Unions Vs. Small Business in Africa

This article, put up on the news website allAfrica.com, is written by Chris Nwachuku of the Lagos, Nigerian newspaper This Day.

According to the article, the Nigerian government was attempting to craft new labor laws that would ease restrictions on small and "micro-businesses" regarding pro-labor union regulations. That country's union forces have opposed such laws. Now the pro-Marxist ANC government of South Africa and the authoritarian government of Djibouti wish to do likewise.

The pro-Marxist Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU), which - according to the article - was instrumental in stopping the Nigerian bill now wants to stop the similar measure in South Africa. COSATU holds that this package of laws for small and micro-businesses would "be a threat to workers' rights" and a return to "sweatshop conditions" for them.

Union activists in Djibouti believe such similar laws for their country would set the labor movement there back a century. Even the right to collective barganing and organizing is being called into question. According to the article, the current code has been in force since 1952, when the French ran the nation as one of it's colonies. The government didn't help matters any when, in 1999, it set up two "dummy unions" to rivals the small nation's two independent unions. Representatives of the these two "dummy unions" are sent overseas to fool other international labor representatives.

For further background about COSATU, her ties with the Communists, and her role in South Africa's labor unions, visit this article written by Geoffrey Wood for the "History Cooperative" website.

COSATU has, since its 1997 Congress, grown closer with the South African Communist Party. Along with the ANC, COSATU and the SACP formed the "Tripartite Alliance", which is helping to push that country further into tyranny. However, since the ANC is trying to liberalize it's stance on business and world trade, both COSATU and the SACP have been distancing themselves from the ANC on certain matters.

From a Distributist stance, the South African and Djibouti situations are quite complex from a first glance, at least. The labor unions' stance in both countries against lifting burdens on small and micro-businesses - those with ten or less employees, like a lot of "mom-and-pop" businesses in the US and Canada - looks paranoid from the outset. But given the current neo-Marxist or global socialist flavor of these unions and their leadership, as well as their history in their lands, one should not be surprised.

However, using the Mondragon and Antigonish Movements as good examples, said small and micro-businesses should be encouraged to be worker-owned and managed from the outset. Or else they should be encouraged to organize themselves on a Mondragon-style basis, to get both the neo-Marxist tyrants and COSATU off their case. With high unemployment in their lands, the need for building up the local and neighborhood economies is important. Combined with a rejections of Marxism and monopoly capitalism, as well as a social policy that rejects both pro-UN globalism and the Sexual Revolution, South Africa and Djibouti should begin to get back on their feet.

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UK Farmers Learn to Co-operate

For our readers in the UK - as well as for inspiration for our other DR readers worldwide - this is a nice article from (of all places) the BBC's website on how British farmers are increasingly forming or joining co-operatives. Good information for all.

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Winn-Dixie Crumbles

This article, written by Ellis Mnyandu, comes from the Bonds News section of the "establishment" news website Reuters.

The Winn-Dixie grocery chain, a fixture of the American South since it began in 1925, has filed for bankruptcy. The 920-store chain, with locations in eight states and the Bahamas, cited fierce competition by both Wal-Mart and Publix Super Markets as a major reason for their economic woes. According to the Reuters article, they also hurt themselves by poor customer relations and poor physical upkeep of many stores.

On Tuesday, February 22nd, the New York Stock Exchange stopped all trading of Winn-Dixie shares after the price per share - in pre-market trading - fell to 73 cents.

The company hopes to trim it's financial fat, cut losses, and - if they accept advice from analysts - avoid major competition with Wal-Mart. They also plan to sell the assets of 150 closed stores.

Distributists, historically, have always been against chain stores, supporting independent stores and co-ops. Even though many often have to shop at the chains, it is done so with reluctance. However, this is a golden opportunity for us and our sympathizers to convince Winn-Dixie to sell the closed stores to the layed-off employees. Each shut down store could re-open as worker-owned, worker-managed stores, meeting the needs of the local community. They could offer goods and services tailor-made to each location, avoiding a head-to-head battle with the Wal-Mart or Publix behemoths.

This way, employment returns to each community, market competition and consumer choice is preserved, and neighborhood pride and involvement is strengthened.

The Institute for Local Self-Reliance (ILSR) has been involved since 1974 in promoting similar plans for sound economic development strategies. Some of the things they promote don't support the Distributist cause, but local community development is one of them. If any of our DR readers would contact the ILSR of this opportunity, we can get the ball rolling to bring the closed Winn-Dixie stores a new lease on life.

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Iowa Co-ops Under Siege

This article comes from the Times-Republican in Central Iowa.

According to the Iowa Farmers Union(IFU), there is a bill being proposed in Iowa's state government that would "allow outside investors to take over existing Iowa cooperatives and funnel profits out of state". The new law would allow half-and-half ownership by members and outsiders.

