I have been asked to comment on the strikes taking place in South Africa. Obviously it’s relevant for the “SA Rocks guy” to have an opinion on something this controversial in SA right now.
I’ll give it my best go.
I think that teachers, doctors and nurses deserve to be paid a wage that reflects their value to the community and legally if they feel they are not being paid sufficiently they have the right to strike.
In my head striking involves a lack of action or inaction. A conscious decision to NOT work. Not to work at destroying structures, people, businesses and potential killing patients and babies at hospitals. This is inexcusable.
There is no problem with not going to work. There is a problem when you prevent people from entering hospitals, when you raid operating theaters and abandon other peoples children when you are responsible for their lives. This, I have a problem with.
Ivo Vegter has written a fantastic article on the topic over at the Daily Maverick. Read it, it has great value and one of the smartest things in his article is his calculation that ultimately what is being asked for by strikers is equal to a 20% increase. I’m sure there are many, many people the world over who would like a 20% wage increase but it just doesn’t work that way. I’m also sure there are many people who wish to resort to violence and blackmail when they don’t get the increase they desire but blackmail is illegal. Striking, however, is not illegal in South Africa.
Let me state the following as clearly as I can: I do not berate the rights of people in South Africa to strike. I am berating their choice of striking methodology and the helpless, innocent people they have been placing in harms way.
I also need to openly state that I don’t believe that the actions of the few reflect the state of many. I believe there are doctors, nurses and teachers who deserve an increase and are hoping for the issue to be resolved quickly and quietly. I don’t think that SA sucks because a mob got out of hand, I don’t think this is a problem that is unique to South Africa. I just think that it is a problem we are experiencing right now and it too shall be resolved and pass over like many other strikes we have experienced over many years.
South Africa is as unique as any other country, let the naysayers not be so brave as to state that we are the only country in the world that has striking civil servants, we are not. Let us not be so brave as to think that our country will never incur problems and when we do let us not be so stupid as to feel shocked, appalled and offended that we do have problems. Not every problem (however unnecessary or violent) warrants the end of days.
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August 24th, 2010 at 10:59 am
Well said Nic.
Finally, someone with enough backbone to admit that there are problems but can maintain the resolution that it’s not the end, it’s never the end. Your words are always as inspirational as they are aspirational.
August 25th, 2010 at 9:52 am
This is a very one sided argument.I think both parties must bear the responsibility. I have written an article on this, which explains my position. http://sacsis.org.za/site/article/535.1
August 26th, 2010 at 6:59 pm
Protests are indicative of a healthy and robust democracy. South Africans clearly have a say in the running of their country and as free citizens are demonstrating their displeasure at what they are receiving as remuneration for services rendered. Having said that, there are right ways and wrong ways to protest, and it appears that what is happening there is perhaps the wrong kind of protesting which is keeping the sick and ailing out of hospitals and students out of schools. Clearly this protesting is doing more harm than good to SA at large and I applaud your stance on this situation to “not berate the rights of people in South Africa to strike…(but) berating their choice of striking methodology and the helpless, innocent people they have been placing in harms way.”
August 26th, 2010 at 7:40 pm
In principle I agree with your posting, Nic.
The flawed logic aside, that “South Africa is as unique as any other country”, your posting condemns a strike that should never have been declared. While you avoid the accurate labels of “outrage, travesty and infamy” for this particular strike, you still manage to express some criticism for the mass walk-out. I applaud you for that.
The true travesty of the strikers – by far exceeding their right for reasonable strike action – is that the government’s offer of 16.7% income increase (7% + 730 housing allowance) is being met by outrageously exceeding demands from communistm inspired hooligans and their unions.
This strike should be called illegal. It threatens and jeopardises lives, has claimed already numerous victims and breaches common sense as well as economic realities. The strike leaders should be in jail.
August 28th, 2010 at 4:11 pm
Collective bargaining is a democratic right of every South African employee, but unions need to understand that every action has a reaction in the economy. Instead of ego’s and pride there needs to be compromise.
The affect of what unions are asking for, if given, will drastically lessen what is in my pocket. Why? The raising of taxes will be the first solution to countering the higher salaries paid to government workers.
September 3rd, 2010 at 9:37 am
HOW DOES SOUTH AFRICA NOT SUCK? IF IT ISNT STRIKES ITS CRIME, FRAUD YOU NAME IT WE GOT IT AND MORE OF IT. POEPLE IN THIS COUNTRY THINK OF ONE THING AND ONE THING ALONE THEMSELVES, DOING THINGS TO BENIFIT THEMSELVES AND NOT GIVING A NOTHER THOUGHT TO THE POEPLE BEING HURT IN THE PROSES ‘AS LONG AS WE GET WHAT WE WANT’ THEY SAY. WELL I SAY AS SOON AS IT IS POSIBLE I AM GET OUT OF THE COUNTRY AS FAST AS I CAN. IT IS IN NO WAY POSIBLE TO BE PROUDLY SOUTH AFRICA THERE IS VERY LITTLE LEFT TO BE PROUD OF AND THAT LITTLE IS SLOWLY BEING DESTROYED. AND I DONT WHAT TO BE HERE TO SEE IT HAPPEN.
PS. IT IS SAD BUT STILL TRUE. I WILL NOT LIVE IN DENIAL.
QUICK HELP WITH THE WORD DENIAL. Denial is a defense mechanism postulated by Sigmund Freud, in which a person is faced with a fact that is too uncomfortable to accept and rejects it instead, insisting that it is not true despite what may be overwhelming evidence.
September 6th, 2010 at 10:04 pm
If the media decide to print the true cost of a strike to the striking employee they might thinkg twice before going on strike. Since all legal strikes are based on a no work no pay basis.
Let’s say for example a company/department decides to give a 5% increase and employees go on strike and after a month strike they agree on a 7.5% increase. The strike gave them a 2.5% benefit BUT they lost a months salary. This means that for 40 months they will have to forfeit the 2.5% to break even. Do they know this?
September 7th, 2010 at 9:50 am
Let me state the following as clearly as I can: I do not berate the rights of people in South Africa to strike. I am berating their choice of striking methodology and the helpless, innocent people they have been placing in harms way.
The above statement is quite true, and i experienced both sides of the coin. My sister is a civil servant, and my aunt was lying in a government hopsital next to 3 corpes, striking is not necessarily illegal but it becomes legal when innocent lives are affected and Reuben is quite right, the strikers probably lost more than the perceived gain. Unions could play in a role in proper educating the strikers beyond the monetary gain because apart from trying to break-even every month when government gives more than what they can afford, it has an impact on inflation
What I do like though is that there are those who stepped in to help (and they are not celebrated enough)at hopsitals, Netcare did not turn away the sick even though they had no medical aid, and I especially Thank Union Hospital (in Alberton) for assisting my aunt,and providing her with care that she needed! For me it shows that South Africans Rock!
Sure we have problems and we’re not necessarily downplaying them, but there’s still hope!
January 30th, 2011 at 4:07 am
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November 11th, 2011 at 2:09 am
An attention-grabbing discussion is worth a comment. I think that you must write more on this subject, it might not be a taboo subject however usually individuals are not sufficient to speak on such topics. To the next. Cheers
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