tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7380804.post112850001044533030..comments2023-09-19T19:45:50.854+12:00Comments on Spanblather: union myths - #2 all unionists want to be Rick BarkerSpanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16896745511007816190noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7380804.post-1128688185784577742005-10-08T01:29:00.000+13:002005-10-08T01:29:00.000+13:00Some interesting debates on the Alliance and the u...Some interesting debates on the Alliance and the unions on indymedia at:<BR/><BR/>http://indymedia.org.nz/newswire/display/37847/index.php<BR/><BR/>and <BR/><BR/>http://indymedia.org.nz/newswire/display/37926/index.php<BR/><BR/>Good comment by Dave on the difference between the ERA and ECA, which a lot of people get confused about (either by way of under or overestimation):<BR/><BR/>Sure the ERA is a 'charter for bureaucrats'. But its more than that. The thrust of the ECA was to put all workers on individual contracts to exploit them better. The thrust of the ERA is collective contracts to restore some balance in industrial relations to better exploit workers.<BR/><BR/>That's the Labourite idea of class reconciliation that goes back to the IC&A act of 1894. Today this has a Blairite twist, applied by the CTU, to disciplining workers. Organised unions become partners in productvity (exploitation) increases to increase profits.<BR/><BR/>Thus unions are now recognised as more than bargaining agents but 'partners' and 'stakeholders'. These partnerships can extend to national agreements, all the better to eat you my dear.<BR/><BR/>That's why is wrong to say that the ERA is the ECA with official entry only. The real entry is the penetration of the working class by the trojan horse of capital, the labour bureaucracy backed by the state.<BR/><BR/>That's also why its wrong to write off Labour as the yuppie version of National. National are still smash the unions people, wheras Labour are cultivate and control the unions people. Labour is more sophisticated in its management of capitalism so it talks partnership and creates the illusion that it is worker friendly.<BR/><BR/>While the unions are protected in law, treated as partners in produtivity, and are recruiting this is good for bosses, but also good for workers. It creates the rank and file membership with the potential to blow apart the parasitic bureaucracy that buses workers around the country for 5% campaign stunts, so that we can start busing workers around the country to picket strike sites, occupy them and take them over under workers' control.<BR/><BR/>This will blow apart class collaboration in the unions and in parliament.mapshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18209906216745532870noreply@blogger.com