Originally Posted by
Slant
Sure ignore the rest of the post. That'll make you look like you have a point... so you're essentially in favour of the exploitation of the workforce, that is my takeaway from this. Gives me even more reason to promote unions, to spite people like you.
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Of course they are extortion. Why? Because the workforce has no defense against corporate greed. It's not the unions that start the extortion, it's the corporations. If your only argument is "don't blackmail the blackmailers", that's a weak ass argument, my man. That unions in the US suck is a problem, I agree with that. But that doesn't mean the concept of unions is faulty. Just means replacing corporate greed with union greed is not the point of unions. The point of unions is to fight labour battles ON BEHALF of their union members.
There's a reason why unions and labour councils in companies are regulated by law in Germany. It's to prevent bad unions from developing and to ensure that unions can't be blocked out. For instance, in Germany if you are voted into the labour council of a company (mandatory for companies above 40 people btw), you cannot legally be fired unless in the most extreme circumstances (ie. you stealing from the company as an example). Labor protection in the US needs to happen or you'll just continue widening the pay gap. But, of course... that requires regulation and your glorious GOP keeps selling the libertarian (ie. really corporatist) idea of deregulation because that's better for anyone (anyone owning a company that is).
It's amazing that your blue collar workers keep voting for people that want to fuck them over.
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Wrong. The purpose of unions is to represent their workers in labor disputes. When the owner of a company meets up with a worker to discuss his contract, that is not a negotiation between equals. Especially not in the US. That's extortion. Take this contract or you're out. The union balances that negotiation by representing all of its union members. That's not an artificial inflation of the value of their labor, that's an inflation of the negotiation position. The labor is worth the same it always was. The point is that in the US the workforce is being sold out WAY under value. Labor protection is a joke over there.
Can you really call it inflation if it gets the value to its correct price? Maybe it's not an inflation but rather a correction of artificial deflation.
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The market dictates? The market would reintroduce slavery if that was legal. The market is shit and by no means a measure to be used seriously in a discussion like this. The market kills people. 100% turbo capitalism is not the way to go. Jeez, and you wonder why the US is so fucked up it votes a clown like Trump into office. That's desperation... maybe you will get your civil war at some point. And that point will be when people wise up to Amazon just barely clearing the "this is slavery" hurdle while the founder jumps to the top of Forbes' billionair pissing contest. I'm surprised with all these mass shootings that nobody decided to go and kill these billionaires, yet. It's amazing how he increases his net value by 50% while HIS drivers have to piss in bottles to get through the day.
And you think that's cool, that's alright because "the market dictates" it. That's amazing in its own right... :P