[WS:] The problem with this explanation is that unions do not do much better in other countries, even those with socialist and labor parties. I just do not think that union-DP relation is a factor in union membership decline.
If the unions supported GOP I em pretty sure their membership would be close to zero now. And the "third parties"? Their tried the Labor Party and that idea flopped big time.
The point here is that when the choice is between a center-right (DP) and a fascist (GOP) party - unions really have no choice but to stick with the center-right and most of their members are either ok with it or do not care.
It is only a handful of college educated radicals who complain about it.
What matters for union membership the most is macro-social and macro-economic structural changes that work against union mobilization, chief among them being spinning off and offshoring of production, the rise of small-establishment based service economy, suburbanization, and consumerism. This happens in every developed country, and that is why it provides a good explanation of the general decline of trade unionism.
Political party affiliation in the US cannot explain what is happening elsewhere.
Wojtek
On Wed, Jan 12, 2011 at 10:32 AM, Sean Andrews <cultstud76 at gmail.com> wrote:
> I don't think that these people normally think of themselves as laborers.
> My brother-in-law works as a trader for a hedge fund and it took a lengthy
> explanation for me to convince him he was a laborer.
>
> Unions or no, this piece from The Bullet seems to put its finger on one of
> the main causes, one which I think most on the list would find compelling:
> the main institutional organs of the labor party give undying, unprincipled
> support for the Democratic party.
>
> http://www.socialistproject.ca/bullet/453.php
>
> <http://www.socialistproject.ca/bullet/453.php>s
>
> On Wed, Jan 12, 2011 at 09:11, Carrol Cox <cbcox at ilstu.edu> wrote:
>
> > Software engineers are laborers.
> >
> > Most of those called "middle management" are laborers.
> >
> > Reporters are laborers.
> >
> > College professors are laborers.
> >
> > Public School teachers are laborers.
> >
> > Technical writers are laborers.
> >
> > Entry-level investment bankers are laborers.
> >
> > Quality-control engineers are laborers.
> >
> > Are all these people losers?
> >
> > Do very many people even have the word "losers" in their everyday
> > vocabulary, or is that merely a word that intellectuals project onto the
> > public?
> >
> > Carrol
> >
> >
> > ___________________________________
> > http://mailman.lbo-talk.org/mailman/listinfo/lbo-talk
> >
> ___________________________________
> http://mailman.lbo-talk.org/mailman/listinfo/lbo-talk
>