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How US politicians speak to trade unions

February 4, 2012 6:46 pm

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This week US Vice President Joe Biden spoke to the US CWA (Communication Workers of America), and wanted to speak about the State of the Union, but also the State of Unions, and strengthening the union movement. Compare his speech (below) with the way British people address trade unionists. There’s a world of difference…

Anonymous
There is a difference between unions in the US and unions in the UK and Europe though (although that may be changing) Unions in the US have not been overly attached to any one political party until perhaps the last two decades when the Republican Party shifted significantly to the right economically. Moreover, the US has a long tradition of “business unionism”, where the main goal of the movement was to improve the wages and working conditions of its members, rather than pushing through particular social agenda. This is obviously not true for all US unions, but it does apply to quite a few. While if you look at UK unions, a fair number do have broader social and economic goals, especially the far-left unions like the RMT and PCS. Although there is a lot of suspicion of unions in the US, politicians are somewhat comfortable that they are not ostensibly looking to overthrow capitalism, simply to push through a “better” capitalism for its members. In the UK, there is the belief that trade unions are inherently communistic, and have an overall goal of overthrowing the capitalist system itself. IMO I’m glad we have unions led by people like Bob Crow and Mark Serwotka, because their values reflect the best of the Labour Party.

Anonymous
Communistic, your joking, they may suck up to labour but that’s because many of the top brass within the Union see the Labour party as a second wage.
You would not believe how many of the Unions top brass are special advisers, or help out in some other to earn a few bob extra.
But communistic yes once up on a time with Scargill, but he has long gone and Unions these days are like many MPs careerist
http://twitter.com/gonzozzz dave stone
“unions … have an overall goal of overthrowing the capitalist system”
That is the biggest misconception going. You won’t find a better partner in the management of the capitalist system than the unions. It is in their interests for the system to succeed because they want a bigger slice of the cake for the workers. And there’s nothing wrong with that. Bob Crow, Mark Serwotka and Arthur Scargill would all happily settle for a fair deal, every time.
Of course, if you want everyone on the minimum wage, and so compel everyone to become the income support and housing benefit claimants the millionaire Tories are always belly-aching about then the quickest way to get there is to weaken the unions still further (there’s already been mutterings of legislation re this).
It’s not the workers or the unions that have hindered productivity or capitalism in the U.K. it’s the idiot management attitude of “I know it all so don’t even need to try” that has done most damage.

Anonymous
Yeah I said that’s the belief that people have about unions, not necessarily what reality is. Personally, I want Unions to hold wider social and economic goals as well as getting better terms and conditions for their members, although I understand that given the legislative constraints they face, this is very difficult so the best they can do is represent their own members, which is fine.
Unions that manage to increase the share of national income going to labour do a great job, but that doesn’t hide the fact that the economic system is still inherently exploitative, so we should never forget that the ultimate aim SHOULD be to develop a more humane economic system where rewards are distributed in a just way, not through some arbitrary market mechanism.

http://twitter.com/gonzozzz dave stone
“develop a more humane economic system where rewards are distributed in a just way”
That’s where the Labour Party comes in – as a political project.
I’m still clock-watching… in the meantime there’s the bigger slice of the cake.

Anonymous
I’m still clock-watching… in the meantime there’s the bigger slice of the cake.
Nope Prescott had that one, his eyes watered at the cake never mind the slice.

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