Labour Movements in the Sweet Age of Globalization 

Well hello again, if indeed this is your second time visiting. If you are not visiting for a consecutive time then start flagellating yourself (look it up) in shame for missing my previous glorious hyperbole. Thank you baby and/or adult Jesus! (But not teen Jesus, he was a smug little bastard)

As per usual here is a kitten in a shallow depth of field!




Trifling pleasantries commenced and concluded, we shall journey on forthwith;


So, what is a labour movement, I've got to this stage and I still don't even... "The labour movement or labor movement (Friggin' Americans ruining our precious spelling, THANKS OBAMA!) is a broad term for the development of a collective organization of working people, to campaign for better working conditions and treatment from their employers and governments, in particular through the implementation of employment law." (Wikipedia... Duh) In other words, labour movements are primarily about unionization. 


Ok, so we all know individualized contracting is a big thing now, working peeps are discussing working conditions with corporate management these days rather than unionizing and complaining until they get what they want. This very much ties in with the whole Neo-Liberalism trend, where apparently it's up to the private enterprise to take care of employees and the government keeps their hands off.

Private enterprise... More like captain enterprise (so punny)

So what with all this contractular individualism (Yes, I made up a phrase, I do that) what happens to said union labour movements? Well to be frank (Even though my name is Nick but lets pretend for a moment I'm Frank) they seem to be falling by the wayside. Unions are pretty much dying globally as membership cascades downwards. Just in Australia "From August 1992 to August 2011, the proportion of those who were trade union members in their main job has fallen from 43% to 18% for employees who were males and 35% to 18% for females." (Australian Bureau of Statistics).

The rest of the globe is pretty much the same story. But WHY!? Because collective bargaining is inefficient. Life is complex and nothing is EVER one size fits all. Nowadays companies grant employees pay/conditions depending on what they bring to the company rather than rewarding the slackers the same as the over-achievers. Payment is given based on work done rather than job title and that motivates people to improve themselves and get work done. 

Of course on the other hand we all dread the day we must become like the Borg (Insane hyper efficient cyborg race, jeez watch some Star-Trek) just to compete in the workplace and I hope it doesn't go that far.

Well, that about wraps it up for today. But because I'm a benevolent overlord, here is a motivational to keep your mind tank squeaky clean.




                               Or rather, remember to complete assignments early :P