Jeez, that's a depressing vision of the UK.


S

So how are unions going to stop the decline of manufacturing, mainly steel, in your link?

Holding the steel manufacturer to ransom with strikes is not going to create more steel, which in turn creates jobs.

Remember the opening line of that piece. "Dan's father worked there, so did his grandfather and his great grandfather before that, but there's no job for Dan"

I read somewhere that 2/3 of children living at or under the poverty line were in working families, which is a bloody shameful statistic if correct. Out of work and in poverty down 1%, in work and in poverty up 2%.

Zero hour contracts are an utter disgrace in my opinion, I do think the unions can be too strong, but at the end of day we'd be working 90 hour weeks and no leave and on zero hour contracts without them, something conveniently forgotten at times.

There are many many steps before one gets as far as strike action. One would have to see how profitable or not any company one has an issue with in the first place.

Strikes generally speaking are more to do with changes of conditions rather than pay.... A loss of a traditionally accepted work practice. Very few strikes are to do with pay alone.

So how are the unions going to help in your link?

Indeed. Unions played a major role in achieving economic and social justice for the working-classes from the mid-19th century - a noble and necessary cause. That role ended sometime in the 1950's-60's. Now unions are all about themselves and achieved financial and political power. Nice gig if you can get it but they do cause unnecessary unemployment, low productive, division and deter investment. Some modern unions are basically organised crime outfits - CFMEU, Teamsters in the US etc

Just because something was relevant in the past, doesn't mean it is necessarily relevant today

But in the same spirit, it doesn't mean that they wont be relevant tomorrow. In fact during my relatively short time in Australia I've observed a few cases where the unions have been pivotal in ensuring that staff receive fair treatment.

Sure, but that's them doing what they are supposed to do - looking after their members

It's when they not only try and influence government policy, but also to set and control it, become corrupt by lining their own pockets at the expense of their members (CFMEU, Coles, training fees etc), try and destroy companies and individuals that don't play along with their games etc that they become a hindrance to the normal economy and society. This is when they destroy investment and productivity and cause unnecessary unemployment

Look at the influence that unions had on the Gillard government and the current Victorian, Queensland and South Australian governments - highly destructive and counterproductive. In the same vein MT did the UK a massive service by destroying the NUM and other anti-UK unions

Good points. If we could separate the unions from political parties and government, they would be better value. Will probably never happen though. Here in Australia the unions also have a reputation for deploying bully tactics, reminiscent of 1970s UK.

There's no question that Australia needs the union cleansing that saved the UK from economic oblivion in the 1980s

It's coming but at the moment we don't have a real Conservative leader to achieve it and we also have a senate that's living in mumbo jumbo land - whereas in the UK the upper house is effectively a rubber stamp for the incumbent government

.... and separate them from making the precious down time of school holiday makers a misery.

http://mobile.abc.net.au/news/2016-09-26/border-force-strike-action-to-cause-delays-at-airports/7876460?pfmredir=sm

The challenge is how to clean up the unions, leaving strong advocates of workers rights in place.

And as for the current lower and upper houses of government: They're a joke, and I don't see that changing anytime soon.

Yeah, it's very mean-minded of them.

+1

God I'd love to be in a room the day a trade union tried their bullying ways...

All it takes is a phone and a recorder..and a simple 'piss off'..I have no time for the likes of Shorten who use them to get political careers : he should leave unions for the people that need them

An interesting piece of trashy TV last night. This company hand makes beds for the wealthy.

http://www.savoirbeds.com

90 staff in Britain. 70 manufacturing staff.

As the owner says, people give the wealthy stick for being wealthy, but the wealthy are keeping 90 people employed in a dying manufacturing industry in Britain.