Yabby, like you I ran a small business.
Employed 5 rather proud they and every one got every cent owed.
Except me, it was a $20.000 not paid bill, from a customer,that closed me down.
You try not to value the past, and ignore today.
A special blindness that locks out the very real gains both sides continue to make.
Norway, Sweden, the old West Germany, have employers, insisting , on unions/worker union delegates, sitting on their boards.
Australian union delegates in Norway owned Aluminum plants , are sent, invitation not thuggery, to Norway to see how it works there.
The present is just the start, the future is in progress toward negotiating EBA not stand over .
An understanding is demanded, high wages in some industry's are not union gains but bosses offering it, to get the best.
By the way, I agree that bloke earns his job, he replaced lessor men, we in everything should want the best.

Let us now look at one shop, a shop is a union term for an industry/workplace/single firm.
This one is concerned about its manufacturing section.
Union delegates and their officials have been called to meet both managers and major share holders.
They are told this* we are in trouble, we are not competing with imports we have some work but need to cut costs*
Union ok fair enough we have seen the early signs what have you in mind.
*Well if we cut wages by 6% and in put costs we can try to keep the place going, in return we will not cut jobs*
After the talks have been going for a while it is settled.
Workers want the job some suppliers want the business so cut in put costs.
Say product is made by another in the trade,who see,s this and says ok.
Short term I will cut my prices by ten percent.
Who wins?
The company's name? AUSTRALIAN MANUFACTURING.
Next step?
Do we see work sent over seas to stay afloat?
Do we take advantage of free trade that works for us but fight that that harms us.
Is cutting wages, even imprisoning every trade unionist going to make one bit of difference?

"academics,"
Lexi,
Aren't these the very people who like to describe themselves as intellectual ? What do they have to do with education ? I thought they just sit around tables & dream up things like political correctness & don't discipline children regulations. I have yet to hear of an intellectual making a useful contribution to enhance our daily lives.

Lexi,

No, my childhood was far from conservative. Unconventional maybe by todays standards.

Parental influence was not part of the mix from a very early age.

Take it easy.

SD

*You try not to value the past, and ignore today.
A special blindness that locks out the very real gains both sides continue to make.*

Belly I am ignoring nothing and telling you how it is, right
here in Australia, today. With labor back in power, union
thuggery is returning. Not eveywhere yet, but I would not be
surprised if its just the start. Power corrupts.

Look at large projects like the Victorian water plant costing
billions. A few unions control the whole thing, any company
that tenders will have to comply to their wishes. They can
turn any project into a frigging nightmare if they wish.

As all companies are affected, they all include the extra costs
in their tender, Victorian taxpayers like Lexi will get screwed
without even noticing. She'll just cough up and know nothing
about it.

The same thing happened in Perth with the new hospital. Sorry,
but IMHO building unions are thugs. We see the same tricks in
the NW, 30 blokes, like wharfies, holding up projects where
thousands are employed.

In the end this all works its way back to the rest of the economy,
next inflation will increase and then the reserve bank will
have no choice but to push up interest rates to bring inflation
back under control. I've seen it all happen before, when I had
to pay 18% interest at the time. Don't think it won't happen
again.

Its time that Australia benchmarked its wages and many bells and
whistles with other Western countries, to see how we stand and how
competitive we are with other first world economies. I think
you'd get a shock.

Your argument about 3 $ an hour is simplistic. Based on that logic,
we'd be better off paying everyone 300$ an hour and the economy
would be booming. So what do you think would happen, if we did that?

Dear Individual,

The progressive Enlightenment thinkers would argue
that ignorance is the major cause of unpleasant, or
even criminal disconnects between people.
The lack of exposure to
education leads to narrow-mindedness, and, worse, to an
"us-them" divide.

Ignorance is one determinant of behaviour.
It does not account for every aspect of human behavious.
For example, it doesn't accout for self-interest.
But it is important to recognise that - for yet
unexplained reasons - in any population of people there is
likely to be a proportion of very self-interested people,
as well as a majority of people who are capable of seeing
the wisdom of living by the golden rule of co-operation and
reciprocity. It is necessary to recognise that there are
people for whom greed comes to supplant other human attributes
and aspirations.

As for the great thinkers of our time and those of
the past - all I can suggest to you is a visit to your
local library. I would not want to embarrass you by
trying to teach you anything on this forum.

Cheers.