The capitalist West is not too far from creating an underclass of untouchables

Edward Berge Says: February 14th, 2007 at 7:23 am I’m not anti-business and pro-government; like all things it’s a dynamic, on-going balance. So in that sense yes, labor unions were instituted in a democracy to balance out the abuses of the owners of business. We’ve seen what business will do if left unfettered in a strict laissez-faire capitalism as witnessed by the abuses of the industrial revolution. So labor unions evolved with government legislation to balance this.

But labor unions have been eroded in part by their own corruption and in larger part by those same laissez-faire capitalists that have the most clout by buying Congressmen and women. As an earlier source noted, those with such just cause protection (government and labor unions) comprise less than 10% of the workforce, with nearly 90% working at will.

At will does not balance the scales to protect employers from predatory employees. In fact the opposite occurs with a regression to unfettered “master-slave” rules that bind employees out of fear of reprisal or whim. And when wrongful termination lawsuits do make it to court trial lawyers go for the punitive touchdown with ends up costing way more than a more reasonable, government-funded arbitration system.

Yes, corporations have instituted ethical business practices, some of out true care and some out of regulatory force. But business cannot be left to police itself just as the fox cannot be counted on to guard the henhouse (or II can be counted on to accurately judge the altitude of its critics). One of the purposes of democracy is checks and balances to protect against conflict of interest, so government plays a crucial role here...

ray harris Says: February 14th, 2007 at 4:40 pm Here’s a radical idea. If people can organise themselves into corporations to pursue profit and receive specific exemptions and privileges under law why can’t a body of employees similarly incorporate themselves into a corporation?
The fact is that US Labor history has largely been about keeping the power in the hands of the corporations. What happened to freedom of association? The freedom to form whatever collective you wanted? If you can create a church, a sporting club, a corporation, for mutual benefit then why not a union?
The bottom line is that capitalism needs a pool of cheap labour. And what this means in very plain terms is that in order for the top to enjoy wealth the bottom has to be kept poor...It is always someone else who has to be poor to make America great.

ray harris Says: February 15th, 2007 at 5:10 pm Who’s going to clean the toilets? I was watching Newshour (yes, we get it here) and there was an interview with a woman from the US Labour movement. The interviewer was pushing the free market argument as a counter-foil. He argued that the market will correct itself somehow. Those that lose jobs in manufacturing can move to higher paid ’service’ jobs. Say what? No matter what ex-manufacturing workers do next they will all need to eat, wear clothes and someone is still going to have to clean the toilets. In India they created the dalits - the untouchables, to do all the dirty work. The capitalist West is not too far from creating an underclass of untouchables, people we determine shall do the dirty work and get paid a pittance. Not my idea of justice...