re: #614 Obdicut

No. A simplest example is that of a skilled woodworker.

The company knows it costs them $1 in overhead per day for that woodworker, for the space, light, rent, etc.

They know that he can produce $300 worth of chairs in that day.

So, the profit they make from that worker is $299.

The goal of the company is to pay him as little as possible, so that that money is profit.

The goal of the union is for them to pay him as close to the true value of his labor as possible.

The idea of unions was actually to break away from the idea of sustenance wages and towards workers earning their fare share, the value of their labor. What you’re describing was the attitude labor had back in the days before unions.

That unions have become so powerless and corporations so strong of late that unions are pleading with wage increases up to the level of a sustenance wage is a sign of the weakness of unions and the strength of companies. That’s not how it’s ‘supposed’ to work.

I guess, that I don’t think they can realistically determine that the chair can sell for $300 consistently. If the market controls the price, year to year it changes —costs of materials changes. Laws and regulations change at the drop of hat.