Europe

[Furunculus]

NO!

Unions are international. Forcing them to be national would render them completely useless in a globalized society.

Also, if you want to work more, then there's nobody but your boss who can stop you, unless, of course, you're a surgeon or something else with extra safety measures. I worked 65 hour weeks a few years back, no law against that. But the thing is; I got to make that decision myself. Nobody forced me. That's freedom, my friend.

we, in britain, kinda disagree with you on the roles and powers that should be assumed and wielded by the unions.

and i have no interest in fitting into someone elses idea of what a 'fair' globalised market should be.

[Beskar]

we, in britain, kinda disagree with you on the roles and powers that should be assumed and wielded by the unions.

and i have no interest in fitting into someone elses idea of what a 'fair' globalised market should be.

Not even mine?

[HoreTore]

we, in britain, kinda disagree with you on the roles and powers that should be assumed and wielded by the unions.

and i have no interest in fitting into someone elses idea of what a 'fair' globalised market should be.

Your unions disagree with that.

I can't think there's a single union in the world who does not believe in internationalism. Heck, have unions ever been against internationalism?

How can you play the freedom card when you want people to have less freedom in how much they want to work? How is it freedom to have less power over a third of your own life?

[Subotan]

Your unions disagree with that.

I can't think there's a single union in the world who does not believe in internationalism. Heck, have unions ever been against internationalism?

Wellll, unions in America back in the pre-1940's were notoriously anti-black, and various unions in totalitarian regimes have been quite nationalist.

But no, no union I can think of in a free country has not been internationalist.

[Furunculus]

Your unions disagree with that.

I can't think there's a single union in the world who does not believe in internationalism. Heck, have unions ever been against internationalism?

How can you play the freedom card when you want people to have less freedom in how much they want to work? How is it freedom to have less power over a third of your own life?

they might not, but by now union membership includes less than a quarter of the working population in Britain:
http://www.statistics.gov.uk/CCI/nugget.asp?ID=4

i. don't. care. about. unions.
i'm fine for them to exist, as long as they know their place, but any job that requires a shop 'steward' is not a job i want anything to do with.

[Louis VI the Fat]

We, Britain, disagree

Britain is a big and complicated place. There is no single, monolithic British opinion.

Also, until Thatcher's War on Unions the UK was Europe's Union headquarter.



HoreTore - unions have a long history of protectionism. Immigrant workers were the means by which employers broke Unions. This is the origin of Europe's mass immigration from the 1960's onwards. It was only later, that immigration became a leftist theme.

[Furunculus]

Britain is a big and complicated place. There is no single, monolithic British opinion.

Also, until Thatcher's War on Unions the UK was Europe's Union headquarter.

and yet it happened, and there isn't a single mainstream political party that would ever dare advocate a return to the 70's.

[Subotan]

they might not, but by now union membership includes less than a quarter of the working population in Britain:
http://www.statistics.gov.uk/CCI/nugget.asp?ID=4

i. don't. care. about. unions.
i'm fine for them to exist, as long as they know their place, but any job that requires a shop 'steward' is not a job i want anything to do with.

Tbh, I'm quite happy with the strength of the Unions in the UK. Strong enough to represent the workers, yet not strong enough to damage the economy.

Britain is a big and complicated place. There is no single, monolithic British opinion.

Oh, I didn't notice that.

and yet it happened, and there isn't a single mainstream political party that would ever dare advocate a return to the 70's.

True, but the EU setting working hour directives is hardly going to do that.

[Furunculus]

True, but the EU setting working hour directives is hardly going to do that.

but, it is not a job that the EU has any business interfering with.

[Beskar]

but, it is not a job that the EU has any business interfering with.

Disclaimer: In Furunculus' opinion.