Women's History Month

[Barry the Sprout]

That attitude is born out of a failure to recognise the inherent exploitation in the work place in my opinion (but I understand even Donut isn't going to agree with that!). The government exploited those workers for a long period of time then, due to its own failure to modernise, discarded them completely. The government at the time held two contradictory policies effectively - they stated that there wasn't any work and that the pits had to close, and they also stated that there was work everywhere and that they therefore didn't have to pay unemployment benefits as the recipients were just scroungers. How is it possible to maintain at one and the same time that the econimic situation was good and also bad? Well... ask Norman Tebbit as he managed to do so for quite some time.

[ 03-09-2004, 10:23 AM: Message edited by: Barry the Sprout ]

[Sir Taliesin]

Originally posted by Timber Loftis: quote: Originally posted by Night Stalker: Timber .......... you don't let your wife come here do you?

Heck, no -- she stays in the kitchen where she belongs. [/QUOTE]You left out the "Bare Foot and Pregnant" part, TL! What kind of Kentuckian are you?

[Timber Loftis]

Thanks for a bit of history, Barry.

Sir T, that goes without saying of course.
(Decided I didn't want to jinx myself.)

[Barry the Sprout]

Well, whilst I would call it history some would call it sacrilege... I don't mean you NS, as your objections are reasonable and well structured. I've stopped having arguments with my dad about Thatcher as it just gets painful after a while, for all concerned.

[Night Stalker]

No offense taken Barry. I don't know the particulars of the mining industry in England. It's interesting to hear history tid bits from around the world. It's just that the labor market is like any other, everyone involved (whether implicitly or explicitly) agrees on the value in the trade.

In a free market system, it is impossible for the workforce to be exploited unless the workforce consents to exploitation. Employers will always try to get the most work from their workers with the least amount of compensation that the market will bear, and workers will always try to get the most compensation for the least amount of work given. Now, I do agree that employers are required to provide reasonable work environments to minimize the the safety risk, but I don't think the most expensive risk mitigating measures are required all the time. That is a risk management scenario that must be constantly evaluated by the employer, and has little to do with outside forces.

Similar situations pop up over here from time to time (Enron, MCI/WorldCom, Ford in the 80s) and the cry is always the same from the labor force. They expect someone else to take care of them.