Protest, industrial action and morality

@fmf said
What are the moral issues surrounding going on strike and other kinds of action and protest in the midst of disputes?

I was on strike as a member of a labor union many years ago, it had little to do with "moral issues" The company was firing and/or laying off workers who had been there for years for no good reason, so they didn't have to honor the pension agreements they signed off on at the last bargaining session. The union finally took the company to court, won the lawsuit and the workers were ordered reinstated. This was back in the days before "organized labor" became dirty words and akin to un-American socialism. A few years later, the ruling was overturned on appeal by a conservative judge and the firings renewed until finally the company (who had stashed the bulk of their cash holdings in an offshore shell corporation) cried poor mouth, and used the bankruptcy laws to break the union, as a result, everyone was fired in favor of low wage scab labor, with pension and healthcare benefits just a fading memory. End result: The top tier execs at the company got filthy rich, and those who could least afford it (and their families) got the privilege of looking for another job during a recession.

It's possible there is a moral "issue" here somewhere, but all I remember afterward was having to live in my car for 4 months until I found another job and could afford to rent a cheap apartment.

@mchill said
I was on strike as a member of a labor union many years ago, it had little to do with "moral issues" .

It sounds like it did.

@fmf said
It sounds like it did.

Morality and money - Oil and water.

@mchill said
Morality and money - Oil and water.

Oil and water?

You mean one invariably floats on top of the other?

-Removed-

You can either have freedom of movement of labour, or you can have higher paid “protected” jobs with less employment competitiveness.


It's so convenient to debate the details of this sitting at our computers, but if you were one of those hundreds of laid off workers forced to live on the streets, and in your cars, bankrupt and hungry, while the fat cat company execs got rich off your misery, you might just see things differently. But maybe you're right, maybe we should all work for $10.00 a day and no toilet breaks, while a very few at the top rake in the bulk of the wealth. We sure don't want to stand in the way of competitiveness, now do we?? 🙄