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Re: [atlarge-discuss] Fwd: Street / Labor Day Reflections: Time asa Democracy Issue / Sep 03 - Part 1



On Tue, 2002-09-03 at 00:43, Joey Borda **star*walker** wrote:
> 
> >ZNet Commentary
> >Labor Day Reflections: Time as a Democracy Issue September 03, 2002
> >By Paul  Street 

I appreciate this article, even if I'm not 100% certain how it fits in
with our At Large project. ;)

That said, I feel the article left out some important bits about labor.
These are just some random critiques I've seen of leftist labor theory:

* Unions lost a lot of power in the US because they ceded too much power
to the government. This means they have less bargaining ability. E.g.,
they couldn't do: "we'll trade you a 41 hr. work week for a $6/hr
overall raise".

* The national minimum wage has undermined localities' ability to fine
tune wages to cost-of-living. $6/hr goes a heck of a lot further in
Small Town, Iowa, than in Dallas, Texas. This has meant that low-wage
workers in expensive areas get paid proportionally less than those in
cheaper areas.

* The Dark Thesis: This thesis says that the US economy has done so well
because it has gotten more bang per buck out of its workforce.

* France is considering lifting its 35hr work week restrictions. Their
businesses have had trouble competing since it costs more to hire more
workers than to have a few existing employees work overtime. So long as
labor is cheaper in some other part of the world, it will contribute to
loss of business to those parts.

* Is it moral to prohibit people from working as much as they want?
Could you sign a waiver if you needed the overtime pay?

* Are employers really blameworthy for long commutes? Who set up the
zoning laws to put business and residential areas on opposite sides of
town? Who chose to live on a half-acre in a suburb rather than in a
small apartment in town?

* What're we gonna do with more leisure time? Watch more TV? ;) With the
higher costs of goods associated with the lessened hours, I'd be afraid
that watching TV would be the only thing I could afford anymore... at
least until our jobs migrated overseas. hehehehe

* And finally, a historical contention with the article. It didn't
matter whether or not farmers and artisans read or understood The
Federalist papers. The state legislatures were controlled by the rich,
landed gentry. So long as they went along with the Constitution, that's
all that mattered. The public-at-large certainly didn't vote for or
against the Constitution.


-s

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