8 ms·

Then again, the Germans and French management accept that unions are bordering on necessary, but UK and US management tend to think that unions are the work of

Then again, the Germans and French management accept that unions are bordering on necessary, but UK and US management tend to think that unions are the work of the devil. Maybe this has to do with inquisitorial civil law in Germany and France, and adversarial common law in the UK and US?

randyrand 10y ago
Indeed, I think just about every occupation should be unionized. It would even be beneficial to let small business owners unionize against larger companies. Imagine how much the economy and small business owners, say gas station owners, could benefit if they all unionized and could collectively bargain against Shell, and could collectively set the wage/prices they sell gas. One can dream...
- tankenmate 10y ago
  The small business Groupon, instead of for customers, it's for suppliers!
- fennecfoxen 10y ago
  I for one would strongly prefer an economy with meaningful competition, instead of one where a certain group of economically privileged insiders organize a cartel so that they can collude to fix prices and decide how much money to extract from the general populace which needs the goods and services they control... because you've basically just described what they call a "trust" when they make antitrust legislation. (Alternatively, you've described the National Industrial Recovery Act of 1933, later found unconstitutional - leading to FDR's infamous court-packing attempt - and considered by a little under half of economists to have been a major contributing factor which prolonged the Great Depression.) Getting more power to ordinary workers is laudable when it comes at the expense of the power of their large-corporation employers... not if it comes at the expense of everyone else in the economy.
- gaius 10y ago
  Companies unionizing is called a cartel, and very illegal.

8 ms·

Then again, the Germans and French management accept that unions are bordering on necessary, but UK and US management tend to think that unions are the work of

by tankenmate 10y ago

randyrand 10y ago
Indeed, I think just about every occupation should be unionized. It would even be beneficial to let small business owners unionize against larger companies. Imagine how much the economy and small business owners, say gas station owners, could benefit if they all unionized and could collectively bargain against Shell, and could collectively set the wage/prices they sell gas. One can dream...
- tankenmate 10y ago
  The small business Groupon, instead of for customers, it's for suppliers!
- fennecfoxen 10y ago
  I for one would strongly prefer an economy with meaningful competition, instead of one where a certain group of economically privileged insiders organize a cartel so that they can collude to fix prices and decide how much money to extract from the general populace which needs the goods and services they control... because you've basically just described what they call a "trust" when they make antitrust legislation. (Alternatively, you've described the National Industrial Recovery Act of 1933, later found unconstitutional - leading to FDR's infamous court-packing attempt - and considered by a little under half of economists to have been a major contributing factor which prolonged the Great Depression.) Getting more power to ordinary workers is laudable when it comes at the expense of the power of their large-corporation employers... not if it comes at the expense of everyone else in the economy.
- gaius 10y ago
  Companies unionizing is called a cartel, and very illegal.