Starting from last year, the SALB has been on a transition to move from only focusing on print publication to a digital interactive form of publication. This was seen as necessary in the expansion of the readership to workers; both organised and unorganised (this includes the community movements). More importantly, this will also allow for the publication to continue having an interaction with the community of intellectuals who have been active in the dialogues about shaping the future of labour in South Africa… The SALB will also use social media to engage on labour movement issues. This shift has an additional political value: it allows trade union and working-class issues to permeate ideological battles in digital publications and media platforms where we find that labour organisations are underrepresented in these spaces. SWOP has been one of those institutes that have supported the SALB in various ways. During this period of the COVID-19 pandemic we are hoping to host our articles onto the SWOP website to continue the tradition of dialogue amongst those who are interested in the struggles of the working class, especially in this period where there is a need to present a coherent view of how the working class is affected by the crisis. The working class needs to chart its own future and it cannot leave it to politicians and specialists who have failed to come up with solutions, even before the crisis and are likely to fail again even after the crisis. Through this shift, we will be hosting monthly webinars.

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Our articles will be focusing on the following themes:

1. Worker’s experiences of the COVID 19 pandemic.

   The focus of this theme is on the everyday experiences of the workers; the struggles that they face during the pandemic. We will be focusing on various voices within the working class - organised and unorganised.

2. COVID 19 and Rethinking Labour

   The focus of this theme will be on how the pandemic has challenged organised labour to rethink its interventions on behalf of the working class, beyond those who are permanently employed or organised within the unions.

3. The struggle for Social Security for the working class

4. Access to public goods: For example the struggle for data, health care, water and sanitation/ access to infrastructure

5. The working class struggles for food security and environmental justice.