Neoliberal Democratization and New Authoritarianism by Dennis C. Canterbury

Author:Dennis C. Canterbury [Canterbury, Dennis C.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Political Science, General
ISBN: 9781351152822
Google: vKSbDwAAQBAJ
Goodreads: 11163463
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2005-02-04T00:00:00+00:00

Retrenchment in the Public Sector and Forced Labor

Retrenchment in the 1970s and early 1980s posed a grave threat to job security. The state had over-expanded employment in the public sector, and it blamed workers for the economic crisis. Although the state boasted that it was building ‘socialism,’ however it identified market solutions to the unemployment crisis. The state claimed that it had officially retrenched 6,000 workers from the public service in the early 1980s. In addition, some 800 workers from the state owned Textile Mill, 3,000 in the bauxite industry, 300 from a state project, and 761 teachers were retrenched. Further, approximately 6,000 workers were retrenched in the private sector (GHRA, 1982).

The redundancy exercise in the public service was conducted in a very callous manner, and in many cases, the lay-offs took effect on the same day that the workers received their dismissal letters. Many workers with upwards of 30 years’ service were subjected to this kind of callous treatment and in other cases ‘hundreds of workers were told verbally that they were dismissed’ (GHRA, 1982: 45).

It was under these conditions that public servants and personnel from the military and paramilitary services were forced to do compulsory labor at weekends at a state-owned farm. These forced laborers were described as ‘volunteers.’ The workers felt compelled to ‘volunteer’ to work on the state-farm because of fear of loosing their jobs, or being discriminated against in promotion in a period that was a season of retrenchment and widespread victimization. In a society where the state owned and or controlled over 80% of the economy migration was the only alternative for the victimized worker. The state even dictated to the private sector as to whom it should or should not employ.

The ridiculous state of affairs of coercing public servants to ‘volunteer’ to do forced labor was even more insulting because the workers had access on the farm to buy some commodities that were very scarce in the market. In return for their forced labor the ‘volunteers’ were sold at the regulated price, a practice uncommon in the market, small quantities of cooking oil, margarine and a few packets of cigarettes. In many cases, the workers purchased the items and then resold them at black market prices for a handsome profit.6

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