Quantum Windbag
Gold Member
- May 9, 2010
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Unions do not "sell" labor.
A commodity has no differentiation across a market. Are you actually making that argument for labor?
That depends on what you mean when you say that. The government clearly states that labor is worth a minimum amount no matter who is producing the labor, witness the minimum wage law. It does not mater if that worker is a teenager or a college grad, if they do that particular job they get paid exactly the same.
Unions also make that claim, which is why they sell their labor based on the years a person works and not their personal ability. Both of those make labor fungible, and thus a commodity.
I disagree. A minimum price floor does not create an ipso facto declaration of fungibility. And that price floor is NOT in effect for all labor ie waitstaff, sales staff, farm labor, etc etc The labor of the brain surgeon and the sewer worker are not identical. The union doesn't sell labor, it only acts as a representitive of the individuals that do. All the monies in a union contract go to the individual workers, there is no profit for the entity "union".
Unions do get money out of contracts.
Coffee that is dug out of the shit of a weasel is the most expensive in the world. That does not make coffee not a commodity, does it?
You seem to think that just because some people can avoid the general commodity market that invalidates the commodity market for everyone else. The fact is that a commodity is a little harder to define than simply to say that it has no differentiation across a market.
Commodity - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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