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There are trade bodies, industry bodies, industry associations, chambers of commerce, special interest groups, lobbying groups and it goes on. Every business an
by throw2016 8y ago
There are trade bodies, industry bodies, industry associations, chambers of commerce, special interest groups, lobbying groups and it goes on. Every business and corporate is a member of multiple bodies to further their interests and nobody questions these groupings.
Yet employee and worker bodies causes discussion and debate as if somehow only this aspect of economic life should not seek to promote and protect their interests. Even billion dollar companies feel the need to form groups but individuals apparently do not benefit from association. This is a completely unrealistic position in the current economic context.
This is dissonance at work, to accept the logic of the former and see it work so effectively, and question the latter.
- UpshotKnothole 8y agoDissonance carefully cultivated by decades of lobbying, and ideological indoctrination of the, “better dead than Red,” variety. Look at how little effort it takes to convince people to go to war, lock up their fellow humans for using drugs, and tell me t wasn’t the easiest thing in world for corporations and their pet politicians to accomplish. Just make sure that a large enough bloc conflate worker’s rights with the communism and then sit back and cash your checks. If the people get a little stroppy grow in something about race, abortion, or socialism and try not to smile too obviously all the way to the bank. If even thst fails punish the heretics amd reward the faithful, to the point that people desperate to keep their healthcare don’t even think of raising their heads.
- conanbatt 8y agoAll the other interest groups you mention definitely create the questioning and the criticism. They have just been more successful at permeating public perception. Almost always being complicit with the state. Doctors? Lawyers? Lobbying? They all get criticism. I also dissent with the model of "everybody commits an act against society, why shouldnt anyone engage in the race to capture the spoils". Do not institutionalize robbery!
- Apocryphon 8y agoThe other interest groups, with greater power and influence, have already institutionalized it. Should the disempowered simply refuse to engage, and suffer for it?
- conanbatt 8y agoUnion leaders can aim for that they want, I personally commit to dissent all forms of that robbery and desire for a freer and more fair society. I do not want to fight for the spoils of exploitation.
- Apocryphon 8y agoI see. So you yearn for a world without capitalism.
- conanbatt 8y agoIts not capitalism that creates spoils it is the government that takes money from people and then decides what to do with it.
- Apocryphon 8y agoThe ancestral post in this thread that listed many different types of NGOs backed by industry leaders who seek to enlarge their share of the spoils, and asked why unions should not be one of them. No one mentioned government involvement. Maybe society is based upon competition?
- mulmen 8y agoHow are labor unions institutions of robbery?
- conanbatt 8y agoHow do they get substantial benefits for their workers?
- hannasanarion 8y agoBy creating a level playing field for negotiation in an environment where the one who owns the capital could otherwise dictate terms.
- conanbatt 8y agoWhat is the negotiation threat from a union?
- hugoL 8y agoSimple: A cartel increases profits, a union doesn't. :(
- no_wizard 8y agoI never thought Of it this way. Not once did it occur to me that these are nearly exactly alike in this way. Just wanted to point that out because it is so rare to read something that nearly instantly makes you think differently
- magila 8y agoNobody debates industry associations because they're just companies freely associating with each other. Those associations are, in-and-of-themselves, none of the average Joe's business. Unions by comparison are highly political due to all of the special laws governing them. Federal laws like the NLRA are everyone's business so it's only to be expected that many people are going to put in their two cents. Also, the nature of laws regarding unions is such that they can force many people, both employers and employees, to associate with a union whether they want to or not. This opens unions up to questions about their efficacy in a way that industry groups are not.
- fucking_tragedy 8y agoCorporations are a bunch of people (investors) coming together to promote their mutual self-interest in profit. There are tons of special laws for businesses. Laws regarding businesses and employers affect everyone, whether they want them to or not. It's a distinction I don't see.