tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6635559730786891370.post152914476438309202..comments2023-10-28T03:05:12.900-05:00Comments on Against the Current: And now the union card.Against the Currenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12356717231233669106noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6635559730786891370.post-10630310101788679192010-07-10T16:45:36.012-05:002010-07-10T16:45:36.012-05:00That should be "bi-lateral monopoly."That should be "bi-lateral monopoly."Against the Currenthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12356717231233669106noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6635559730786891370.post-45879916481101522842010-07-10T16:42:00.270-05:002010-07-10T16:42:00.270-05:00Though no comments have appeared here, I have rece...Though no comments have appeared here, I have received a few informal bits of feedback.<br /><br />They suggest the following sort of thing: That while unions may be harmful now that economies are well developed, they had an important and beneficial role to play in the protection of labor during the formative phase of econonmic development - the early industrial phase of bad working conditions, child labor, etc.<br /><br />I think this is false. For labor associations to benefit workers in general they do not need to have a monopoly/closed shop. Perhaps what we call unions now were, for a time, simple labor associations, like mutual-help societies, who helped immigrants and inarticualate workers navigate in the new world. Awarding labor groups a powerful monopoly to exclude competition to its members may benefit the members but not workers in general. <br /><br />There is a perception, based no doubt on Marxist categories, that "Labor" needed to have a countervailing (J.K. Gailbraith) power to balance the power of "Big Business Capital." Again false. What resulted was what is called bi-later monopoly - two monopolies facing each other. The result was higher prices, lower quantity produced, less competition and innovation. <br /><br />Work conditions, in general, improved as a result of economic growth and increasing awareness and condemnation of bad conditions, not as a result of unions.Against the Currenthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12356717231233669106noreply@blogger.com