From: phil osborn (philosborn@hotmail.com)
Date: Sun Oct 17 1999 - 00:04:43 MDT
>From: Brian D Williams <talon57@well.com>
>Subject: Re: reforming education
>Date: Tue, 12 Oct 1999 08:03:48 -0700 (PDT)
>
>
> >Stupid is as union does....
>
>Sorry Mike we don't agree on this one. The vast majority of
>scientists in this country are Union, and even the doctors are
>organizing now.... Every right you have in the workplace was won
>for all workers by the effort of Union labor.
>
>Less than a block from where I sit typing this is Haymarket, where
>in the early part of this century Union organizers were framed,
>then murdered by the police to try to prevent the establishment of
>the eight hour workday.
>
Unions, businesses, and individuals can be good or bad, but tend to be bad
to the extent they employ state monopoly power to attain their ends. As a
former Teamster - had to join to work - I well remember just how incredibly
corrupt the union was. They were hand in glove with company management to
rip the workers. The workers were explicitly forbidden by contract to
verbally or otherwise challenge the concept of collective bargaining, in
which the state backs up the unions' power to enforce their contracts and
rules and dues on ALL workers in a business.
On the other hand, the IWW, largely anarchist BTW - speaking of the
Haymarket - was pushing for REAL worker empowerment, which is how Gompers
got the AFL in the door, by promising business that he could control the
workers. There's that Basque area - can't recall the name for the moment -
that took the old anarcho-syndicalism and put it to real use, buying up the
factories, etc. They found that worker ownership really works, as long as
you take a pragmatic approach, such as hiring professional managers who
aren't subject to day-to-day politics.
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