RM> Admittedly, at one time, they were needed and in some places they maybe
> still are, but I always found that hard workers are difficult to find so
> most companies take pretty good care to keep them happy because there are
> always other offers out there.
AR>To put it in terms a Communist would understand, the power Unions hold comes
>from maintaining the monopoly of workforce supply. If enough workers could
>operate out of the parameters the Union wants, the Union is not effective by
>itself (ie. the Union cannot set prices for the workforce if enough workers
>negotiate their own prices by the side). Hence Unions act like mobs to surviv
It's a complex issue. Non-union places mainly only survive because they
directly compete with Union places. If they pay less or have terrible
working conditions, their workers will go elsewhere. Granted it's much
better these days because of half decent minimum wages and safety conditions
pretty much guaranteed by basic government rules.
True communism is a whole other world. Canada is often referred to by
Americans as a Socialist Democracy. No question we are more Socialist
on average than the USA, but there is still a Capitalist backbone there
allowing those who are smarter and/or work harder to do better than the
average person. That's usually not an option in a true communist situation.
Generally speaking they do a job for a set rate and they want you to work
as hard as possible but, doing so, won't get you ahead.. so the only way
to 'win' is to do as little work as you can get away with so you are doing
less work than your neighbour for the same money. Production rates there
are generally pretty dismal compared to here.
But Russia is no fun to live in for a lot of reasons. My next door neighbour
lived there, working for a North American company, for several years and
he said that it's fairly nice there.. if you have money. But the average
person there barely scrapes by. He mentioned the owner of a butcher shop
that he bought from told him once, when complimented on the meat, that he
tries to make it the best he can but couldn't comment much on it because
he couldn't afford to shop in his own store.
I asked him if he felt safe with his family there, and he said he had a
nice house with virtually no crime and they could hire housekeepers and
gardeners and such for 80 cents an hour. This was only about 8 years ago.
Later his 'feeling safe' comment was made more clear when he mentioned
that he lived in a part of the city where only workers and their families
from other countries lived, and there was a high brick wall around the
whole area that was patrolled by hired soldiers with automatic weapons
24 hours a day.
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■ SLMR Rob ■ Sorry... I'll have to look that up in my Necronomicon
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