On 2012-01-06, at 7:30 AM, Wojtek S wrote:
> This points to a fundamental weakness of the "Anglo-Saxon" model of
> labor - capital relations that prioritized direct negotiations of
> wages with employers over providing collective security through
> government policy - as it has been the case of continental Europe,
> especially Scandinavia. The latter seems more efficient in keeping
> the rising cost of benefits in check - which has a huge effect on
> employee compensation - and also provides more safeguards against
> "employer strikes" (i.e. threats to move production elsewhere.)
Sorry to have to disagree with you once again, Woj.
British and European governments have been trying to roll back the rights and benefits of their workers in much the same manner as successive US administrations for the past two or three decades, and for much the same reason: access to a large pool of cheap labour in Eastern Europe, China, and other developing nations made possible by the end of the Cold War and advances in communications and transportation technology. These have allowed firms to outsource services and production and to alter the relationship of forces with their unions at home in all of the mature capitalist economies.
The German and other European trade unions have frequently acknowledged that these new labour markets have seriously eroded their bargaining power. Even where production or services haven't been relocated, the threat to close down factories and offices has often been sufficient to coerce workers into making concessions. The reduced power of the unions has also emboldened employers and governments to more generally assault labour rights and benefits, most (in)famously the Hartz laws in Germany and the attacks on pensions and hours of work in France. These all predate the financial crisis, but the crisis has served to greatly intensify the pressure on both the US and European working class. If the strength of European unions and government policy at one time provided "more safeguards against…threats to move production elsewhere" than in the US, these safeguards have not been apparent for some time.
Our UK and continental contributors might want to weigh in further on this.