Originally posted by Terraceth
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My view is simply that the evidence shows pretty clearly (to the point where even the IMF agrees) that unions have been found to be the best tool for pushing up worker wages, because they are a way of empowering workers to negotiate with management for their share of the income.
At risk of giving some more charts. Iceland is the country in the world with the strongest unions. Here's their wages vs productivity graph:
iceland wages.jpg
Over the years their country's productivity has increased due to technological development, and the strong unions have allowed workers wages to increase too because instead of all the productivity gains going to the mega-rich owners of the companies, the unions have been able to demand that the companies share those profits with their workers.
Whereas in America the productivity gains have gone into the pockets of the rich, and not been paid to the workers as a result of the declining power of unions, and it makes a big difference:
Nobody likes strikes, or thinks that all unions are run efficiently or anything of the sort. But at the end of the day it is better to have unions than not because workers throughout the country get paid more and can negotiate for better working conditions, it's that simple.
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