>joanna bujes wrote:
>
> >Say what? Have we got a sodomy interest group here? :)
>
>I'd be very disappointed if we didn't.
>
>Doug
and on this note i just had to resubscribe...
>Date: Tue, 1 Oct 2002 11:32:16 -0700
>From: billbartlett at dodo.com.au
>Subject: Re: Workers of the world...relax
>
>At 3:29 PM +0000 30/9/02, Justin Schwartz wrote:
>
> >It's a real puzzle why the demand for a shorter work week has not caught
> on here in the US, particularly because ir has been successful in France
> and Germany,
>
>It seems Americans are a nation of scabs. According to Jack London, in War
>of the Classes, Anyone who gives "more for less" is a scab. He
>particularly noted that American workers were guilty of this offense,
>undercutting the wages of European workers by being hugely more productive.
>
>Shame on you. ;-)
>
>....
>I'm doing my bit, I refuse to work at all. (Or at least I'm holding out
>for what may appear unrealistic pay and conditions, given my meagre job
>skills.) But unfortunately one man just can't compensate for the fact that
>Australian workers have taken to scabbing lately too. The average work
>week here has climbed dramatically in the last few years.
>
>Its positively un-Australian!
Is that right? Well we might be anti-scab, but we're very pro "the honest working man" and "a fair day's pay for a fair day's work" as well. Except, of course, when we're opposed to doing "the boss" any favours. Or when we're taking up rhetorics of "self-empowerment" through work. Or, yes, taking up the Australian right to bludge. Attitudes to work and work conditions are pretty damned complex as far as I can see, and the only thing that would be "un-Australian" would be not thinking the government should do something about it.
Catherine