Dave Saul, you are a tease... That was coherently and cogently argued, although it didn’t really answer my question / challenge. I wouldn’t take issue with much of it. But this: “going on strike is an abuse of market power by an insider group” I dont see as an accurate representation of the nature of power. How have employees in public sectors such as education and health exerted influence, let alone power, over their pay, employment conditions and the nature of what they do, and how they do it, in the last ten years? Now ask the same question about their employers – the ‘outsider group’ involved in the market power thing. How have they wielded power? Well make a very big pot of tea (or stack the fridge), settle in and be prepared to listen, or better still read, for a very long time. It hasnt been a balanced or smooth relationship. And how should employees wield power, or seek to exert influence, in a way that is not ‘an abuse’? What should they do? What is the non-abusive way to wield power? “Work is an input to the productive process just like any other”. Mmm. I think work in the frontline of education, health or social care is actually about quality, although the market model insists that we measure productivity first in terms of quantity / throughput. Targets, numerically measured; imposed by the outsider group - those that we ‘put in power’ (whatever their political hue). Strikes do have costs for society. So does the excessive and unchallenged imposition of power. Damn good throwaway line to start a Thursday, though.
Posted on: Thu, 27 Mar 2014 23:03:02 +0000
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