Word: whitely
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1970-1979
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...black trainee had failed to show up at his job at the Ford Motor Co. plant near South Africa's industrial capital of Port Elizabeth. He had asked for two hours off to answer a summons from the police, but failed to return to work. When a white foreman cautioned Thozamile Botha, 30, an intense former schoolteacher turned black activist who had worked for Ford for less than twelve months, to improve his attendance, Botha snapped, "Why don't you fire me?" He then stalked angrily out of the plant...
...nondiscriminatory policies like those prescribed in the corporate code of conduct drawn up by U.S. Civil Rights Leader Leon Sullivan. Ford was among the first firms to recognize black unions. Black anti-apartheid organizers have warned that the strike is the first shot in a new offensive against the white-ruled state. The target: multinational firms that do business in the country. The aim: to undermine Prime Minister P.W. Botha's strategy for winning the allegiance of the "black elite" of relatively highly paid skilled workers by giving them a greater share of South Africa's prosperity...
...improvement" of statutes that forbid interracial sex and marriage and make certain public facilities off limits to blacks. While these contemplated steps have won the applause of business leaders, they have not done much as yet to satisfy the 20 million blacks. There has been no change in the white minority government's long-range plan of dividing South Africa into a "constellation" of nominally independent states, in which blacks have the appearance of autonomy but whites continue to hold most of the real power and the wealth...
...Though Thozamile Botha, who heads the Port Elizabeth Black Civic Organization (PEBCO), concedes that Ford is perhaps the "best" employer of blacks in the country, he has been prodding its management to respond to a long list of demands. He has attacked Ford's sponsorship of an all-white rugby team and special privileges that start new white employees at the top of the pay scale for a given job while blacks start at the bottom. Botha has also complained to Ford's management about black political disenfranchisement, over which the company has no control...
...moves to appease black workers, Prime Minister Botha risks the wrath of Afrikaner hardliners, who abhor his apartheid reforms. Soon after Thozamile Botha's walkout, white union members held an angry meeting that led to an outburst of racial slurs; blacks were accused of "fouling" integrated toilets and making insulting remarks about white women. If the government cracks down hard on the protesters, as it did to quell the rioting in Soweto in 1976, it might spark more unrest. Predicts Fred Ferreira, Ford's industrial relations manager: "Inactivity is not going to solve this problem. Whether...