The right to strike

[thom]

As some of you know, I've been with T. for nearly four years now. We're living together and our relationship is very healthy. She's intelligent, fun, thoughtful and my best friend. I can't fault her in any way - except one: she has what I find an abhorrent view of strikes: she basically thinks that people should never (and I do mean never) go on strike, the basic logic being that it's not ever reasonable to punish a third party (the customer) over a dispute between employer and employee.

Now, T. is not at all a right-winger, let alone an extreme one. On the contrary she is, like just about everybody I'm close to, of a centre-left bent. She is however not particularly politically engaged (that's obviously a relative sentiment). She'll get fired up over certain subjects - ID cards, for example - but by her own admission she finds it hard to 'get' politics. This is not because she's incapable of following argument - she's just finished her PhD. fer chrissakes - but she finds the political narrative hard to follow. She'd like to be more engaged, but it doesn't come naturally to her - she bought Very Short Introductions to both Politics and Political Philosophy, but didn't finish either book.

In the course of our arguments over strikes - we ended up having a bit of a row about it last night, which we almost never do - it's become clear to me that she has a pretty naive view of the employer-employee relationship. When I said that employers have responsibilities to employees she seemed genuinely surprised, and had to ask what those responsibilities were. What I think is happening is that she doesn't really have any grasp of the asymmetry of power in a capitalist society - in fact, I don't think she'd even understand what is meant by a phrase like that.

So, I was wondering: does anybody know of any good blog entries / essays / websites that deal with that topic, and in particular the matter of the right the strike? As I said earlier, she'd really would like to get a better grasp of political issues and discourse, but she's never found the writer(s) who can make it accessible to her. If you guys knew of such material she'd be a keen reader.

[Guest]

The right to strike

http://www.newstatesman.com/uk-polit...kers-inflation

That fits the bill rather well as to why the right to strike is important.

For me, workers in any sector should have the right to strike, whether it be pay, conditions or unfair treatment of colleagues. People who work at the sharp end, doing the jobs that others would not do, like in the link above, sometimes have little choice in the matter. The problem is that since the miner's strikes of the mid-eighties, which was a prime example of a well-meaning idea taken too far, the general public has become wary of strike action.

[thom]

The right to strike

I don't think that article does address the issue. T.'s attitude is pretty much surmised by the first comment on that article, by 'antileft', which I've pasted in below. T. herself isn't anti-left, she's just - and I mean this in the most neutral sense possible - ignorant of the philosophical arguments. I think I need something more 'foundational', I guess.

antileft's comment:
Dave, Im sorry, but I fail to understand what the problem is. If I was paid badly, I would quit and get something better. If I was paid badly but I couldn't get anything better because of a lack of skills, then I would accept the situation, grateful that I was getting the best deal available for me. If you can get more money elsewhere, why don't you quit? If you can't, you're getting a good deal- why are you complaining?

[Wyatt Earp]

The right to strike

I think recent OTF experience shows that I'm not the go-to guy for a warm and loving response to a set of opinions like that. The ultimate logic of that position would justify literally any pay and conditions the employer could get away with, including sweated labour. Maybe ask her where she herself would draw the line, and then work from there?

But as I say, I'm not the guy. I'd never have lasted four years.

[Kowalski]

The right to strike

I would have thought, in a "civilised" society, that it's possible to withhold your labour in order to highlight your unhappiness with your work situation. This would of course only happen after a legally held ballot.

[Tubby Isaacs]

The right to strike

Very broadbrush indeed, but could you not offer something historical, about how unions and striking improved conditions for workers at the turn of the last century? Then ask why that principle shouldn't apply now.

I expect too that she'll bring up cases about putting lives in danger via striking. We concluded on the old board that any nurse who did so would be chucked out of the Royal College of Nursing. So these are purely hypothetical.

Does she have a small business background? My family are very anti-union because of that.

[thom]

The right to strike

WE - thing is, this is literally the only matter of substance on which there's anything like significant disagreement, and she doesn't hold the view that strongly. This isn't borne of nastiness or cynicism; it really is, I think, just a matter of ignorance.

Tubby - she won't bring up a counter argument, as it's not a big deal for her; it's not something she's thought much about before (and no, it's nothing to do with previous career / experience). These are just her instinctive views, and she's never had reason to challenge them. Once she understands the arguments I'm sure she'll agree that there are circumstances under which it's acceptable to strike, but I'm having trouble framing them in an appropriate way - partly, I think, because it just seems so obvious to me. I will give the historical approach some thought.

What I need is Labour Rights 101. Where is it?

[thom]

The right to strike

Look what I've found in today's news

[E10 Rifle]

The right to strike

I only wish that story were as true as the headline suggests it is.

[Tubby Isaacs]

The right to strike

Don't trade unionist visit schools already, at least as part of general studies? They didn't come to my school, obviously. We got Anne Winterton MP, though we fortunately got away without any jokes.

[Cal Alamein]

The right to strike

I'd be curious to know of T's working background - has she ever worked somewhere where she was not able to belong to a union and forced to work long hours w/ little or no benefits?

I worked in television for two stations and neither were organized and the mere hint of agitation would have got that worker fired. We were "rewarded" for our long hours w/ days off. We had decent insurance, but no pension plan, no retirement. A strike might have sounded heroic, but we would have been replaced quickly w/ eager workers as the supply of employees was far higher than the number of jobs.

