[PEN-L:2422] unions

[JDevine@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx (James Devine)]

Paul Phillips writes: In addition to being "schools of class
struggle," >> The union if it works well prevents the alienation
of the individual from companion workers and, at least to some
extent, prevents workers from being used to put one against the
other.<<

I would add that a union, if it works well, gives workers some
democratic control over their working lives, something largely
lacking under capitalism.

But the key point is that "unions, if they work well" are
specifically targetted by the capitalist elites. They must either
be smashed or co-opted. The bureaucratic top-down unions willing
to strike a deal with capital or the narrow-focus unions that
cling to craft distinctions are the ones encouraged, and usually,
the only ones that survive the onslaught (at least in the US). A
union that has strong socialist and ecological consciousness and
democratic organization is the one most likely to be targeted,
shunned, etc. Further, unions that work well go against the grain
of "market forces." Even without getting special attention from
capitalist elites, they will have a hard time in a capitalist
society. As I noted, Luxemburg once said that the union's job is
like that of Sisyphus.

To counteract this, unions have to be part of a larger social
movement, as with social-democratic and communist parties of the
past (or maybe even green parties of the future), which
countervail the power of capital. (The failure of unions is to a
large extent a reflection of the failure of their societal
environment.) These movements had their own problems, of which we
are all familiar, but they can gain some strength by their
connection with unions.

BTW, on another topic: Barro rejects minimum wages because demand
curves are always downward-sloping? this not only ignores
Giffen-type effects, as seems reasonable to do, but it ignores the
distinction between product and input markets while assuming full
employment. The demand for inputs is "derived demand," so that
(given inelastic labor demand) generally higher wages might
increase aggregate demand, causing the demand-for-labor-power
curve to shift rightward. This, in effect, implies an
upward-sloping _aggregate_ demand-for-labor-power curve despite
downward-sloping micro-economic d-f-l-p curves.

in pen-l solidarity,

Jim Devine   jdevine@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Econ. Dept., Loyola Marymount Univ.
7900 Loyola Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90045-8410 USA
310/338-2948 (daytime, during workweek); FAX: 310/338-1950
"It takes a busload of faith to get by." -- Lou Reed.