I’m re-publishing this post from shortly after the 2008 election. It seems all the more prescient in view of Chrysler’s and GM’s ‘restructuring’ – done to award both companies to Hope ‘n Change and his union allies.
What we’re now seeing is the imposition of a full-fledged ‘industrial policy’ by which the government determines output and picks winners and losers. This type of ’scheme’ (as our British friends like to call it) has not worked in the past and can never work. And we will all pay for it.
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As the new regime settles in, it’s time to think about the unions and the promises that The One has doubtless made to them. The ‘Employee Free Choice Act’ – so called – is on the table and unions are looking for a resurgence in this country. While I recognize the 19th century reasons for unionization, I can’t say I’m a big fan in the 21st. The EFCA is so bad and so overreaching that even George McGovern (!) is against it.
The One is dropping hints that he would like to have an ‘industrial policy’ like Britain used to have until Lady Thatcher de-nationalized British industry in the 1980s. While he can’t sell outright expropriation, he can soft-pedal ‘government assistance’ to the private sector. And that assistance will probably come with greater union involvement – even in sectors that are not currently organized.
But increased union activity – particularly in times of economic difficulty – comes at a very high price, particularly when public sector or quasi-nationalized private industries go on strike. For a preview of the fun that could be ours, I direct your attention to Britain, which is beginning to experience the same sort of stagflation – and union unrest – that we saw in the 1970s. Andrew Ian Dodge has written a couple of good posts on Pajamas Media in which he describes the rumbling. As matters get worse, expect more of the same.
I lived in Britain from 1977-79 and watched national unions tie the country in knots. My introduction to labor’s gentle ways came in the autumn of 1977, when the national power workers went out on strike – and turned out the lights to different parts of the country. Let’s do a visualization, shall we? You’re home from work, had supper and just settled down in front of the fire to watch the telly – and the lights go out. They stay out for an hour or so and then come on again. You settle back in front of the telly and the lights go out again. How’s the visualization going? The unions even shut down power in central London during rush hour.
And then there was the Winter of Discontent, the harsh winter of 1978-79 that finally brought down Sunny Jim Callaghan’s government and ushered in Lady Thatcher in 1979. The strikes were endless. Lorry drivers (no food or fuel being distributed). Ambulance drivers. Nurses and hospital attendants (the National Health Service practically shut down). Bakers. Firefighters (the army was called in to fight fires with their own antiquated equipment). Railway workers. Even gravediggers.
The country’s despair was palpable. Alan Price captured the mood in his 1978 song, ‘England, My England’:
If the world was square
He’d walk right off the edge
If the sea was beer
He’d probably sign the pledge
He’s an awkward lad
And he won’t get out of bed
Lazy Eddy
He’s got a steady
And his girlfriend really can’t
See the wood for trees
She couldn’t spell her name
When she sat her GCEs
And the only time she’s thunk
She’s thunk about the birds and bees
She has a baby
From the navy.
England, my England,
My England, my, my
We are your children
Oh England, don’t cry.
And his mum is a cleaner
At the coop bakery
She saves all her wages
For a Japanese TV
To please her old man
Who is struggling on the dole
Supports United
The fool’s delighted
And with an island built on coal
And with oil beneath the sea
We’ve struggled to get by
And we’ve joined the EEC
And if you want a steady job
You can take a tip from me
Work for the union
Long live confusion.
England, my England,
My England, my, my
We are your children
Oh England, don’t cry.
And the unions were arrogant. When Lady Thatcher was elected in May 1979, her two immediate priorities were to (a) de-nationalize British industry (which had become grotesquely inefficient) and (b) break the power of the trade unions, starting with the National Union of Miners, led by Arthur Scargill. It was my distinct displeasure to hear Scargill debate in 1979 and I thought the man an out-and-out communist. In the 1984-85 strike that ensued (known as ‘Scargill’s strike’), Lady Thatcher was able to finally break the stranglehold of the unions on the country. The mines themselves were later privatized and many were closed due to inefficiency and North Sea oil production.
I have absolutely no desire for either Britain or the US to return to the situation of the 1970s. And if you want further evidence, I leave you with ‘Part of the Union’ by The Strawbs. The song became an unofficial union anthem during those dark days. Looking at the clothes and hair makes realize once again just how much I hated the 1970s.
