http://www.legislature.state.oh.us/bills.cfm?ID=123_HB_78
Tom Lehman
Nathan Newman wrote:
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: owner-lbo-talk at lists.panix.com
> > [mailto:owner-lbo-talk at lists.panix.com]On Behalf Of Doug Henwood
> > Sent: Wednesday, November 24, 1999 11:09 AM
> >
> > Nathan Newman wrote:
> >
> > >In a sense, and contrary to intuition, you can see how starkly class
> > >conscious American economic law is.
> >
> > Why is this contrary to intuition? The U.S. ruling class is extremely
> > well-organized and class conscious, not only on a national scale, but
> > internationally. Is there any other ruling class that's as
> > well-organized, class conscious, and so largely unchallenged?
>
> Of course, and I should have said, contrary to conventional wisdom.
>
> But there is also a strong part of the system that is class-conscious from
> the labor side, where workers in the US for extremely class-conscious
> reasons rejected involvement in corporate goverance as a pitfall for class
> sell-out and class collaboration- all the contemporary talk of
> labor-management partnership to the contrary.
>
> Depite the "American Exceptionalism" arguement that portray US workers as
> less socialist-minded or class conscious than European workers, there is a
> rather militant strain in the US that dismissed the "co-determination" of
> Europe and company unionism of Japan as a sell-out of class principles. It
> was only when US workers got their asses handed to them in the 1970s while
> benefits seemed to hold on in Europe and Japan that the American version of
> labor relations was so denigrated.
>
> There is a tough strain of US unionism that, partly derived from the Wobbly
> strain, sees even a contract with a no-strike clause as far too close a
> relationship with management for comfort. This strain was reflected in the
> Wagner Act, even if its practice was heavily gutted by Taft-Hartley in 1947
> and by rather creative judicial interpretations that turned union contracts
> into binding agreements under law.
>
> What I find interesting is the interplay of these two class conscious legal
> traditions, labor law and corporate law, playing out in completely separate
> and largely incompatible legal venues. And as they mix in these corporate
> campaigns, long suppressed class contradictions of our legal and economic
> system are coming to the fore. It is, in historical terms, an important
> "critical juncture" and how we mobilize to win out in the ensuing battle
> will make a large difference for the future.
>
> -- Nathan Newman