[PEN-L:6660] scandinavian unions

[bill mitchell <ECWFM@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Robert

>as for bill's antipathy towards unions, i'm with gompers: "MORE!"
>(gompers was, after all, a socialist... ;> ) i don't think unions
>can ever go wrong by demanding more, as long as they do it for the
>whole working class (including those not working) rather than some
>sector, (like the unionized or the skilled). the swedish and
>norwegian unions did it right -- they moderated the wage demands of
>those at the top in return for full employment, bringing up the
>bottom, and levelling the wage structure.

Well the scandinavian unions might have done that. of-course, in sweden they
also
explicitly gained wage increases in an economy which was floating on the export
of armaments (presumably to terrorists and imperialists). But recent history
(and i
note robert says "did"), doesn't bear that well, except perhaps for norway
(although
trond might be able to say more about that).

The following table is taken from a book i am writing at present and leaves out
all
the other oecd economies. it shows that to fight inflation, unemployment has
been
pushed up so the capitalists are not threatened by wage cost pressures. if the
unions
were in control of the situation how come there has been an abandonment of full
employment
in finland, sweden and to a certain extent norway. the USA looks good - no?


Average		Average
1963-73		1974-79	     1983	     1987	 1991	      1995

UR  INF MI   UR  INF MI    UR  INF MI    UR  INF MI   UR  INF MI    UR INF MI
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
OZ	

2.0 4.0	6.0  5.0 12.2 17.2 9.9 10.1 20.0  8.0 8.5 16.5 9.5 3.2 12.7 8.5 4.6 13.1

Finland	

2.2 6.2	8.4  4.5 12.9 17.4  5.4 8.3 13.7  5.1 4.1  9.2 7.6 4.3 11.9 17.2 1.0 18.2

Norway	

1.9 5.3	7.2  1.8  8.7 10.5  3.4	8.4 11.8  2.1 8.7 10.8 5.5 3.4	8.9 4.9 2.5 7.4

Sweden	

1.9 4.9	6.8  1.9  9.8 11.7  3.5	8.9 12.4  2.1 4.2  6.3 3.0 9.7 12.7 7.7 2.9 10.6

US	

4.5 3.6	8.1  6.7  8.6 15.3  9.6	3.2 12.8  6.2 3.7  9.9 6.8 4.2 11.0 5.6 2.8 8.4
									
OECD    		    8.3 9.3 17.6  7.3 7.8 15.1 6.8 6.1 12.9 7.6 5.5 13.1


kind regards
bill


--

         ####    ##       William F. Mitchell
       #######   ####     Head of Economics Department
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