According to IFU vice president Kevin Miskell, the most likely targets for takeover bids would be co-ops dealing with rural telephone service, rural electricity and grain.

This proposed legislation must be stopped cold! Co-operatives are part and parcel of a future Distributist America, folks helping each other out in their own communities. If you live in Iowa, farmer or no, contact the IFU for more info. If you live outside Iowa, make sure your local legislature does not write or enact similar laws. And contact the IFU anyway and ask how you can help.

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Sacramento Says No to Wal-Mart

This report, written by Terri Hardy, comes to us from the Lodi News-Sentinel of Lodi, California.

The Sacramento City Council - not known to be anything close to the anti-family secular Leftist government in San Francisco or Los Angeles - has voted without opposition to limit or outright ban "big box" type superstores
from opening up in their city. "Big box" stores like Wal-Mart, Target and such draw business away from smaller competitors, reducing competition and thus eliminating jobs. The ordinance demands surveys and studies on how such an opening of a "big box" store would affect the local economy and tax base.

This is a good step from the city council in protecting small businesses and grocery stores from monsters like Wal-Mart. No doubt the superstore behemoth will challenge it in court, but we hope and pray their challenge will fail. This is Distributism in action, fighting big business without big government stepping in to worsen the mess.

Again, congratulations to Sacramento.

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Robotic Nation Evidence: Robots taking jobs

From a long hiatus, Marshall Field has resumed his Robotic Nation Evidence Blog. For those who don't know, Marshall Field is keeper of the How Stuff Works website but in recent years has focused on the looming threat that robotics are to jobs. I strongly recommend that anybody thinking about distributism but remains on the fence due to the fact that he/she has a good job take a look. Mr. Field's premise that there isn't a job, except one, in the economy that somebody isn't looking to put a robot to do a human's work. That one job that remains is the owner of the robot. Mr. Field is not a distributist but he does warn that if something isn't done soon (maybe in the next 30-40) years we will wake up to a future where there are very little jobs for us humans. If you think, ah we will just rise up at that point and just through the machines in the garbage realize the most sophisticated work being done is in military and police robots. Anyhow here is a good introductory article Robotic Nation Evidence: Robots taking jobs.

When science fiction is done right it can correctly warn us of dangers that current technology can have on our future. I strongly recommend his online science-fiction novella Manna. It is thought provoking.

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Oklahoma Over-regulation Blues

We received a report from the Just Peace e-mailing list based in Oklahoma. The Oklahoma Food Cooperative, with which the mailing list in involved with, had to stop selling it's farmer-raised, environmentally-friendly chickens at the co-op. They were informed by enforcement officials that a new law passed by the State legislature now forbids "third parties" from selling farm-raised chicken to customers. The new law says the farmer himself must process and sell directly to the customer there at the farm. All in the name of food safety.

As list owner Robert Waldrop noted, along with the question of these "green" chickens being unsafe, there's also the matter of whether or no a co-operative can be a "third party" to begin with. For transactions are only between co-op members, the co-op does not sell at retail prices and so on. But, as Waldrop went on, this was a good lesson for him and the group, for the law was passed when the co-op was just getting started. They didn't realize then the need for having "eyes and ears" in the State legislature. But they are now hoping to get some legislative remedy down the road.

This shows that the struggle for a Distributist Earth, no matter where we are in the world, cannot be concentrated on just one area alone. It involves reaching out to the general public, the small business and co-op sectors AND those in all levels of government. It means - whether we like it or no - constant vigilance against over-regulation and micro-management by national, State or Provincial and local authorities. If it can happen there in Oklahoma, it can happen elsewhere in the rest of the USA or any other country.

We are fighting both "Hudge" and "Gudge", to use Chesterton's description of big government and big business. Let us never weary in our struggle to stop them both.

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Reviving Rwanda's Economy

This report, written by the left-wing Associated Press, is from the Michigan section of the current Detroit Free Press.

An agricultural professor from Michigna State University is leading an effort between the university and Rwandan farmers to band together in cooperatives. Many of the farmers being widows from the genocide of the Nineties, these efforts to bring life to the nation's poor economy through cooperative efforts is encouraging.

At the moment, world coffee prices are high enough for coffee growing in this poor country to be fruitful. However, it would be better for the farmer co-ops to also diversify into other cash crops, so as to not be dependent on one crop for their livelihood.

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Helping Farmers Get More For Their Money

This report, written by Scott Fitzgerald, is from the Enid News of Enid, Oklahoma.

This is about a man who is advocating "value-added agriculture" projects, which are small businesses to help farmers and farmer co-ops in America's Midwest to get more money out of their work. Intriguing!

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