Date: Tue, 28 Oct 1997 15:14:04 -0500
From: Doug Henwood <dhenwood-AT-panix.com>
Subject: M-I: Re: UAW on strike at Columbia University


I've been arguing here & there that the U.S. labor market is tighter than
many people realize, and that labor should be in the strongest bargaining
position it's been in in nearly a generation. This argument has provoked
either yawns or sharp disagreement, but I want to make it again here.
Profits are strong - I just had lunch with Anwar Shaikh, who thinks we're
in a long-wave upswing, and while I'm not quite prepared to go that far, he
may have a point. At least in the U.S., there's a lot of wiggle room in the
system, and unions should take advantage of this wherever they can. I know
it's easier for me to say this than for organized labor to act on it, but
the period of endless retreat might well be over. Defeat can now be
punctuated by the occasional victory even.

Doug




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