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I love that a nation and an industry that is bent over backwards against unions (both in policy and in stereotypes) gets surprised when wages don't go up. What

by pXMzR2A 12y ago

I love that a nation and an industry that is bent over backwards against unions (both in policy and in stereotypes) gets surprised when wages don't go up. What do you think pushes companies to increase wages, rainbow ponies? Benevolent investors? Gee. Organized labor.

adventured 12y ago
Tight labor markets also force companies to increase wages. See 1993 -> 1999, 2003 -> 2007 You can watch while simultaneously organized labor lost nearly all influence over the labor market throughout eg the 1990s, and wages increased as the labor markets got tighter during prolonged economic expansion. For the most part, companies increase wages when they have no choice. The lack of labor supply combined with even low level growth forces wages higher. This is an almost universally agreed upon fundamental of economic theory and practice for the last 200 years, with vast data available as proof. If organized labor were required to boost wages, tech companies in Silicon Valley wouldn't pay such high wages compared to your average UAW member. A company like Microsoft would be able to pay its programmers peanuts, because they are not organized. Instead, Microsoft pays its programmers extraordinarily well.
prostoalex 12y ago
Unionizing works for micro-optimization but rarely works at macro level, when entire division, company or industry can be outsourced. To quote from http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/22/business/apple-america-and-a-squeezed-middle-class.html?_r=2&pagewanted=all http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/22/business/apple-america-and... "Apple executives say that going overseas, at this point, is their only option. One former executive described how the company relied upon a Chinese factory to revamp iPhone manufacturing just weeks before the device was due on shelves. Apple had redesigned the iPhone’s screen at the last minute, forcing an assembly line overhaul. New screens began arriving at the plant near midnight. A foreman immediately roused 8,000 workers inside the company’s dormitories, according to the executive. Each employee was given a biscuit and a cup of tea, guided to a workstation and within half an hour started a 12-hour shift fitting glass screens into beveled frames. Within 96 hours, the plant was producing over 10,000 iPhones a day."

by pXMzR2A 12y ago

adventured 12y ago

Tight labor markets also force companies to increase wages. See 1993 -> 1999, 2003 -> 2007 You can watch while simultaneously organized labor lost nearly all influence over the labor market throughout eg the 1990s, and wages increased as the labor markets got tighter during prolonged economic expansion. For the most part, companies increase wages when they have no choice. The lack of labor supply combined with even low level growth forces wages higher. This is an almost universally agreed upon fundamental of economic theory and practice for the last 200 years, with vast data available as proof. If organized labor were required to boost wages, tech companies in Silicon Valley wouldn't pay such high wages compared to your average UAW member. A company like Microsoft would be able to pay its programmers peanuts, because they are not organized. Instead, Microsoft pays its programmers extraordinarily well.

prostoalex 12y ago

Unionizing works for micro-optimization but rarely works at macro level, when entire division, company or industry can be outsourced. To quote from http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/22/business/apple-america-and-a-squeezed-middle-class.html?_r=2&pagewanted=all http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/22/business/apple-america-and... "Apple executives say that going overseas, at this point, is their only option. One former executive described how the company relied upon a Chinese factory to revamp iPhone manufacturing just weeks before the device was due on shelves. Apple had redesigned the iPhone’s screen at the last minute, forcing an assembly line overhaul. New screens began arriving at the plant near midnight. A foreman immediately roused 8,000 workers inside the company’s dormitories, according to the executive. Each employee was given a biscuit and a cup of tea, guided to a workstation and within half an hour started a 12-hour shift fitting glass screens into beveled frames. Within 96 hours, the plant was producing over 10,000 iPhones a day."