Once I became a teacher I could not wait to become a union member and also was involved in contract negotiations. In the U.S. most workers can enjoy the benefits of negotiated agreements w/out being union members. We've never come close to a strike situation, but if the administration wanted to play hardball I would not hesitate to walk out.

The laundry list of today's acceptable working conditions such as a 5-day, 40 hr. work week, health insurance, pension, and the lot are all due to workers who were willing to put their jobs on the line.

[E10 Rifle]

The right to strike

What worries me is that there's an awful lot of self-professed 'enlightened' people around now in Modern, Thrusting Britain who, if you scratch them, basically think internationally agreed labour standards are an Outrageous Imposition On Business. No slight on thom - who's a top chap - or even his good lady, but I wish I could be more surprised by the attitudes he's described here. They've manifested themselves on OTF often enough.

[NHH]

The right to strike

Dave, Im sorry, but I fail to understand what the problem is. If I was paid badly, I would quit and get something better. If I was paid badly but I couldn't get anything better because of a lack of skills, then I would accept the situation, grateful that I was getting the best deal available for me. If you can get more money elsewhere, why don't you quit? If you can't, you're getting a good deal- why are you complaining?

TBH Thom, the attitude is straight out of individualism 101. "I don't see why I'd need a union so why on earth would someone else? That they would is evidence that they're not as talented / marketable / clever /ballsy as me, so to some extent, maybe they deserve to be shat on by their bosses."

[Guest]

The right to strike

I totally agree with NHH, Trouble is this attitude is typical of many peoples'.

I do believe that it strike action should be a last resort. However, businesses seem willing to take negotiations right up to strike action these days.

To gratefully accept what you given, even if that is not what you are worth, in any job, is ridiculous. to suggest just walking away and getting a new job is not as easy for a lot of the population. The right to strike is some workers' only leverage to get a fair deal. That should never be taken away from anyone.

[WOM]

The right to strike

I've just learned that Mrs WOM (along with all elementary teachers on the Toronto board) is now without contract. They're negotiating with the province, of course, but historically these thing end with a brief teacher's strike. Should she end up warming her hands around a barrel of burning wood at the foot of the school drive, I'll post up a picture.

This is where it gets mucky for me. I really don't begrudge a union its right to strike when we're talking about auto manufacturing, etc. but I do feel that certain services need to be designated as essential (transit, nursing and teaching among them) and therefore 'non-strike'.

Just my two cents.

[Wyatt Earp]

The right to strike

Meaning that when the board dissolves teaching contracts, the teachers use what sanction?

[WOM]

The right to strike

You'll need to dummy that down a shade, please.

If you mean 'what are their terms without a contract'; they just keep going as per the old contract, under the assumption that they'll reach an agreement. If not, they strike. If it were up to me, I think I'd have them go into binding arbitration.

[Wyatt Earp]

The right to strike

Well, that can sort of work; it's the system we have here for teachers, pretty much. But it works far better if both sides consent to the arrangement, which will only happen if both negotiate it from a position of some strength. And it becomes unstable if the government doesn't fund all arbitrated settlements as a matter of course, which is a principle the UK government has recently breached.

[WOM]

The right to strike

Ah, I see. I think, here, teaching is one of those holy things that governments generally don't breach their agreements about. As with nursing and city workers, etc, a deal does seem to be a deal. No exceptions come to mind.
When I was teaching college part-time, the full-time teachers' union (which didn't cover us at the time, but now does) went on strike. The part-timers all stayed clear of the place until it was settled.

[edit. That second bit is apropos of nothing.]

[linus]

The right to strike

Perhaps popular support for the right to strike has been eroded in recent years by strikes that were primarily motivated by strong salary demands from classes of workers who were already very overpaid, especially within the ranks of the public sector.

In France, there was a bit of a popular backlash against a recent strike by railway conductors, whose salaries were in the high 70k euros and whose workweek was about 30 hours long, with about two months worth of vacation. They blocked the railway network for a few days in order to get higher still salaries and earlier retirement ages (some conductors could retire at 50.)

In Montreal, the average blue collar worker employed by the City makes over $65,000, with top-notch benefits and a short workweek. This is in a city where the average house costs only $200,000, as opposed to say New York or San francisco where the median home price is about 4 times as expensive. Many sectors from this workforce have recently gone on strike, mostly over salary raise demands that were above inflation. Those strikes were often at the expense of the general population, affecting transport and other basic sevices.

It's strikes like these that have undermined public support and perception of the need to strike, which can be very legitimate and necessary among many classes of workers that have legitimate labor grievences.

[Tubby Isaacs]

The right to strike

The Montreal employees don't sound particularly overpaid to me. Isn't 3 times the salary the traditional mortgage ratio?

Where did you get the info about the conductors? I've only found a strike against Sarko's pension changes, whereby you need 40 yrs not 37.5 yrs of contributions to get a full pension. That's not retiring at 50.

[WOM]

The right to strike

No, you're thinking 'monthly mortgage payment of no more than 30% of salary with other debt or 40% with no other debt'. You could carry a house worth ten times your salary, but you'd be carrying it forever.

[Tubby Isaacs]

The right to strike

I know that- I live in London. Maybe it's because I became aware of this sort of thing in the mid90s when it was still affordable here, but salary x3 seemed to be the figure most people mentioned.

[Wyatt Earp]

The right to strike

We're talking about begrudging employees who've successfully used collective bargaining the right to continue to do so, then?

[E10 Rifle]

The right to strike

The politics of envy, I think we might call it.