social security system including
the old age pension scheme but today neo-liberal public sector reforms
threaten to undo this modest achievement. Umbrella policies commit
themselves to the revival of the Keynesian-style welfare state because it
constitutes the workers' 'social wage'. Neo-liberal globalisation is
reducing them to arenas for capitalist greed and profit-making.

The welfare state is a product of mass  struggles and social reforms that
were instituted in the aftermath of the Great Depression of the 1930s and
the two imperialist wars euphemistically called 'World Wars' in the
advanced capitalist countries. The comprehensive Umbrella social security
system includes unemployment benefits for the unemployed, a 'review of old
age pension scheme', 'a policy of inclusivity for the people with
disabilities, disadvantaged individuals and groups',  the right to work,
the right to education, the right to housing and the right to health.  On
health, Umbrella policies embrace the Alma Ata Declaration whose major
highlights are the primary role of the state in the delivery of health
services and the right to housing. In the unlikely event that the BDP
regime ruling this country for another 50 years it can never sort out the
housing crisis into which it has entangled itself.

The vast majority our people live in substandard housing while the rich and
powerful rake in handsome profits through rentals and land racketeering out
of this basic right without the obligation of paying tax. Progressive
Umbrella gender policies include combating 'the patriarchal ideology' - the
root of gender oppression and disparities. It also asserts the principle of
'affirmative action' for the oppressed by developing 'a gender public
education programme'. This will go a long way towards addressing this
intractable structural problem. Pursued to its logical conclusion the
Umbrella policy of 'reviewing the electoral system to ensure broader
representation' should enhance democratic participation of working class
women and oppressed minority ethnic communities through an electoral system
democratized along the lines of proportional representation. For these
reasons, the Umbrella government is the workers' best bet.

http://www.mmegi.bw/index.php?sid=10&aid=163&dir=2012/May/Friday11

-- 
**************************************
N.b.: Listing on the lgpolicy-list is merely intended as a service to its
members
and implies neither approval, confirmation nor agreement by the owner or
sponsor of the list as to the veracity of a message's contents. Members who
disagree with a message are encouraged to post a rebuttal, and to write
directly to the original sender of any offensive message.  A copy of this
may be forwarded to this list as well.  (H. Schiffman, Moderator)

For more information about the lgpolicy-list, go to
https://groups.sas.upenn.edu/mailman/
listinfo/lgpolicy-list
*******************************************
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/lgpolicy-list/attachments/20120512/b557ed95/attachment.htm>
-------------- next part --------------
_______________________________________________
This message came to you by way of the lgpolicy-list mailing list
lgpolicy-list at groups.sas.upenn.edu
To manage your subscription unsubscribe, or arrange digest format: https://groups.sas.upenn.edu/mailman/listinfo/lgpolicy-list