Yeah!
A Republican State Representative in New Hampshire has found a way to create a new front in the war on workers, proposing a bill that would repeal the state’s law requiring that workers get a 30-minute lunch break after five hours of labor.
State Rep. J.R. Hoell (R), a supporter of libertarian-leaning Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX) for president, told a New Hampshire General Court committee this week that he believes the law is unnecessary because it is in employers’ interest to treat workers well, according to The Concord Monitor. ...
I think we should go further than that.
Let's abolish safety laws, since it's in an employer's interest to keep workers safe.
Let's abolish food safety laws because, gee whiz, it's in the food producers' interests to, you know, not have icky food.
In fact, now that I think of it, bank laws are stupid. Because it's in a bank's interest to stay solvent. (And if one overreaches and goes bankrupt, it will have to suffer the free-market consequences. Oh, wait! ...)
But now allow me a counter-argument, from personal experience.
Back in the prosperous nineties, I got into an argument with a Disney exec who took exception to my complaints about employees having a "working lunch" from twelve to noon one. When I pointed out that if Feature Animation was making the merry workers attend a meeting, then it wasn't really "lunch."
Her response was: "But we're supplying food!"
(A second exec finally conceded my point that it wasn't really a "lunch break.")
So, when I run across an Ayn Rand disciple who maintains that things will be much better if we just got rid of all the rules and regulations and let our fine conglomerates (and everyone else) pursue their enlightened self-interest, my answer is always monotonously the same:
Uh ... no.
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14 comments:
You see how Dickensian everything gets overnight?
And, I hope the public beatings continue as well.
It boggles the mind with the current situation that even dickheads will find a way to be even dickier. Almost as shitty to what they did to welfare recipients in Florida.
Corporations are people. And they are the smartest and most benevolent people. They know what is best for you and the world. Just submit, bend over and get you just rewards.
Pay the n.h. legislators minimum wage, cancel all perks, and cancel lunch hour. Also, they should have to stand while in session--remove ALL desks, and no bathroom breaks.
What a bunch of MAROONS! See where wing nuts want to go?
Lunch from 12 until noon - what else could you want?
And call off Christmas!
State Rep. J.R. Hoell (R)told a New Hampshire General Court committee this week that he believes the law is unnecessary because it is in employers’ interest to treat workers well
Absolutely right!
We also don't need police, because it is in everyone's interest to follow the laws.
We also don't need a military, because it is in every nation's interest to keep the peace.
I think the union should stop talking politics of any kind and should not use the members due to support any candidate.
"Foxconn"?
Actually, I hear Fox is a very nice place to work. Sign me up.
As per the above politician, that's libertarians for you. On the other hand, Democrats want those who make a living to support everyone who isn't, and Republicans...well, they basically, uh...well, they basically are better than the other two. Go Santorum!
> I think the union should stop talking politics of any kind and should not use the members due to support any candidate.
That's great. I also think that politicians should stop trying to destroy unions. Truce?
> I think the union should stop talking politics of any kind and should not use the members due to support any candidate.
The whole point of a union is to protect the rights and interests of its members. How is reporting on the potential danger of losing your lunch break beyond the pale of this responsibility? I suppose you just come here for the PIXAR/DISNEY/DREAMWORKS flame wars?
Unfortunately, the perfect 'market' that Libertarians and fiscal conservatives always point to demands the flexibility to do whatever the hell you need to do to people and the planet in order to make money and stay afloat. Pretty much what an individual has to do to get by in life - hustle. They want full rights to hustle as corporations. But workers don't give a crap, they're too busy hustling themselves as they move from job to job, paycheck to paycheck, and demand the same flexibility to make money and to stay afloat. So no one talks to each other, instead choosing to lobby the government to fight for their respective rights as employers and as workers.
Companies use money and lobbying as leverage, unions use bodies and lobbying as leverage, with not nearly the same amount of cash. Corporations overspend to get what they want the same way rich people spend too much on wine they think is better but isn't. But they get results, so who cares at the end of the day, right? Just throw mountains of cash at CPAC and see what sticks. Unions spend some, but make the money count more, and use bodies for action like no other. Economists should be singing the praises of labor the way they make their dollars stretch. Unions are always against the fence in this country, yet to businesses, it's a stone in their shoe they can't get rid of completely. It drives them crazy to have us even breathing. And the more they point the finger at the public sector, which is a small portion of the economy, the bigger they make the threat, and it is self-fulfilling.
Meanwhile, we all continue to go broke.
I think the union should stop talking politics of any kind and should not use the members due to support any candidate.
Thank you for your input.
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