On 2012-10-23, at 12:37 PM, David Shemano <[email protected]> wrote:
> At an abstract philosophical view, a libertarian not only believes in freedom > of speech, but freedom of association, and believes that the coercive power > of the state should play no role in the employer-employee > relationship...there is no evidence that, as a practical matter, arbitrary > actions by employers is a real problem in capitalist economies...the market > system provides the necessary framework to successfully address the issue > without the need for a coercive apparatus. But It is only "the coercive power of the state" which provides for a limited form of "freedom of association" in the workplace, ie. the right to organize unions - limits which employers have steadily sought to remove since they were first introduced. Prior to states recognizing trade union rights, labour activists were beaten, fired, blacklisted, and often killed by employer thugs, precisely in accordance with the "libertarian" principle that "the market system provides the necessary framework to successfully address the issue without the need for a coercive apparatus." There is no question that if legislation did not constrain employers from arbitrarily eliminating unions from the workplace, they would not hesitate to do so. You want to go back to that? If not, how do you reconcile it with your views as expressed above? The same, of course, is true of many other areas of political, social, and economic life (inadequately) regulated in some fashion by the state after long ! democratic struggles from below against fierce employer resistance. _______________________________________________ pen-l mailing list [email protected] https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l
