Jim Devine wrote, >broken? are you saying that the existence of unemployment doesn't threaten >the wage and low-salary workers who do have a some connection with >labor-power markets, if only because they occupy close to "entry level" >positions? No. >Are you saying that high unemployment (say, 20% by official standards) has >no effect on workers' bargaining power? No. >I don't understand how you can go from good common sense about reskilling >and internal labor markets to denying the role of the reserve army of labor. Huh? First, it wasn't I who claimed that NAIRU is really just another name for the reserve army. Second, I'd be very interested (and surprised) to hear where Marx argues that the role of the reserve army is to combat inflation. Third -- and perhaps most germaine to the above questions -- I would say that "wage inflation", to the extent that it is exists, is largely a phenomon not of the low-wage workers who do have some connection with a labour market but of the privileged "aristocracy of labour" whose employment status and wages are not determined by market conditions (mostly). Admittedly, throwing low-wage cafeteria workers out of work may eventually have some braking effect on the salary expectations of tenured university professors but that's a connection I wouldn't hesitate to call "tenuous". I would expect to also see a disconnection, although perhaps less extreme, even within a particular unionized workplace between tradespeople with considerable seniority and recently hired assembly line workers -- what has been termed the "median worker representation" effect. >BTW, I think that there's a difference between denying the existence of a >neoclassical-type labor market and the existence of labor-power markets in >which not only "supply and demand" but institutions, monopoly/monopsony >power, bargaining power, etc. exist. So do I. And I would add that the latter doesn't walk like a duck or quack like a duck. ON the other hand, I DO walk somewhat like a duck and sometimes I say "quack", for example when I'm walking along the path by the lagoon I make conversation with the certified ducks there. But I am not a duck. I've gotta break this off now, Jim, my eggs are getting cold. Regards, Tom Walker ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ #408 1035 Pacific St. Vancouver, B.C. V6E 4G7 [EMAIL PROTECTED] (604) 669-3286 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ The TimeWork Web: http://www.vcn.bc.ca/timework/
