From: Brian D Williams (talon57@well.com)
Date: Tue Aug 28 2001 - 13:17:57 MDT
>From: "Lee Corbin" <lcorbin@tsoft.com>
>I think that the labor movement occurred when it did because
>of a lack of entrepreneurs and hence a labor over-supply. Under
>such conditions, laboring men in certain industries didn't want
>to compete against each other and against all the other men in
>the street who wanted their jobs---this would have caused wages
>to go lower. So they banded together for collective bargaining
>which is all right (unless they then try to use force to prevent
>owners from firing all of them, or use politics to keep owners
>from getting them to sign contracts, and use politics to keep
>those contracts from being legally enforced).
The labor movement started when corporation formed monopsonys (one
buyer) and work conditions became so deplorable that the workers
developed monopolys (one seller) to counter them.
The owners used politicians where possible, and private thugs (The
Pinkertons) whenever they couldn't buy a politician.
>As painful as it would be to be at a market disadvantage (it
>happens to employers too when they just can't get enough
>qualified people and have to pay extortionate wages for them),
>the proper view is to regard such periods as transitory: as
>soon as the wages go very low, other entrepreneurs (including
>the working men themselves) would have sprung up to take
>advantage of the "obscene" profits. That's how it is supposed
>to work. Unions, unfortunately, only prolonged IMO the period
>during which working men and women didn't earn very much.
Every benefit modern workers enjoy was earned for them by Union
labor.
I sit here less than a block from the scene of the Haymarket square
riot where union organizers were framed then hung for the terrible
crime of trying to establish the 8 hour workday.
Brian
Member:
Extropy Institute, www.extropy.org
National Rifle Association, www.nra.org, 1.800.672.3888
SBC/Ameritech Data Center Chicago, IL, Local 134 I.B.E.W
Disclosure notice: currently "plonked"
"Joe Dees" <joedees@addall.com>
"Party of Citizens"<citizens@vcn.bc.ca>
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.5 : Sat Nov 02 2002 - 08:10:11 MST