Re:PG on Unions
by lupin_sansei on Monday May 07, 2007 @08:33PM
(#20356)
The democracy in the workplace is you are free to leave and join another company at any time. This is a good thing. Any attempt to make it harder for employers to employ people always pushes back by raising unemployment. (See the minimum wage)
Re:PG on Unions
by byrneseyeview on Monday May 07, 2007 @03:57PM
(#20280)
Democracy is probably useful for any institution with absolute power -- if there's a group that has the right to imprison or kill me, I'd rather they derive that right from the will of the people. But if all an institution can do is give me money in exchange for work, or give me stuff I want in exchange for money, democracy is an imposition that makes them less free. If a transaction can only happen with the consent of person A and person B, why on earth would you want Mob C to interpolate itself between them? The only positive results from that would flow to members of C or to parties that have coopted it.
Do workplaces need democratic practices? I've never worked for a company that threatened my life, liberty, or pursuit of happiness -- mostly, they tend to secure the blessings of (financial) liberty to myself and my posterity by paying me an amount that I find satisfactory. If they didn't, I could always cry oppression, but it would be more mature for me to just find a better job. And if I had a higher estimation of my worth as an employee than any employer, I might consider my own estimate incorrect.
It's a fallacy to apply your political principles to anything outside of politics. If you want to work for a business that runs itself like a country, work for GM (and pray for your pension).