Xenophobia
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Truck strike or something else? This is all about whether you are South African or a foreigner and nothing else. Why Africa can't get along with each other has been a problem and why it can't be united. They don't respect each other and there is always some underlying petty jealousy.
Today we saw day one of a Nationwide truck strike. Many trucks are still operating though so it is not 100 Percent supported. If you are a truck driver and have a job are you going to jeopardise it by striking? Some will and others who treasure their jobs will be threatened and is another reason why so many South African truck drivers are unemployed. What was odd was many drivers had to pay bribes in order to carry on driving today. All I can say only in Africa you find this shit.
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We have seen intimidation today with trucks that are operating coming under attack. Drivers were threatened by being shot or petrol bombed if they didn't abandon their vehicles. They are not joking as in every province there are burnt out wrecks littering the roads. The industry is strained already with only a small percentage of trucks operating for essential services. How burning trucks is going to protect their jobs long term is plain dumb.
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This is illegal checking nationalities of truck drivers.
The All Truck Drivers Foundation is supporting the strike action and not organising it apparently. They said this is a peaceful strike yet we have drivers being threatened and trucks burning. I have no idea what law they hold if any by stopping trucks checking the nationalities of the drivers. As far as I am concerned the car being driven like that is breaking every rule of the road. Covering the brake and indicator lights plus the number plate tells me what they are doing is illegal. This just sounds like a Labour Union trying to flex it's muscles showing their value and why the drivers have to pay in monthly.I am sure if the foreigners paid them a monthly retainer to represent them then they would keep quiet.
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This is the reality of the current economic climate right now and companies are down sizing to survive. one of my clients is in the top 5 trucking companies in south Africa and they are only operating at 20 percent right now. there is no furlough pay here and companies have to make do. How long is a piece of string as every company can only last so long before there is no money left.
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The reality is that private trucking firms have less hassle employing foreigners. They are not being held to ransom every year demanding 15% pay increases which aren't sustainable. Employing local drivers is just too much hassle with too many headaches and is just not worth it. The Unions are too blame for their job losses as companies have given up hope of dealing with them. A few years ago my mate who owns over a hundred trucks lost nearly 3 weeks of business over striking drivers. He refuses to hire a South African driver as it nearly crippled his business.
There was another incident today which I can't show as it was too gruesome. A petrol tanker was pulled off the road and hordes of people came to steal the petrol with various plastic containers. What happened next was kind of on the cards as it blew up after catching alight giving the thieves no chance killing most of them.
The economy is tanking right now and these strikes are not what is needed. The Army is being deployed, but I have yet to see them sort this out.
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Absolutely horrible, deplorable and I don’t condone violence in any shape or form if you can’t peacefully protest then don’t! It’s the same happening with the taxi industry both logistics and public transport are subsidized businesses by the government given inflated capital which is stolen and not given to the end user/provider of service
It’s been allowed to run like this for years and now that we’re seeing a correction and no stimulus we seeing it fall apart! Many of the staff also work for subsistence wages while the owners pillage the contracts and now have nothing left to live on!
It’s the snake eating itself now, sadly all industries of fraud and mid allocation of capital are being exposed
That is pretty terrible with the explosion.
I have never really understood union mentality as they single-mindedly drive up costs until the companies move all together, if they can.
When Finland had its own currency, the wage hikes would be counteracted by devaluation (=central bank would lower the value of the markka) in order to boost the competitiveness of the export industries.
It doesn't sound like a sustainable approach in a globalized world where a lot of companies are borderless.
Why? Multinational companies pay salaries in local currencies anyway. So what if the salaries are increased if the exchange rate of that currency goes down at the same time keeping the dollar value hike of the salaries moderate or non-existent.
We as consumers buy directly across borders too.
Why would that be a problem for the old model?
What was amazon and eBay doing at that point, Microsoft, storage hosting?
You don't see an issue with a government influencing where and what you can buy?
The problem is that no decision lives in a vacuum, and with governments all over the world doing what is in their best interest, the system is getting more and more unstable with far more slipping through the cracks and living outside it. The banking system itself that underpins it all is global, and that means the decisions made at a country level sit upon it, not under it. 2008 should highlight this dependency.
That is exactly what is happening and makes no logic except to the Union. They are trying to justify their existence at the same time as driving jobs away.
Explosion was shocking and a terrible way to die for many.
Sadly it is not just Africa. People are having a hard time getting along all over the world for some reason. This level of violence is just unacceptable though.