Good questions. I indicated what my responses would be, can't elaboprate now, will later. Basically joining a union is not so simple because of:
1) unbelievably awful labor law, that is
2) rarely enforced, allowing
3) ruthless employers to act lawfully and lawelessly to thwart unionization.
You can't blow off the statistics that I cited.
If you are right, why would employers care? Don't they pay the "market rate" to nonunioin labor more or lerss by definition? Your idea makes no sense.
--- Bill Bartlett <billbartlett at aapt.net.au> wrote:
> At 10:29 PM -0700 23/5/07, andie nachgeborenen
> wrote:
>
> >Bill, you are begging the question again. What is
> "the
> >market rate"? "The rate at which labor would be
> bought
> >and sold in a free competitive market," i.e.,
> without
> >unions ("cartels," "conspiracies and combination in
> >restraint of trade")?
> >
> >If that is what you are saying, you are mistaken
> about
> >the empirical data. Actually the empirical evidence
> is
> >that unions are very effective in raising wages:
>
> Which also begs the question: if it is so simple,
> why wouldn't more
> workers want to take advantage of the benefit of
> increased wages that
> comes from simply joining a union? Which is the
> question I'm
> interested in. Whether "the market rate" is one in a
> purely free and
> competitive environment or one subject to cartels
> and conspiracies,
> is a trick question. A union is merely an attempt to
> control and thus
> restrict supply, like any cartel. Thus its simply a
> factor of the
> market environment.
>
> Some people are in a better position to achieve that
> restriction of
> supply than others. I am speculating that these are
> more likely to
> form unions etc to do so.
>
> Its all very well to rely on statistics which
> suggest that there is a
> "union wage premium" of, alternatively, either 10%
> or 20%. But how do
> you explain the fact that unionisation is so low? It
> doesn't make
> sense, something's wrong with that picture, surely?
>
> Cause and effect?
>
> Bill Bartlett
> Bracknell Tas
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