Cosatu mass action against rising costs

[Dave A]

Oh boy!

The Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) plans to embark on rolling mass action against rising food, electricity and transport costs, as well as interest rates, the South African Broadcasting Corporation reported on Wednesday.

This comes after the Competition Commission announced the formation of a crack team to investigate price-fixing in the food industry.

Cosatu secretary general Zwelinzima Vavi said the labour federation will mobilise the public to show its ''anger in the streets''.

He said a series of marches, demonstrations and stay-aways will begin from next week.

"We have made a call for every organisation in South Africa to join us, so we can build the biggest coalition of organisations opposed to the current hikes, particularly in the food prices.

"This would put pressure on food manufacturers, retail companies and farmers, so that they stop profiting on the expense of the poor and ordinary South Africans."

Cosatu said its protest action will be directed at Business Unity South Africa and its relative affiliates, farmers' organisations, and government departments such as agriculture and land affairs, trade and industry, social development and the Treasury
from M&G here

Now is this protest really going to bring any prices down, or will it in fact cause even more upward pressure on prices?

[Marq]

If ever one was wondering as to why our productivity levels are back to 1980 levels - stop wondering and look at the strikes, rolling mass action, demonstrations, stay aways, public holidays, parliament opening days, etc all in the name of human rights, raising the poor, social development and any other excuse one can muster these days.

So right on Dave - here comes another factor for price increases.

Somehow Cosatu and their merry band of Robbing hood activities do not relate productivity to increases in anything.
Basic economics not known? I don't think so.
Another agenda? - I think so.
What that could be? I have no idea at this stage.

They must know that they are knocking at the wrong doors. they must surely know a local demonstration is not going to worry OPEC or the international markets - a key source of their problem. Local guys going to lower their profits and take a knock - I think not and they know this in advance.

So back to the thought - what is the hidden agenda?
Could it be another stab at Mbeki to make JZ look good?

[Dave A]

I think it's a move to increase popular support and get more influence wthin the ANC.

JZ has been making lots of friendly noises to the capitalist pigs of late.

[Jabu]

It does not matter if the mass action brings prices down. What matters is that Cosatu cares for the people. We are struggling and we need to know that people are trying to make things better for us.

[duncan drennan]

It does not matter if the mass action brings prices down. What matters is that Cosatu cares for the people. We are struggling and we need to know that people are trying to make things better for us.

That is just the thing - it does not appear that Cosatu cares for the people. Rolling mass action leads, eventually, to price hikes and job losses. How does that help?

[Dave A]

Stand by

[Marq]

mmmmmmm.........for what?

[Dave A]

Reasons and justifications can be surprising at times.

The African National Congress (ANC) on Thursday called on the Competition Commission to intensify its investigations into the causes of high food prices.

Spokesperson Jessie Duarte said all stakeholders in food prices should convene an urgent meeting to discuss ways of minimising the effect of high food prices on the poor.

"The ANC once again wishes to register its concern over the continued escalation of food prices," said Duarte.

The Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) announced on Tuesday that it planned to protest against rising food prices starting from next week.

Spokesperson Patrick Craven said Cosatu would engage in mass demonstrations and demand a reduction in the price of bread and other basic commodities where prices were high.

On Wednesday, Cosatu applied to the National Economic Development and Labour Council (Nedlac) for permission to hold the food-price protests.

In its application to Nedlac, the federation targeted companies affiliated to Business Unity SA, as it felt they were responsible for price-fixing and increased pricing.
full story from M&G here

[Chatmaster]

One thing that I have picked up in my discussions with my partners within my BEE company is that they are convinced that the income gap between employees and employers are not sitting well with people within the COSATU, ANC and SACP groups. They feel that the gap should be made smaller.

What I do not get is that they are all earning ten times more than their employees and within their own companies and organizations the income gaps are much larger than I would think it should be. It is without a doubt not a case of practice what you preach.

What I would like to see is that the press and media expose these strategies for what it is. Subtle propaganda for a clearly political agenda. I can not think of anything good that will come from this idea from COSATU especially if the real cause of the problem comes from the ANC's inability to manage their governmental responsibilities properly.

