Casper,
Have you considered the impact of the more than doubling of the world
population since 1950? 2.5 Billion -> 5.9B. (labor supply obviously
increased dramatically, whether or not technology is a factor, which is
arguable) Also, migration of labor as well as of production facilities has
occurred.
Steve
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Davis:
I believe that unions have declined for 3 synergistic reasons:
1. They engaged in many objectionable practices, which made them an
easy target for
2. A massive propaganda campaign (equalled only by the lengthy and
ongoing campaign against government) the keystone of which was the
busting of the US air traffic controllers strike by Reagan. The
propaganda has been so successful that many people in person-on
-the-street interviews say that it is unreasonable of BC movie
projectionists to strike over a 50% wage increase-- while the theaters
are highly profitable! The right wing control of the media is nearly
complete.
3. Removal of trade and investment barriers has made it easy for
corporations to threaten and to actually move facilities to areas of
lowest wages (i.e. most desperate people) and lowest environmental
regulation. The recent series in Time magazine (of all places!) details
the way that corporations have blackmailed governments for hundreds of
millions of dollars by the threat of moving, and often moved their
facilities anyway after pocketing the money!
