Take a lesson from Pro Sports - A good example of a proletar

[fightthepower]

When most people see the high wages that pro sports players make, they usually feel like they're getting screwed. Why should somebody have multi-million dollar contracts for playing baseball? Simple: they unioinize and make tough negotiations with their bosses.

Essentially, sports players are just proletarians like miners or loggers, anybody who has a boss that tries to make them do more work for less pay. In 1994, the MLB association tried to put a cap on the amount of money a baseball team could pay per year, thus limiting the amount of money each player would recieve. What did the players do? They went on Strike!

Each player has a manager who tries to counter the efforts to exploit the players. Most of the time, they'll get their way, if not, a decent compromise.

Of course, I'm opposed to the salaries that pro sports players recieve, but it is a good example that we should all follow.

I would have liked to go more in-depth, but im very pressed for time, so, if I get the opportunity, I'll add to it later.

[Conghaileach]

The problem though is that professional "sports" (I simply refer to them as businesses) generate billions of dollars every year, and the player has something to do with this profit.

In any job, the labourer is paid for his/her labour power (less than they should receive, in other words) and the capitalist keeps the rest as profit. The same thing happens to professional sports stars, though on a larger basis because of the amount of revenue generated by people coming to watch the games, memoribilia, advertising etc etc.

Professional sports people don't deserve the amount they're paid, especially compared to people in public service (e.g. teachers, doctors, firefighters, etc) but they are just getting a percentage of a very large business.

It seems to be the general idea that anyone who is good at sports is gifted and special, whereas any bum can be trained to be a teacher or a doctor. If one of those industries were to try what these stars get away with, it'd never be allowed.

It's bullshit, it's capitalism.

[fightthepower]

I agree that sports players make way more than they deserve, just like i mentioned.

But, compared to the amount of profit that the owners recieve, they make more than the average worker. The point wasnt that athletes deserve what they recieve, but that we should use them as an example of proletariat unity and victory.

[Hegemonicretribution]

There is no victory, the sports stars are not hitting the their bosses back, they are merely lessening the percentage received, which is insignificant as the sums involved are so much higher.

Also those stars are capatilist themselves, they are pro's only by embracing the system through sponsorship etc. They have the power of influence many would die for, and use it advertising sports shoes made by child labourers for what? Serious cash.

[redstar2000]

I think that what fightthepower is getting at is that solidarity WORKS...whether you're a janitor in Los Angeles or a highly talented athlete.

Any group of workers who unite to fight collectively for a better deal are going to get at least SOME improvements in their wages and conditions.

It was an idea discovered back in 450 BCE, when Egyptian gravediggers went out on strike for payment of overdue back wages.

It's an idea always worth relearning. :cool:

[TheFriendlyBolshevik]

...unless they fire the whole lot of us. really it's the prisoner's dilema. when you go on stirke what do the bosses care? they can always hire more. the strikers have to hope that everyone sees the picture and that if no scabes comein to pick up the peices, the stikers will be better off. problem with the scabs is: they won't get a job outof it.

it's different for atheles, and, as mentioned, miners and loggers. bosses have a much smaller number of people to choose from should the current crew stike. atheles are the best of the best, that's what people pay to see. not alot of people will take the risk to become a miner. so the fact that there's less likely to be scabs for these professions and the that the bosses are hauling in fat cash makes it more viable for Athletes and miners to strike and come out on top. not everyone has these two factors aiding thier strike.

[workingpoor]

i think that the bigger problem is what makes these peoples skills and talents worht so much more than me. Doesn't this devalue me as a human and once again make them a part of the bourgeosie

[fightthepower]

[/quote]Quote: from redstar2000 on 12:09 am on Jan. 16, 2003
I think that what fightthepower is getting at is that solidarity WORKS...whether you're a janitor in Los Angeles or a highly talented athlete.

Any group of workers who unite to fight collectively for a better deal are going to get at least SOME improvements in their wages and conditions.

It was an idea discovered back in 450 BCE, when Egyptian gravediggers went out on strike for payment of overdue back wages.

It's an idea always worth relearning. :cool:
[/quote]

Exactly. And this is just one modern example.

[/quote]i think that the bigger problem is what makes these peoples skills and talents worht so much more than me. Doesn't this devalue me as a human and once again make them a part of the bourgeosie [/quote]

Absolutely nothing makes their skills more important than anyone's. Pro athletes are as much a part of the bourgeosie as the team owners. But, then again, that wasnt really the point of the post.

[JoYKiLLaH]

guys get payed to play a game, while people make 1/1000th of what they make processing food, i mean , ITS BULLSHIT, back in the days when hockey wuz abotu the game, not about the 6.9 mil salery over 3 years ( and thats everage)