[net.politics] Unions and Such...

dyer@vaxuum.DEC (Example #22) (05/21/84)

Re: Enforced Socialism?!?!?!?__________________________________________________

	[Let's change the title to this; it has nothing to do with the con-
tents!]

> All well and good - but why is this bad when a corporation does it, and good
> when a union does it?

	It's not.  Who said it was?

> The difference is that the corporation doesn't send the police around to
> arrest you if you try to buy outside their monopoly; nor do they threaten
> the life & limb of their competition.

	I agree with your point that coercion is the enemy, not necessarily the
corporations or the unions.  But if you don't believe that corporations can and
have used police and/or threat to life or limb, then you don't have all the
facts yet.
		<_Jym_>
        ._________________________________________________________.
     .__! Jym Dyer <> Digital Equipment Corporation <> Nashua, NH !__.
  .__! Arpanet:  dyer%vaxuum.DEC@DECWRL.ARPA <> E-Net:  VAXUUM::DYER !__.
__! Usenet:  ...{allegra|decvax|ucbvax}!decwrl!dec-rhea!dec-vaxuum!dyer !__

mwm@ea.UUCP (05/29/84)

#R:decwrl:-35800:ea:10100047:000:978
ea!mwm    May 29 14:19:00 1984

/***** ea:net.politics / decwrl!DEC /  9:15 pm  May 22, 1984 */
	I agree with your point that coercion is the enemy, not necessarily the
corporations or the unions.  But if you don't believe that corporations can and
have used police and/or threat to life or limb, then you don't have all the
facts yet.
		<_Jym_>
        ._________________________________________________________.
     .__! Jym Dyer <> Digital Equipment Corporation <> Nashua, NH !__.
  .__! Arpanet:  dyer%vaxuum.DEC@DECWRL.ARPA <> E-Net:  VAXUUM::DYER !__.
__! Usenet:  ...{allegra|decvax|ucbvax}!decwrl!dec-rhea!dec-vaxuum!dyer !__
/* ---------- */

I don't have all the facts (who does? :-), but I am aware that corporations
have used rather nasty tactics. I think that large unions are currently
more of a threat than corporate monopolies. This is because the unions are
supported by law, and the monopolies are outlawed. As someone else pointed
out, you should either allow both, or outlaw both.

	<mike

mjk@tty3b.UUCP (Mike Kelly) (06/01/84)

If unions are such a threat, why has Europe managed to do quite well with
a unionization rate two and three times that of the U.S.?  Why have economies
such as Sweden and West Germany consistently provided high standards of
living and quality products even in a hostile capitalist-designed  "world
market"?

Those who think unions are "too strong" simply don't know labor history.

Mike Kelly