On Monday, October 22, 2001, at 06:03 AM, Sampo Syreeni wrote:
Sure, unions are good and using coercion to stop them from coming into being is bad. But that only applies as long as unions are granted no legal status apart from other voluntary organizations, and participating in a strike is taken as what it is, a refusal to work. Likely a breach of an enforceable contract, too. Any "workers' rights" beyond that are something you'll have a *really hard time* justifying. Asymmetry does not help, either.
"Sure, unions are good" is not at all obvious to me. Why do you claim this? Most labor unions are simply rent-seeking clubs designed to cement the status quo. Teacher's unions in the U.S. are a prime example: once the union got powerful enough, it fought for a tenure-type system which made it nearly impossible to remove those who taught poorly and to reward those who taught especially well. I've never belonged to a labor union of any kind, and they are essentially absent from the chip and computer industries. From what I have seen, labor unions are a collectivist evil. --Tim May "The only purpose for which power can be rightfully exercised over any member of a civilized community, against his will, is to prevent harm to others. His own good, either physical or moral, is not a sufficient warrant." --John Stuart Mill