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Re:Why Wages Aren’t Growing by lotsofpulp on Friday September 22, 2017 @05:44AM (#15310569)
If a union wants to negotiate, then you just move the manufacturing to a cheaper country. There is plenty of labor willing to work at a lower price, and that is what happened.
Re:Why Wages Aren’t Growing by geezerjay on Friday September 22, 2017 @07:42AM (#15311220)
> If a union wants to negotiate, then you just move the manufacturing to a cheaper country.

This is a disingenuous comment. Having a professional negotiation negotiating with a HR representative on behalf of the worker does not force a company to move their offices abroad.

Moreover, moving a company somewhere else entails a heavy cost that more often than not the company is unable to pay.

I don't understand why people assume that the worker force has to bend over repeatedly and perpetually, particularly when we are faced with stagnant wages in a time of low unemployment. This clearly shows that the job market is being manipulated to serve the interests of these corporations, in a time where high-skilled workers remain peddling for cash and without any job security.

Re:Why Wages Aren’t Growing by kesselvon on Saturday September 23, 2017 @11:34AM (#15320180)
The workforce doesn't have to bend over, but there is an inequality in negotiations when the company threatens to ship the work to somewhere where they can pay workers a fraction, even if the quality will be shit.

We don't exactly have a legal framework to prevent companies from doing this either

Re:Why Wages Aren’t Growing by sangnoir on Friday September 22, 2017 @03:40PM (#15315116)
> I don't understand why people assume that the worker force has to bend over repeatedly and perpetually

At first I was going to correct you and say "bend over backwards" - then I realized you got it exactly right. Some of the high-skilled workers - on hn no less - will say "I'm better off negotiating the angle at which I bend for myself"

Re:Why Wages Aren’t Growing by lotsofpulp on Friday September 22, 2017 @08:10AM (#15311407)
I’m not assuming anything. The “heavy cost” you are referring to is obviously not heavy compared to paying US wages and cost of regulations. The proof is the fact that everything you pick up in your room will probably say Made in china and your shirt will say Made in bangladesh.
Re:Why Wages Aren’t Growing by emodendroket on Friday September 22, 2017 @08:18AM (#15311457)
It's not some law of nature though; that's the result of legal changes making it more appealing to offshore manufacturing.
Re:Why Wages Aren’t Growing by have_faith on Friday September 22, 2017 @06:10AM (#15310659)
If the union was any good, they would negotiate a price that was better than the individual could get on their own but cheaper to the company than moving a whole factory half way across the world. There is a spectrum between the two extremes where negotiation should take place.
Re:Why Wages Aren’t Growing by intended on Friday September 22, 2017 @06:40AM (#15310854)
Not really?

I mean I know factories in India which have buildings with asbestos roofs.

China has grizzly videos of workers moving metal scaffolding and then accidentally getting electrocuted as it moves into exposed high voltage cable.

And that is still a step up from the misery there was before.

I don't see how you can afford environmental protections, worker safety, when instead for a small fraction of the cost you can just send the request to a contractor, and then say "Oh we didn't know the conditions in the factory were bad. We thought those quaint third world concepts were just rumors! Oh those poor souls!".

Re:Why Wages Aren’t Growing by geezerjay on Friday September 22, 2017 @09:04AM (#15311766)
> I mean I know factories in India which have buildings with asbestos roofs.

And how much would your company be forced to pay and abdicate to relocate their headquarters to that asbestos-packed hell-hole?

Do the company's middle and upper management tolerate the idea of moving to a different continent and be forced to live with inhumane infrastructures setup by inhumane and careless middle and upper management types?

Not every job is a factory job or involves low-skilled grunt work. Not all companies are willing to lift the proverbial anchor and relocate to a different continent just because a job seeker has a trade union representative with him during negotiations.

Re:Why Wages Aren’t Growing by dsfyu404ed on Friday September 22, 2017 @08:37AM (#15311573)
It's going to depend on the widget.

No matter how you cut it there's less overhead in those countries.

Depending on the nature of the good and the scale it's almost impossible to have the price of the good be competitive when it gets to the first world.

At high volume it's easy to amortize the cost cost of teaching a factory in overseas how to make for example a high quality forging that a first world supplier could produce properly the first time without asking questions.

If you're gonna need to make a different forging every year then you might want a supplier closer to home that you don't have to hand hold.

If you're making something with less safety/environmental overhead than the steel forging then that tips things less in favor of off-shoring.

Re:Why Wages Aren’t Growing by KekDemaga on Friday September 22, 2017 @06:43AM (#15310879)
I take it you haven't ever encountered high level union managers, not the sharpest crayons in my experience.