On 1 September 2010 09:38, dave miller <dave.miller...@gmail.com> wrote: > http://davemiller.org/drawings/austerity/the_economy_is_to_be_sacrificed.png > > inspired by an article by the US economics writer Michael Hudson: > http://michael-hudson.com/2010/06/europe-sacrifices-labour-for-finance/ > on how national economies are being pillaged to pay for the bankers’ bad > loans. > _______________________________________________ > NetBehaviour mailing list > NetBehaviour@netbehaviour.org > http://www.netbehaviour.org/mailman/listinfo/netbehaviour >
Hi Dave, The article makes depressing reading, though I can't say I really understand it all. Amongst other things it talks about how for the financial sector, unemployment is desirable as it forces wages down, and then goes on to mention Latvia as an example of how this has gone too far as workers are now emigrating. It doesn't (I don't think) mention how immigrants also push wages down as they see the conditions in the country they emigrate too (ie here as an example) as an improvement to those they came from while the natives (ie us) may be less willing to work in such conditions (especially those perpetually on benefits, but also existing employees - particularly those who have become stubborn and awkward). Agency work is also massively helpful to this end I'm sure, as agency workers won't ever have and never have had a pension (it's probably not workable for agency workers due to precarious nature of work), and also are competing with each other for the same job (if they're not still living with their parents that is). I've spent 90% of my working life in temporary agency work (in the unskilled labour sector) and many times it could be seen as a result of the company having too many workers for their slow season and making redundancies, only to bring in agency workers six months later. Then perhaps a year later some of the good agency workers will be selected and awarded temporary contracts. These workers are then somewhere between agency workers and permanent staff. It's better than working for the agency (improved pay, days/hours more stable - ie they will know they're working five days a week rather than waiting for a phone call every morning/evening/night). But it's still a temporary contract giving the company an excuse to treat these employees differently from the permanent staff (ie no pension to pay, on-trial wages, can't take holiday during first two months of employment etc). I'm much better off now than 3 months ago, but I don't know how long for, if my employment by the company will survive the Winter or if I'll have to crawl back to the agency (the company made a deal with the agency meaning the agency will take us back - whoopee). As much as I hate the job I hope it will survive the Winter. And BTW, I like the image, the blood spatters, and the two elderly figures - they are forgotten about, overlooked and avoided. Cheers, James. -- _ : http://jwm-art.net/ ¯audio/image/text/code _______________________________________________ NetBehaviour mailing list NetBehaviour@netbehaviour.org http://www.netbehaviour.org/mailman/listinfo/netbehaviour
