The economic and social conditions in which anti-migrant sentiment has exploded in South Africa include high joblessness and a collapse of government services.
- Senior lecturer, University of the Witwatersrand
South Africa is proposing to extend labour and social protections to platform workers.
There are ways in which platform workers can resist the rise in job insecurity and poor working conditions brought on by digital labour platforms.
Social protection on its own doesn’t shift the dial. Radical economic policies are needed to tackle poverty and inequality.
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Innovation in the digital space is not necessarily working for people in the global south.
Mozambique’s trade unions have not been a strong force in society – which has left a space for others to fill.
Digital platform work is often seen to suit workers’ skills, interests and schedules. But it comes at a cost to their economic security and control over the work process.
The narrative of the Fourth Industrial Revolution is more aspiration than reality.
Basic income must be embedded within a broader strategy of economic reform, aimed at increasing the social wage and improving working conditions.
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