Memo: that's a bad meme

[enders-shadow.livejournal.com]

"Unions drove jobs overseas!"/"Employers will just move to China!"

This is a bad meme. Unions stood up for workers rights. Employers didn't feel like respecting those rights, so they found someplace else on the planet which they could disrespect the rights of workers and turn a bigger profit.

This meme implies that the appropriate course of action for the worker is to just accept the employers demands. Shut up and accept the McJob. Don't fight for higher pay--that'll make the employer exploit someone else!

This is a bad meme. It should be dropped.

Comments

[meus-ovatio.livejournal.com]

Oh.

[sandwichwarrior.livejournal.com]

Ok but if higher labour costs motivate the employer to move what then?

I would argue that having a job is better than not having one.

[anfalicious.livejournal.com]

I'd rather steal from people like you than work in a job for 80 hours a week for not enough money to feed myself.

[geezer-also.livejournal.com]

I guess that depends on how one feels about their self worth. I mean not everyone would flip burgers for 40 hours a week for the same amount of money as they could get on welfare.

[sandwichwarrior.livejournal.com]

Furthermore a union's primary purpose is not to support it's workers but to maintain the power and influence of the union. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iron_law_of_oligarchy)

[spaz-own-joo.livejournal.com]

I actually agree that many organizations end up developing a self-preservation instinct, but in general I think the so-called 'iron law' makes some unfortunate oversights about the ways institutional leadership can be architected.

Are you familiar with the game of Nomic (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nomic), by any chance?

[mrbogey.livejournal.com]

Our union is always pushing for numbers even if it means screwing over higher paid members.

[peristaltor.livejournal.com]

It depends upon the union. Ours works pretty well at giving worker support.

[anfalicious.livejournal.com]

Global free trade made it possible to send those jobs overseas, and it wasn't the unions and workers pushing for that.

Still trolling...

[sandwichwarrior.livejournal.com]

How do you feel about the so-called "right to work"?

Re: Still trolling...

[anfalicious.livejournal.com]

We don't have closed shops here, and I think it's a good thing. A union should have to live or die based on how it serves its members. I've worked in the financial sector and the union was useless during my first enterprise bargaining experience with them, they got us less than what the company was offering, so I quit. Now I'm a teacher and I get that smug satisfaction of asking non-union members to thank me for every single one of their pay rises and improved conditions. We can't negotiate alone, it has to be in a block (as is the nature of public sector jobs). Thus, screwing public servants out of their cost of living increase is the easiest way to balance a budget, and it happens every time a contract negotiation happens.

[pastorlenny.livejournal.com]

If you don't want to be exploited, learn how to play the bond market like everybody else.

[allhatnocattle.livejournal.com]

putting $100 on red 7... I mean double oh seven. Bond. James Bond.

[fizzyland.livejournal.com]

Actually, republican-driven tax breaks make it attractive to U.S. corporations to move operations overseas. So that they, just like GE, can take advantage of tax havens, lax environmental laws, poor worker protections, etc.

[merig00.livejournal.com]

Aaah that's why GE CEO Mr. Immelt is the chair of President Obama's Council on Jobs and Competitiveness.

[enders-shadow.livejournal.com]

reality isnt made to order. u get what u get.

[agk-ru.livejournal.com]

If we put off all the small details, the question is: what right is more important:
the right for bankers, investors, employers, etc to have their profit, or the right to a decent life for all the citizens.

[gunslnger.livejournal.com]

Neither of those are rights, so that's the wrong question.

[gunslnger.livejournal.com]

Your interpretation of the facts is not the only possible one, and not even the most likely.

In Communist China, meme's drop you. On your head.

[htpcl.livejournal.com]

A meme's drop? :-)

[underlankers.livejournal.com]

OK, you critique the phrasing and implication of the meme but do nothing here to disprove the meme itself. So my response is: And what?

[enders-shadow.livejournal.com]

And we should stop framing the discussion in the language of "unions drove jobs overseas" and return the more applicable language "unions protected workers and when employers dont want to respect workers the employer ships jobs oversees"

[peristaltor.livejournal.com]

Gotta agree with Underlankers. You need to start a better meme, one that addresses the real issue.

Fact is, fuel used to be cheap. It was cost effective to move jobs overseas because ships got huge and trains run on time. Now that fuel is getting expensive, those jobs are slowly returning, one at a time.

Look, unions are in for a windfall in the coming years. The baby boomers (who originally glutted the employment market and drove down union bargaining power in 1970) are getting ready to retire. There aren't enough new workers ready to fill all of those positions.

A shortage of workers is going to give every union more say. Every employer who tries to work their employees until they drop will see fewer employees willing to drop, and even fewer to fill the openings.

This vilification of unions is just a pump priming, so to speak, a way to inculcate a hatred of organization in youngsters before their working years, ones which will be ripe for the hated. Employers know how to read demographics. They're just getting ready for bad times for themselves, better times for unions.

[merig00.livejournal.com]

Actually if you think about it. Less employees -> More demand for employees -> Higher salaries/benefits to attract and keep employees -> Less need for unions.