freediver wrote on Oct 4
th, 2020 at 1:18pm:
Grappler Truth Teller Feller wrote on Oct 4
th, 2020 at 11:54am:
But freed - the very same argument can be made about anything that continually drives up wages - such as privatisation, increased costs of production, poor management of national resources, zooming executive incomes and bonuses, happy times for shareholders and so forth...
The fact that Friedman picks out unionism as the sole cause is pure nonsense.... as I said - worker wages go up CHASING rises in all other costs, so looking at worker wages in isolation is a lost cause, since it is the last cab off the rank.
Neither Friedman nor I have been talking sole causes. That's just one of the many
hysterical counterarguments that have been presented.
Are you saying you agree with me that unions increase wage inequality?
Let us first remove the hyperbole - no - I am not agreeing with you that unions increase wage inequality. Pursuit of catch-up wages is a reaction, not a cause, and the only differences between various workplaces of the same kind are conditions etc. If you're building a power station 1000 miles from civilisation and your workforce, you cannot expect them to travel every day to get to work.... there are provisions for accommodation and meals etc that must be met, and even remote area allowances that may raise an over all INCOME, but not the actual wage rate.
Once again, Friedman and others like-minded cannot discuss a single issue in isolation, but must take a holistic approach to all reasons and causes.
Friedman's position is a fine argument for a total return to Awards, since obviously negotiating in good faith is beyond most 'managers' these days. - they either take too much or cannot resist the pressure of facts and give too much sometimes - but that is hardly the fault of the union movement. Return to Awards then.
Friedman's position here is a facile way of trying to shift the blame via half- and quarter-truths and somehow make unions and workers responsible for the ills of society at this time under its dark cloak of global economism and capitalism rampant and unchecked.
You can thank that moron weasel Howard for that - may he rot in hell.