The statutory debt ceiling and the threat of default have become political bargaining chips in the debate over fiscal policy.

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But for others, the move may be seen as a bold - and strategically wise - attempt to defend the carefully constructed and heavily politicised system of collective bargaining, which has been at the heart of South African labour policy since the end of apartheid and which has, over the past few weeks, seemed on the brink of collapse.

BBC: South Africa's mine owners flex their muscles

Recently, the NLRB sanctioned a policy that threatens to balkanize American businesses with a multiplicity an individual bargaining units, differentiated solely by the specific task they perform or the location within the shop that they perform it.

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