on 3/30/00 4:06 PM, Wat Tyler at [log in to unmask] wrote:

> The Freeloader Problem refers to someone such as a worker who benefits
> from the presence of a labor union but doesn't pay dues or take the risks.
Good example. Obscuring that problem is one of the rhetorical tricks of the
GOP when they are posturing as "friends of the working stiff." If you are a
US citizen you probably know that one of the more cynical strategies of the
GOP is bleating about labor union dues being used for poitical lobbying.
It's said to be unfair to right-wing workers to "force" them to contribute
to (typically) Democratic campaigns. Naturally no one ever asks how that is
different from management taking the surplus value of labor and using it to
fund Republican campaigns. But of course the real point is to unleash the
Freeloader Problem, and so destroy labor from within.
--
Tresy Kilbourne
Seattle WA