Job losses inevitable when…

Sir,

These are troubling times for anybody relying on a pay cheque for a living. Recovery seems too far off to even contemplate. What is being done to save all those pay cheques that are the single source of income for the majority of employees in this country?

It would appear government has adopted a strategy of dealing with this crisis behind closed doors, but this approach is of no help because the current situation needs the input of every citizen, especially the workers who always suffer the consequences of decisions made to suit only those seated in the swinging chairs of boardrooms.

Struggles

Job losses are inevitable when government struggles to pay its service providers. Behind the retrenchment figures are human beings with dependants. The obvious snowball effect is that retail outlets suffer loss of business and they too are forced to lay off staff.

The sad thing here is that nobody is preparing employees for this setback. The last time government made an attempt to offer employees a retirement package, it was withdrawn after answers couldn’t be provided on how well it had equipped or prepared those willing to go home with basic skills on how to survive a retrenchment.

Experience

Dumping or aborting staff, as it were, is easy. However, the traumatic experience inflicted upon the employee is very hard to manage. The victims become vulnerable to all sorts of situations that may lead them towards adopting a survival mode that is ultimately detrimental to themselves and the country. Crime, sex work, suicides that burden the State with more orphans, as well as many other associated ills come to the fore.

Locals, for various reasons, do not have a saving culture that could serve as a safety net should they lose their jobs.

Besides, the sluggish economy offers very little options in terms of venturing into business, as it is just not growing at a pace that could accommodate more entrepreneurs.

So while we talk economic downturn, fiscal crisis, etc, let us put a human face to the solutions being proposed so that people are prepared psychologically and financially for what is most certainly coming their way at the rate things are going – just as it came for the former hotel workers. Only God knows how they manage to put food on the table. Government can avert this crisis by simply engaging more, listening and heeding the advice it is given for a change.

M Dlamini