A quiet rant about unions
A quiet rant about unions.
What would have become of Europe without trade unions, what would have become of the Nordic countries without them, and what could have become of Britain if it was a "many party system" and not that ridiculous outdated two party system where anything trade union is associated with politics and the left.
Funny the name too, in the USA it's a labor union and of course it has to be something else in Britain, labour would not cut it, understandably.
It should be obvious for anybody that if pilots or seamen or firefighters or Postal workers or sheep farmers or carrot growers or ..... Then that is about people who have come together to achieve common goals, such as protecting the integrity of their trade, improving safety standards, and attaining better wages, benefits (such as vacation, health care, and retirement), and working conditions through the increased bargaining power wielded by solidarity among members and other unions.
Amazing how often in the anglosphere this is associated with socialism and communism and what not, and it's even funnier when you realize that trade unions in those systems had power only against its own members. A type of trade union Bezos might dream of, should he be the one he seems to be.
And of course the "1970's in the UK" had to come up, but I would claim none of that would have become that "militant" with a coalition government of several parties and quite frankly the dear old lady was quite militant herself.
I had to copy this by a Brit, as I agree, although point 3 is a bit beyond me. (as a programmer you learn the value of copy/paste).
I'd say there are three elements of England's unusually entrenched exceptionalism:
1) failure to reform our electoral system in line with nearly every other advanced democracy:
2) failure to modernise practices and procedures in Westminster that basically date back to the 19th Century &
3) the over-prominence in the English psyche of the significance and status of monarchy.
It seems to me, and it's your own falt, both in the USA and Britain, that a two party system with a one party government will find it hard to achieve what many European countries have managed in accepting trade unions as part of the system. And that is simply because it's competition for a one party government unable to cooperate unless forced to.
Quoting the Wikipedia on the Nordic model:
"support for a universalist welfare state aimed specifically at enhancing individual autonomy and promoting social mobility, a corporatist system involving a tripartite arrangement where representatives of labour and employers negotiate wages, labour market policy is mediated by the government,[9] and a commitment to private ownership within a market-based mixed economy,".
I very much doubt we in all the Nordic countries would earn more per capita than the British without having accepted and understood the value of trade unions.
Sometimes listening to both Americans and Brits you get this feeling that they genuinely believe half, not my half, but that other half, have plans to destroy the whole country.
I think I know what deficiency of the system has created that illusion.
What took place at Amazon is a step in the right direction.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
