>From the latest Jobs Letter (see sub info at end)
THE JUDAS ECONOMY
* A new book by a senior staff member of Business Week is
grabbing attention in the executive bookshelves, if only because
its writer is accusing western business leaders of selling out
its own working class. William Wolman is the chief economist at
Business Week and is the co-writer of "The Judas Economy: Triumph
of Capital and the Betrayal of Work".
The book argues that there is no historical evidence that
sacrificing growth for lower inflation is worth the price we pay
in stunted growth, lost jobs and stagnated pay. Even if there was
such evidence, it says that the policies still amount to a
deliberate sacrifice of the interests of people who earn their
living from work, in favour of the interests of investors.
Wolman says that, since the collapse of communism, business
leaders in the west have unhooked their traditional partnership
with workers. And he points out that as capital relentlessly
chases the lowest costs, "knowledge work" is becoming no more
sacrosanct than the industrial work it replaced.
His example: Bangalore in India, which is fast becoming a
powerhouse of international computer software development.
Because of its enormous cost advantages, Bangalore is capturing
thousands of jobs a year that would otherwise belong to
"knowledge workers" in the developed world. Wolman: "Western
capital is no longer wed to the idea that western labour -- even
well-educated labour -- has to be a partner in the brave new
world of twenty-first century capitalism..."
"The Judas Economy: Triumph of Capital and the Betrayal of
Work" by William Wolman and Anne Colamosca (pub Addison
Wesley)
F E A T U R E
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35HR WORK WEEK -- Less work, More jobs ?
* With French youth rioting over the New Year, and their
unemployed and homeless occupying unemployment offices across the
country, attention is focussing on PM Jospin's historic decision
to introduce the 35-hr week (without a loss of pay) as one of his
major strategies to combat unemployment. His plan to cut working
hours is to become legally obligatory in all workplaces of more
than 10 employees on 1st January 2000.
* But Jospin faces a huge backlash from French employers who
are unhappy at the costs they will be paying for the reduced
working hours. Ernest-Antoine Seilliere, of the French employers'
organisation CNPF says that employers should boycott any
nationwide labour talks and labour protection organisations that
threatened "one cent more in costs."
Seilliere describes the financial incentives planned by French
Employment Minister Martine Aubry to encourage employers to
shorten working hours and take on more workers as a plan to
"partly nationalise businesses". He has advised employers to
"harass the administrative and political decision-makers, who
have all the means to do what they like, to make them aware of
the diversity of companies and the enormous problems posed by the
35-hour plan..."
* Paul Krugman, American economist and author of the 1994 US
bestseller, Peddling Prosperity, has criticised the French 35-hr
week plan as based on propositions that that still need much more
debate. Writing on the electoral success of Lionel Jospin's
socialists in the French election, Krugman observes: "Sooner than
anyone might have expected, a radical economic doctrine has
emerged from obscurity to become, in principle at least, the
official ideology of a major advanced nation's government..."
Krugman has dubbed this new socialist economic path the
"doctrine of global glut". He says it is based on three
"fallacious but widely believed propositions": 1. That global
productive capacity is growing at an exceptional, perhaps
unprecedented rate; 2. That demand in advanced countries cannot
keep up with the growth in potential supply; and 3. That the
growth of newly emerging economies will contribute much more to
global supply than to global demand.
Krugman believes that such doctrines, in economics and
elsewhere, often fail to get adequately discussed in their early
stages. He calls for more discussion on the "global glut" before
it becomes "a dogma impervious to logic and evidence..."
Krugman: "In the formative stages of a doctrine, both the
intellectual and the political establishment tend to regard them
as unworthy of notice. Meanwhile, the doctrines can seem
compelling to large numbers of people, some of whom have
considerable political clout, financial resources or both. By the
time it becomes apparent that such influential ideas -- say,
supply-side economics -- demand serious attention after all,
reasoned argument has become very difficult. People have become
invested emotionally, politically, and financially in the
doctrine, careers and even institutions have been built on it,
and its proponents can no longer allow themselves to contemplate
the possibility that they have taken a wrong turn..."
* Our Media Watch reports success stories of the 35-hr work
week already starting to circulate on internet newsgroups. One
practical experience with the six-hour working day gaining
attention is from Finland.
Tony Carlyle of the Global Times reports that in the boom days of
1988 in Lojo, Finland, the plastics manufacturing company Orthex
found that it could not keep its workforce. It was paying 30
marks per hour but just down the road at the paper mill workers
could get 100 marks an hour. So the company decided to make
itself more attractive by cutting working hours from eight to six
and still pay the workers for eight.
Orthex was promptly expelled from the employers' federation and
the unions became very suspicious. Now the company is besieged by
study groups and both unions and employers say they are pleased
with the results.
* The gamble the company took was that people would rather
have more free time than more money. There was a catch, however.
Employees would have to do without extra holidays as set out in
their collective agreement. This meant the company could save
money because to replace those away on holiday it would have to
pay others overtime to keep up production.
One unexpected saving was that time lost due to illness almost
disappeared. Tony Carlyle reports that people felt better and
their health improved. The same phenomenon was also apparent at
the large Finnish tyre producer Nokia, who brought in a six-hour
working day. Their staff suddenly stopped taking days off for
illness altogether.
* In Canada, a union survey of shorter working hours has
found workers generally interested in negotiating shorter hours
of work, and that they would consider some kind of financial
sacrifice -- as long as full-time jobs were created as a result.
The survey found that concern about finances and anxieties about
change are common responses to shorter work time proposals. But
when unions on behalf of members initiate the move to shorter
hours, the time away from work is extremely popular among
workers.
* In Sarnia, Ontario, a union negotiated one extra day off
every three weeks. Six other union plants, plus some non-union
plants and public sector workers followed suit. In a town of
100,000 people, these Happy Fridays are now a community event
with family picnics, fishing derbies, golf tournaments and other
activities scheduled for these days.
C R E D I T S
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edited by Vivian Hutchinson for the Jobs Research Trust
P.O.Box 428, New Plymouth, New Zealand
phone 06-753-4434 fax 06-759-4648
Internet address -- [EMAIL PROTECTED]
The Jobs Letter -- an essential information and media watch on
jobs, employment, unemployment, the future of work, and related
economic and education issues.
The Jobs Research Trust -- a not-for-profit Charitable Trust
constituted in 1994 to develop and distribute information that
will help our communities create more jobs and reduce
unemployment and poverty in New Zealand.
Our internet website at
http://www.jobsletter.org.nz/
contains our back issues and key papers,
and hotlinks to other internet resources.
ends
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The Jobs Letter
essential information on an essential issue
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
phone 06-753-4434 fax 06-759-4648
P.O.Box 428
New Plymouth, Taranaki, New Zealand
visit The Jobs Research Website at
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