Bear with me as I give you my reflections.
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| Commuters queue for minibus taxis in Johannesburg. Picture: SUNDAY TIMES |
This sounds wonderful, difficult not to agree in principle. No offence intended, but I'm afraid that it is a first world luxury that goes with a home swimming pool and a jacuzzi. The Toronto Star recently ran a series on Third World sweat shops. This poster for them is the stuff of dreams. The same goes for farm labourers and peasant farmers, and for thousands of Black South Africans who stand in queues for an hour or more, literally, for their turn to get into a minibus taxi that will take an hour before they get to their place of work or home again. As for the large numbers of unemployed, most would love to have the opportunity to work overtime - at least until they've had to do it through the winter.
If you can always leave the office on time, thank Heaven for the privilege, but spare a thought for the overwhelming majority of the earth's workers whose only choice is to work for as long as they are told or beg on the streets.
These people are not fools or losers. They are fathers, mothers, brothers and sisters who are modern day saints helping to keep their families alive. The bad news is that a lot of these overworked and underpaid workers are the reason for much unemployment in Europe, the US and Canada - among others. I give up. I have no idea what the solution is.