I definitely feel that if they just get a few things right it will already have a big impact on improving the economy.

• Appoint the right people to head up the SAPS and Judiciary, so there can be a real impact on crime.
• Allow competition to compete with ESKOM and Telkom.
• Remove their levies and taxes on Petrol and allow competitive pricing in petrol. They are not utilizing the funds from these costing structures for it's purpose in any case.
• Ensure that the funds allocated according to the budget are spent properly and that the services paid for are rendered.

COSATU can go and dance as much as they like, it is not business that is causing these price increases, it is Mbeki and his team that are the real culprits.

[Marq]

not sitting well with people within the COSATU, ANC and SACP groups. They feel that the gap should be made smaller.

Thats because they are all socialists trying to lead us to communism. Except for the ANC who are just playing lip service at the moment. Your partners have learned the real value of being a capitalist and never the twain will meet again.

They are on a path to ensure that we are all brought down to the lowest common denominator. Then we can all sit under a tree, contemplate our navels and lead a relaxing life. End of the struggle - So what's wrong with that?

[Jabu]

That is just the thing - it does not appear that Cosatu cares for the people. Rolling mass action leads, eventually, to price hikes and job losses. How does that help?

How has doing nothing helped? There has been collusion and profiteering on the bread prices. The poor have been victimised. This is criminal behaviour. Where else has there been price fixing?

Cosatu is doing something because they care for the members and the people. This is how we bring attention to the problems and make business care too because they do not care. All they see is cheap labour that must buy what they make so that they can have big houses and big cars.

The workers want a better life and Cosatu will help them get it.

The ANC have forgotten the workers. They need to be reminded too who is important.

It is better we suffer a bit more now and get a better future. We are suffering anyway.

[Debbiedle]

Oh Boy! Am I putting my neck out here.

I am with Jabu! The price of food has escalated astronomically world wide. Mostly because some wheat and corn farmers are able to sell at a better price for the manufacture of fuel. Secondly because the Chinese have increased their pig farming efforts by leaps and bounds - pigs eat corn. Thirdly because of adverse weather in Australia due to global warming and also because of the weather conditions in Malaysia where the palm oil for cooking oil starts its life.

The costs have very little to do with production but more so with profiteering and huge capitalist margins for investors, they also have to do with the greed of corporations world wide. If the riots (globally) and the marches only serve to bring the attention of the average person to the plight of the poor, they are worth it.

It is fine sitting here behind a PC in a comfortable office chair that I have worked my ass off to earn, but I do grant it for others as well. At the moment there are billions of people all over the world with no food. In South Africa alone there are millions and many of them DO work.

I am of the opinion that we have become desensitised not only to violence but also to good plain empathy and care. The spirit of Ubunthu MUST prevail.

Just a chilling thought. Corporates as well as any other business, are run, managed and steered by human beings. Let's not shift the blame. Most of us here can influence this world for the better - exert your good influence on the guy next to you and refuse to do underhanded deals and be part of corruption, refuse to be greedy ......stand up for what you believe in but do it today.

[Dave A]

Food inflation is certainly international news right now. Here are some snippets from stories that have caught my eye.

Massive production of biofuels is "a crime against humanity" because of its impact on global food prices, a UN official said Monday on German radio.

"Producing biofuels today is a crime against humanity," UN Special Rapporteur for the Right to Food Jean Ziegler told Bayerischer Runfunk radio.

Using arable land to produce crops for biofuels has reduced surfaces available to grow food, many observers warn.

Ziegler also accused the European Union of agricultural dumping in Africa.

"The EU finances the exports of European agricultural surpluses to Africa ... where they are offered at one half or one third of their (production) price," the UN official charged.

"That completely ruins African agriculture," he added.

"In addition, international market speculation on food commodities must cease," Zielger said.

In recent months, rising food costs have sparked violent protests in Cameroon, Egypt, Ethiopia, Haiti, Indonesia, Ivory Coast, Madagascar, Mauritania, the Philippines and other countries.

