Showin' 'em how it's done!
Apr. 11th, 2011 10:41 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
oselleThis is such a fun story:
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-ikea-union-20110410,0,5341610.story
I love it. First of all, it's such great proof that America is slipping into second-world status when a successful foreign corporation views us as a source of cheap, easily exploited labor that is entitled to none of the benefits its workers enjoy in its home country, due to "the standard of living and general conditions in the different countries." I love that we're fast tracking that race to the bottom! Talk about American exceptionalism!
Second, there's absolutely no way to fight this! After all, a very loud portion of our government officials (and citizens!) are firm believers in the "Shut the fuck up and be grateful you have a job!" theory of labor relations. No lawmaker in America would ever dare stand up to Ikea and say, "Hey, your workers in the U.S. deserve the same rights as your workers in Sweden!" because no lawmaker in America would ever, ever, EVER dare to claim that working people deserve a $19/hour salary and five weeks of vacation, much less the right to unionize. Shit, I've been listening to Republicans going on for months now about how private-sector folks like me are TOTALLY FURIOUS at all those fatcat teachers and firefighters and janitors with their cushy public-sector jobs. Apparently it's my duty as an American to want my fellow Americans to suffer. Unless they're a CEO...or they work for Goldman Sachs...or...something. Sorry, I can't always keep straight what the Republicans want me to be furious about.
Finally, we've spent so much energy demonizing Western Europe (and Sweden in particular, for some reason) as a secular Socialist nanny-state hellhole, that in fact, I expect some conservative pundit will shortly get on television or the radio and give thanks to Jesus that America was here to show this godless Swedish company the way we git 'er done here in the US of A. Low wages! Forced overtime! No unions! Discrimination! USA! USA! USA!
Great stuff!
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-ikea-union-20110410,0,5341610.story
I love it. First of all, it's such great proof that America is slipping into second-world status when a successful foreign corporation views us as a source of cheap, easily exploited labor that is entitled to none of the benefits its workers enjoy in its home country, due to "the standard of living and general conditions in the different countries." I love that we're fast tracking that race to the bottom! Talk about American exceptionalism!
Second, there's absolutely no way to fight this! After all, a very loud portion of our government officials (and citizens!) are firm believers in the "Shut the fuck up and be grateful you have a job!" theory of labor relations. No lawmaker in America would ever dare stand up to Ikea and say, "Hey, your workers in the U.S. deserve the same rights as your workers in Sweden!" because no lawmaker in America would ever, ever, EVER dare to claim that working people deserve a $19/hour salary and five weeks of vacation, much less the right to unionize. Shit, I've been listening to Republicans going on for months now about how private-sector folks like me are TOTALLY FURIOUS at all those fatcat teachers and firefighters and janitors with their cushy public-sector jobs. Apparently it's my duty as an American to want my fellow Americans to suffer. Unless they're a CEO...or they work for Goldman Sachs...or...something. Sorry, I can't always keep straight what the Republicans want me to be furious about.
Finally, we've spent so much energy demonizing Western Europe (and Sweden in particular, for some reason) as a secular Socialist nanny-state hellhole, that in fact, I expect some conservative pundit will shortly get on television or the radio and give thanks to Jesus that America was here to show this godless Swedish company the way we git 'er done here in the US of A. Low wages! Forced overtime! No unions! Discrimination! USA! USA! USA!
Great stuff!