CNN article on "European work ethic"

[Dimentio]

I have just skimmed through, but I find the discussion below the article interesting. Its an American view on the recent waves of strikes within Europe. The most interesting thing though is that a lot of the comments are pro-worker and anti-corporate.

http://questmeansbusiness.blogs.cnn.com/2010/02/23/does-europe-have-an-outdated-work-ethic/

[Lynx]

It's not a question of being outdated, its whether workers can defend their rights. Some commentators look forward to workers being crushed by big business and the global economy.

[Dimentio]

It's not a question of being outdated, its whether workers can defend their rights. Some commentators look forward to workers being crushed by big business and the global economy.

Yes, but those commentators are a minority. Two years ago, they would have been almost fifty percent.

[Red Commissar]

I remember a similar comment on the BBC back in 2008,

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/thereporters/matthewprice/2008/10/here_comes_the_s_word.html



I remember a journey I did with a truck driver once, from Nebraska to LA. We were discussing the hard life a truck driver has in this country, how the hours are long, the pay not good, the conditions bad.

Why do you put up with it, I wondered? "Well we couldn't do like the French do, blocking the roads, that just wouldn't be American," he replied.

I told him how I imagined the French drivers have better holiday entitlements, how they have perhaps better pay, and the like.

He snorted, but the next day he came back to me on it. He'd spoken to his union rep, and he'd been told that indeed the French do have better working conditions. He said he'd have to think about it a bit more.

I wonder if in the US people have been told for so long that individuals make their own success, that everyone can live the American Dream if they (personally) work hard enough, that they have become selfish as a society?

[pranabjyoti]

The almost same kind of phenomenon is observed in India. Previously, Bengal (now after independence and partition known as West Bengal) was a industrialized zone of India. But, during the 60s and 70s, due to huge upheaval of revolutionary struggle there, the Indian capitalists (including the state, the Govt. of India) began to shift the industrial center of attention to the western part, specially in the state of Maharashtra and Gujarat. Now, very often, the people from other part of India is telling that "people (mainly workers) of Bengal DON'T HAVE WORK CULTURE". That's why this state has been degraded. I am glad to know that the European workers have striking similarity with the work culture of my own state, West Bengal.
Actually, in my opinion, USA always has a huge inflow of immigrants as English is taught around the world and being a superpower, it can continue its "heaven on Earth" like image to the other part of the world. Now, a huge number of workers in US are from third world countries, where both working and living conditions are far worse. But, European countries lack that advantage. In comparison to English, a very very few in the world will try to learn German, French, Swedish and other European languages and in near future, the possibility of immigration to European countries is slim. In my opinion, that's the basic difference between European countries and USA.
I hope you all know about the "outsourcing" issue. USA can outsource its jobs to countries like India, where you can find a lot of unemployed people who knows English well. They do the job, that otherwise have to be done by US workers and this tough competition makes the condition of US workers on their toe and there is very slim chance that scenario will change in future, until and unless the US workers can take some drastic steps.

[Dimentio]

http://edition.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/europe/02/24/greece.protests.analysis/index.html?hpt=C1

A follow up with a clear bias against the protests (that all welfare systems inevitably must be abolished because of globalisation). It is obvious that they are using the events in Europe as a warning example to the readers of the CNN.com

[ls]

The almost same kind of phenomenon is observed in India. Previously, Bengal (now after independence and partition known as West Bengal) was a industrialized zone of India. But, during the 60s and 70s, due to huge upheaval of revolutionary struggle there, the Indian capitalists (including the state, the Govt. of India) began to shift the industrial center of attention to the western part, specially in the state of Maharashtra and Gujarat. Now, very often, the people from other part of India is telling that "people (mainly workers) of Bengal DON'T HAVE WORK CULTURE". That's why this state has been degraded. I am glad to know that the European workers have striking similarity with the work culture of my own state, West Bengal.

Good point, it is a common theme in a lot of countries that one part says the other part doesn't do this or that (having said that, I do of course note that the particular problem of regionalism is very prevalent in India).