Mon 9 Sep, 2019 05:48 am
Let's say you want to pursue a deflationary economic policy where prices and wages are gradually de-escalated. Deflation would be helpful to people who have saved modest amounts of money and who would otherwise see the value of their money erode after a few decades.
Unions logically seek the best deal possible for their members. If a company is making lots of money, therefore, the union presses to transfer a larger share of those revenues to workers in the form of better wages and benefits. The problem is that by doing this, they help cause inflation.
Striking is a way of demonstrating to shareholders how much money they will lose if workers aren't compensated in proportion to the money they are making for the company. In a way, strikes can benefit deflation by slowing down the circulation of money within a given company, provided potential customers don't just go on spending the same money on competitors.
So the question is whether unions would ever support deflationary economics by organizing strikes and other resistance in a way that forces entire markets to reduce productivity and revenues, thus stimulating deflation and reducing resource use/waste.
Or are unions only interested in boosting business to make more money and benefits for workers, regardless of the consequences for resource management and inflation of workers' savings?