tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3081320827566289783.post3324759631332582806..comments2024-02-19T16:54:06.139+00:00Comments on Trade unions and global restructuring: The precariat – a new class agent for transformation?Andreas Bielerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08920020665441380498noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3081320827566289783.post-1756192005388526342013-01-17T11:09:49.692+00:002013-01-17T11:09:49.692+00:00Another review of Guy Standing's book on the p...Another review of Guy Standing's book on the precariat can be found at <br /><br />http://www.newleftproject.org/index.php/site/article_comments/we_are_all_precarious_on_the_concept_of_the_precariat_and_its_misuses<br />Andreas Bielerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08920020665441380498noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3081320827566289783.post-71520562563404873642012-10-03T14:18:38.532+01:002012-10-03T14:18:38.532+01:00I agree, Andreas, Standing is overemphasising the ...I agree, Andreas, Standing is overemphasising the difference between the "precariat" and salaried workers. Neo-liberal restructuring affects both types. In Japan, for example, permanent workers are obliged to long hours of (unpaid) overtime work. In turn, those who want to work lesser hours -- for instance, because they must look after children -- often (must) join the precariat. Standing also advances a very particular view of trade unionism as narrow-minded business unionism. Fortunately, however, this view is not universal. <br /><br />Critics of Standing may also be interested in Doogan's book "New capitalism.<br />The transformation of work" (Polity 2009), as it provides an empirically informed critic of visions focused on the increasing precariousness of employment. It shows that long-term jobs have actually continued to grow and concludes with a world of caution in relation to the contribution "that radical or left voices make to the general zeitgeist of instability, precariousness and powerlessness ... This is not to say that researchers should not expose sweat shop industries and low paid jobs, but job insecurity is an issue that should be handled judiciously, taking care not<br />to add to the general mood of precariousness (Dogan: 2009: 213). <br />Roland Ernehttp://ucd-ie.academia.edu/RolandErnenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3081320827566289783.post-15587770730176311092012-08-23T03:20:03.180+01:002012-08-23T03:20:03.180+01:00I meant "labour aristocracy" as defined ...I meant "labour aristocracy" as defined before Lenin. Originally, this was skilled vs. unskilled labour (agreed upon by both the original Socialist/Second International and the anarcho-syndicalists) and related pay scales.<br /><br />Today it can mean celebrity pay vs. office workers' pay, for example. The higher but non-managerial echelons of the "salariat" could count as today's "labour aristocracy."Jacob Richternoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3081320827566289783.post-23377967843980588032012-08-21T23:42:39.373+01:002012-08-21T23:42:39.373+01:00Iam not convinced about the argument of a 'lab...Iam not convinced about the argument of a 'labour aristocracy', i.e. workers who are bought off by capital with profit generated from the exploitation of other workers. For example, while German capital benefits from the current export boom at the expense of peripheral countries such as Greece, German workers are not part of this success story. In fact, it is intensified exploitation of German workers, which is the basis of the export boom in the first place. See 'German workers and the Eurozone crisis' at http://andreasbieler.blogspot.de/2012/03/german-workers-and-eurozone-crisis.htmlAndreas Bielerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08920020665441380498noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3081320827566289783.post-86335361670623061632012-08-18T11:06:39.254+01:002012-08-18T11:06:39.254+01:00I think both sides here have overlooked some old M...I think both sides here have overlooked some old Marxist analysis on today's "precariat." Is this not in the main simply that portion of the working class that is not in the "labour aristocracy"?Jacob Richternoreply@blogger.com