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NNN0LHI

(67,190 posts)
Thu Mar 1, 2012, 11:42 AM Mar 2012

See why our unions had to be weakened or destroyed before "austerity measures", could be imposed

http://www3.nhk.or.jp/daily/english/20120301_16.html

updated at 14:42 UTC, Mar. 01

European unions protest against austerity measures

Thousands of workers took to the streets in Europe on Wednesday to protest austerity measures by their governments.

European countries have been trying to reduce sovereign debt by imposing heavier taxes and cutting welfare expenditures, to deal with the credit crisis. All EU member countries, except for the UK and the Czech Republic, are expected to sign a new treaty on tightening fiscal discipline at an EU summit on Thursday and Friday.

Ahead of the summit, the European Trade Union Confederation organized demonstrations across Europe.

Unions called for EU leaders to tackle unemployment first, saying the austerity measures would only worsen the economy.

In Paris, about 10,000 workers marched for about 2 kilometers from Bastille square under the banner of "enough is enough." Participants called for raising corporate taxes and redistributing wealth.

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Doesn't this scenario described below sound familiar?

http://www.sociology.org/content/vol003.004/thomas.html  

In order to reduce corporate taxes, it was necessary to reduce the size of the welfare state. This objective was carried out by the Reagan administration (Abramovitz, 1992). After taking office in 1981, the administration set out on a course to alter the (relatively) labor sensitive political economy to be more business friendly. Reagan appointed anti-union officials to the National Labor Relations Board, "implicitly {granting} employers permission to revive long shunned anti-union practices: decertifying unions, outsourcing production, and hiring permanent replacements for striking workers" (102). Reagan himself pursued such a policy when he fired eleven thousand striking air traffic controllers in 1981. Regulations designed to protect the environment , worker safety, and consumer rights were summarily decried as unnecessary government meddling in the marketplace (Abramovitz, 1992; Barlett and Steele, 1996). Programs designed to help the poor were also characterized as "big government," and the people who utilized such programs were often stigmatized as lazy or even criminal. With the help of both political parties, the administration drastically cut social welfare spending and the budgets of many regulatory agencies.

The new emphasis was on "supply side" economics, which essentially "blamed the nation's ills on 'big government' and called for lower taxes, reduced federal spending (military exempted), fewer government regulations, and more private sector initiatives " (Abramovitz, 1992, 101). Thus, to effect a change in the political economy, Reagan was able to win major concessions regarding social policy that continue today. By taking away the safety net, the working class was effectively neutralized: workers no longer had the freedom to strike against their employers or depend upon the social welfare system as a means of living until finding employment. Business was thus free to lower wages, benefits, and the length of contracts. The overall result was that the average income for the average American dropped even as the average number of hours at work increased (Barlett and Steele, 1996; Schor, 1992).
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See why our unions had to be weakened or destroyed before "austerity measures", could be imposed (Original Post) NNN0LHI Mar 2012 OP
du rec. nt xchrom Mar 2012 #1
K & R malaise Mar 2012 #2
Unions in the USA are a mess. So many missed opportunities, loudsue Mar 2012 #3
I was initially offended by your post as Anti-UNION bullshit, bvar22 Mar 2012 #4
Thank you, bvarr22. I am truly a PRO-union person. Without collective bargaining, loudsue Mar 2012 #5

loudsue

(14,087 posts)
3. Unions in the USA are a mess. So many missed opportunities,
Thu Mar 1, 2012, 12:34 PM
Mar 2012

and just like any other huge organization with plenty of money, unions became corrupted and too big to move efficiently. This country needs a huge new labor union paradigm shift in order to get the worker back in the power game.

Unions should be all over buying ads for the OCCUPY WALL STREET movement, and educating the common person about the republican agenda. But much of the leadership of some big unions have been infiltrated just like the dem party has been infiltrated. If they DID buy ads at this point, many of them would be toothless ads that didn't really hit hard at the basic problems. Labor Unions (well, and the NAACP) are the only really big organizations we have on our side, and the labor unions are the ones with the money. Even the NAACP has been watered down and infiltrated with "moderates" that dampen people's enthusiasm for activism.

Not only does the government need a serious shot of the 99%-ers, but so do the labor unions.

bvar22

(39,909 posts)
4. I was initially offended by your post as Anti-UNION bullshit,
Thu Mar 1, 2012, 01:29 PM
Mar 2012

but after digestion, I had to admit you are correct in most of what you said.
Unions in the USA ARE in a mess because of corrupted Union management.

When former line workers are elevated to Management positions in the Union,
and start drawing the big pay checks,
and voting themselves raises,
and start driving the fancy cars,
and start getting "invites" from politicians,
and move to a gated community,
and attending the cocktail fundraisers and back room deals...
....all of a sudden, they start seeing Management and Investors side of things.



The things for which I will never forgive Bill Clinton are things he did NOT do.
He did NOT try to undo the damage that Reagan did to Organized LABOR and the Working Class.
He made it worse,
and President Obama is following in Bill's footsteps.



You will know them by their WORKS,
not by their excuses.
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loudsue

(14,087 posts)
5. Thank you, bvarr22. I am truly a PRO-union person. Without collective bargaining,
Thu Mar 1, 2012, 01:55 PM
Mar 2012

workers are totally screwed. But all you said about the progression to the gated community is true, too.

I wish I knew a way for a non-union member to start putting pressure on the unions to start acting on behalf of the workers of this country in a meaningful way. They need to quit being in DEFENSE mode, and start on the OFFENSE, which, at this point will be a defensive strategy against the right wing, if you know what I mean.

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