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By Borrelli (registered) | Posted March 18, 2011 at 09:59:29
Happy to read this article, Katie. It comes at a perfect time as unions in North America (and especially in the USA) are under attack. It's well acknowledged that unionization and a strong labour movement helped support a burgeoning middle class and humane welfare state in the post-WWII period.
The shift you describe is not only a shift away from manufacturing (heavy or otherwise), but a shift away from traditional relationships between employers and workers to a model characterized by more flexibility. This works out very well for employers, who can reduce costs and reorganize production with little consideration given to the workforce.
And despite sunny depictions of the new arrangement as 'good for workers,' it is always is a negative for workers who lose access to steady paycheques, benefits, and the psychological upsides of having secure, meaningful employment.
Economists keep telling us we need to squeeze more out of every worker, yet these gains so very rarely translate into an improved standard of living.
Meanwhile, they promote policies that weaken workers' ability to organize, when the only tried and tested method of raising quality of life for vast sectors of the population has been labour organization and mobilization.
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