ù Quoting Bob Rudolph from a message to Ryan Bagueros  ù 
BR>    COMPANIES are responsible to STOCKHOLDERS.  When a product is no 
BR> longer in  demand, SOME segment of the workforce is faced wither with 
BR> learning something  new or with being visibly obsolete - witness 
BR> blacksmiths, wagon makers, buggy  whip manufacturers, etc. Unions 
Okay, Bob, blah blah blah. Right, unions are bad for profit, and so that 
justifies any action against them, right? First of all, there is an excellent 
argument to be made that the higher cost of union labor is justified by the 
increase in productivity, a fact that cannot be denied. However, again, this 
logic is blurred by the profit-at-any-cost mentality.
Let's move on to your ridiculous contention that we are in an era of lacking 
corporate profit. NOTHING could be further from the truth, or don't you know 
that this is the "best economy in years," the "to-good-to-be-believed 
economy"..? Corporate profits are at the highest they've been in YEARS, CEO 
salaries are also at the highest in years. We are in a new era of 
technological
growth. So with all of these corporate profits being at the highest in years, 
we are also seeing the largest domestic downsizing in years too.
At the same time, there is an active war against unions in this country. In 
the
late 60s, 1 out of every 209 union supporters, in the late 70's, it was 1 in 
every 110, and in the late 80s, it was 1 for every 36 - people who were fired 
for being union supporters or active in union organizing. This stat comes 
from 
05/23/94 Business Week, a decidedly pro-business rag. 
And as a side note, wherever there are unions out of line, there are cops 
there
to put them down. Even though cops are working class themselves, they have no 
problem beating protesters, or breaking up a picket line, etc. Even though 
cops
are union themselves. Scabs. 
Let me put it this way, concerning your general statement about "how the 
world 
works" and shifting geographic bases of profit. If there were no governments, 
and no corporations, and just billions of people, who had to figure out how 
to 
get food and shelter and live, they would find that there is enough for 
everyone. They would find that if they worked, they could make enough food, 
clothing, shelter - everything - for everyone to have the basic human 
dignities. We have that right now - but the profit/wage system is overriding 
it. So when you say that "companies move, employees get fired" you are 
talking 
about an artificial situation that is not commanded by the laws of nature, 
but 
by tradition and the power of corporations/governments to suppress worker 
organization. Poverty is not a natural state - poverty is created. Period.
--- FMail 1.22
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