In Pakistan and Thailand, army troops have been deployed to avoid the seizure of food from fields and warehouses, while price increases fuelled a general strike in Burkina Faso.
full story from Business Report here

A doubling of food prices over the past three years could push 100-million people in poorer developing countries further into poverty and governments must step in to tackle the issue, World Bank president Robert Zoellick said on Sunday.

"Based on a rough analysis, we estimate that a doubling of food prices over the last three years could potentially push 100-million people in low-income countries deeper into poverty," Zoellick said in a statement at the end of the World Bank spring meeting in Washington, DC.

"This is not just a question about short-term needs, as important as those are. This is about ensuring that future generations don't pay a price too," he said.

Calling on governments to begin tackling the issue, Zoellick said: "We have to put our money where our mouth is now so that we can put food into hungry mouths. It's as stark as that."

"Food prices, if they go on like they are doing today ... the consequences will be terrible," IMF MD Dominique Strauss-Kahn said on Saturday.

"As we know, learning from the past, those kind of questions sometimes end in war," Straus-Kahn warned.

A World Bank report last week said global wheat prices jumped by 181% over the 36 months to February, with overall food prices up 83%.

In Pakistan and Thailand, troops have been deployed to prevent the seizure of food, especially rice, from fields and warehouses.
full story from M&G here

[Dave A]

I feel like we are edging closer to a perfect storm. There is an accumulation of relatively minor changes when viewed in isolation that are starting to combine in a less than attractive direction in a rather massive way.

My thinking on the food issue in particular was jolted somewhat when I saw a headline a week or so ago about Africa and decentralisation. The thrust was that some conference suggested that decentralisation was something that needed to be part of Africa's solution to food shortages and poverty.

I disagree. In fact, I lean in exactly the opposite direction.

I was watching a movie set in New York NY the other evening and it had one of those hustle and bustle street scenes with hordes of people scurrying around the street. It struck me that a city cannot survive without a commercial farming community feeding it. The food supply chain is a critical component of just how a civilisation and the economy is shaped.

Here is the problem with decentralisation as I see it - it tends to produce subsistence farming. What we need in Africa is a massive increase in commercial farming.

Now I can't help but think of the American mid-west (I think that's what they call it - basically the plains that make up the agricultural heartland of the USA). One of the complaints about the area is that the youth is leaving for the cities and an aging and declining population is responsible for the bulk of food production for the USA. Population density is dropping off dramatically and towns are dying in this area. And yet you cannot argue with the fact that food production in this area is extremely efficient.

The massive urban population of the USA is sustainable due to the massive scale of commercial farming. I wonder if the total population could be supported if most of the arable land was taken up with subsistence and small scale farming?

We don't need to look far north to find an extreme example of the exact opposite. Zimbabwe has a desperate food shortage. And at the same time there is an extended flood warning because the rainy season has not only been heavier than average; it is expected to last longer than usual.

This is not a problem generated by unfavourable climate issues. The problem is the reduction of large scale commercial agriculture and an increase in small scale and subsistence farming. And at the root of that lies the politics of the region. To some extent poor politics as a cause of food supply problems extends to much of Africa.

I'm not convinced Cosatu's rolling mass action will solve the problem. But I do know that governments are going to have to radically rethink food security issues.

As I recall, the French Revolution started out as a food riot.

[Debbiedle]

I agree Dave - Cosatu march no solution, but hopefully somewhere a very small part of a potential solution.

On the other hand...

I don't think we should commercialise more. The cost to the planet is too high. I forget the persons name but she is an Indian lady with a doctorate in something or other and has done some studies on various African countries...she was out here with the summit for sustainable development a few years ago.

She quoted a particular country - the name eludes me - as the ONLY country in Africa that has shown true growth.

Measured against independence from others, carbon footprint, population figures, longevity and others that I forget.

I think what has to happen is that we must start measuring differently - remember the French prime minister had the quality of life measurement. This is what we need to be doing to have a planet for our children and their children. Hell think about it, if you just recently bought an African Grey Parrot who can easily live for 100 years, will there be a planet for him?