Can Australia have viable auto manufacturing?

Originally posted by kingpins ↑

Hi Tig

I never said that labor belonged to capital

I said that when you demand too much the money people will go their own way and leave labor behind

Where Australia went wrong was for the politicians (both sides) to allow continual strikes and unwarranted demands for wage rises without unions meeting management in the middle.

This started in earnest in the 60s and appeared to have its birth from the UK militancy for more more, more.
This also was when Australian unions became more concerned with their personal political path rather than with working for their workers

I remember talking with some trade union friends of mine and they were horrified by what was happening in the unions with the politicizing of the unions to the detriment of the workers

The biggest problem that politicized union has not understood since that time is that the workers NEED the capital, the risk takers, the jobs, they need the bosses to put their lives and futures at risk on the gamble of making a profit, BUT THE BOSSES DO NOT NEED THE WORKERS.
This has subsequently proved correct as management has shifted over to machines which do not have unreasonable demands.

It should be a partnership but the power hungry stupid union bosses blew it, they were too dumb to use the power they had as a workforce and went for a personal militant political route

Just look at today's labor Party --- a shadow of the proud representative of the workers to a prostituted political power base

Communism does not work, has never worked so you will have to come up with a new model before you scrap the capitalist system

When the Roman Empire left the British Isles to withdraw to Rome they tried to get the major tribes to join and replace them but NO, they were too stupid and self motivated to act for a common good so then the British Isles went into a period of chaos

Due to this the stupid unions have caused a vacuum and allowed another player into the arena and that is the BIG Multi Nationals and the BIG banks to quietly take control, the Labor Party have even been complicit in the introduction of all the (Restrictive) "Free" Trade agreements which will eliminate most jobs in the country, as we are already being told what we can or can't produce and allowed foreign workers to work here with basically no restriction ( many without equivalent qualifications

The above is my opinion from too many years of reading, study and observation so you are a dinosaur and need to update your aims to a new model

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You wrote: "workers NEED the capital, the risk takers, the jobs, they need the bosses to put their lives and futures at risk on the gamble of making a profit, BUT THE BOSSES DO NOT NEED THE WORKERS.
This has subsequently proved correct as management has shifted over to machines which do not have unreasonable demands."

Yes, what workers don't understand is that labour needs to be a proper tradeable commodity, where only the actual time spent at work is paid for without holiday pay and fancy liability and injury compensation schemes. The workers expect to be fed at home, out of work time, fully paid for by the capitalist! and live out their fancy lives, unlike machines.

Next time around the factories might be better built in portable style to move to wherever workers are not a problem.