Politics Final Flashcards

German Works Councils

  • Elected by the entire workforce

  • Strong rights: Information, consultation, participation

  • Formal power-sharing: Institutionalized negotiations between labor and management

  • Dominated by DGB unitary unions: All-encompassing unions

  • Role in preventing layoffs: Works councils help protect jobs during economic downturns

Codetermination

  • Between firms and elected works councils

  • At firm and plant level: Information and participation rights

  • Labor representatives on supervisory boards

  • Two channels: Supervisory board and work council

  • Worker participation: Emphasis on shaping workplace decisions

  • Prevents layoffs: Encourages training and upskilling, protects jobs, fosters company-specific skills

Short-Time Work (Kurzarbeit)

  • Government-financed: Stabilizes employment during economic slumps

  • Layoff alternative: Employees reduced to part-time instead of being laid off

  • Support: Workers receive 60%+ of pay via unemployment insurance

  • Cost-sharing model: Keeps workers employed while reducing economic shocks

European Social Model (EurWork)

  • Economic & social progress are inseparable

  • Social partners: Unions recognized as legal partners

  • Social dialogue: Collaboration between unions, employers, and government

Flexicurity (Auken)

  • Danish labor market model

  • Balance: Flexibility for employers, security for workers

  • Decentralized system: Pay and conditions set via collective bargaining

  • Win-win: Universal benefits, paid sick leave, pension plans

  • Limited severance pay: Government-funded healthcare

Social Movement Mobilization (Lakey)

  • Strong social movements: Essential for real change

  • Grassroots activism: Coalition building between unions and community groups

  • Transforming politics: Social movements drive democratic change

  • Origins of Nordic model: 1920s-30s, labor movements shaped economic democracy

Patrimonial Capitalism (Piketty)

  • Wealth accumulation: Leads to "patrimonial capitalism"

  • Inequality: No natural force to prevent growing wealth concentration

  • r > g: Capital return outpaces economic growth, worsening inequality

IG Metall (Yale Insights)

  • Largest European trade union: Metal workers

  • Powerful and experienced: Can endure long strikes

  • Recent success: Secured 28-hour workweek and 4.3% pay increase with Sudwestmetall

Nordic Model Emergence (Lakey)

  • 1920s-30s: Norway's struggle for economic democracy

  • Labor movements: Nonviolent action and coalition building for change

  • Solidarity: Led to the development of the Nordic Model

Coordinated Market Economies (CMEs) vs. Liberal Market Economies (LMEs) (Turner)

  • CMEs: Negotiated collaboration (Germany, Sweden, Japan)

    • Encompassing institutions, organized capitalism

    • More equality and incremental innovation

  • LMEs: Market-driven (USA, UK)

    • Rapid innovation, but greater inequality

“Freedom to Fail” (Lakey)

  • Norway's model: Government provides vocational training, education, and healthcare

  • Entrepreneurial support: Encourages risk-taking with safety nets

Job-Security Councils (Semuels)

  • Swedish model: Employers fund councils to retrain laid-off workers

  • Support: Financial assistance and career counseling

  • High success rate: Over 85% of displaced workers find new jobs within a year

Social Justice Framing (Turner)

  • Justice for Janitors: Social justice framing for low-wage workers

  • Coalition building: Latino and African-American worker solidarity

  • Political power: Successful urban labor revitalization

Coalition Spillover

  • Labor movements: Coalition-based urban labor movements

  • Spillover effect: Strong coalition relationships lead to political power

  • Justice for Janitors: Catalyst for broader campaigns like living wage movements

NYS Climate Jobs Program (Skinner)

  • Union-driven: NYS “Just Transition” plan for low-carbon economy

  • Clean energy: Jobs needed to implement equitable energy transition

IMF: Unions and Inequality (Hiltzik)

  • Union decline: Major driver of rising income inequality

  • Deunionization: Leads to higher corporate profits, stagnant wages for workers

  • Proposed solutions: Corporate governance reforms, collective bargaining

Justice for Janitors

  • Labor strategy: Comprehensive campaign for low-wage workers

  • Civil rights movement model: Latino and African-American workforce

  • Urban labor revitalization: Coalition building and political power

Employer Tactics to Block Union Recognition (Kate Bronfenbrenner)

  • Common tactics:

    • Management consultants, captive audience meetings, supervisor one-on-ones

    • Plant closing threats, discharges, harassment, surveillance

Union Revitalization Strategies

  • Progressive politics: Campaigns for $15 minimum wage, political mobilization

  • Coalition building: Local, national, and international efforts

American South and the Low-Wage Economy

  • Low-wage anchor: The South as a global low-wage hub

  • Legacy of slavery: Contributes to persistent wage stagnation

  • Absence of worker protections: Low unionization, no minimum wage in 5 states

Fight for $15 Impact

  • Origins: Began in NYC with fast-food workers demanding a $15 minimum wage

  • Nationwide success: $150 billion in additional pay for 26 million workers

Redlining and the Racial Wealth Gap (Kurtzleben & Cohen)

  • Redlining: Discriminatory practices preventing Black families from building wealth

  • Generational inequality: Federal policies excluded Black families from wealth-building opportunities

Union Renewal in LA, CA

  • New union strategies: Coalition-based organizing in sectors like healthcare and hotels

  • Justice for Janitors: Key catalyst in revitalizing LA’s labor movement

Sectoral Approach

  • Raising industry standards: For low-wage, precarious workers

  • Nail Salon Act: Sectoral bargaining to improve conditions in the nail salon industry

Educationism (Hanauer)

  • Misguided belief: Education alone won’t fix wage inequality

  • Solution: Raise wages, restore bargaining power for labor, and raise taxes on the wealthy

Domestic and Farm Workers, NLRA

  • Exclusion from NLRA: Domestic and farm workers were left out of unionization protections

  • Labor struggles: Organizing efforts like United Farm Workers paved the way for legal protections

Spirit Level – Causal Mechanism

  • Inequality's impact: Worsens social cohesion, health, and trust

  • Income inequality: Directly linked to poor health and social problems

Three Ways Oligarchs Retain Power (Reich)

  • Decline of countervailing power: Weakening of unions, campaign contributions, deregulation

  • Solutions: Stronger labor rights, progressive taxation, corporate accountability

Alternative for Germany (AfD)

  • Far-right political party: Anti-immigration, Eurosceptic, and nationalist

  • Anti-globalization: Opposes European Union integration

Sweden Democrats

  • Far-right party: Anti-immigration and nationalist policies

  • Historical links: Initially associated with neo-Nazi groups, but distanced from this

Marine Le Pen / National Rally (France)

  • Leader: Marine Le Pen

  • Far-right political party: Anti-immigration, nationalist, Eurosceptic (Frexit)

  • Traditional French values: Opposes globalization and European political elite

The “Great Reset”

  • Global economic reform: WEF proposal to address post-pandemic challenges

  • Green economy shift: Aims to centralize power, control markets, and address climate change

Forces Driving Union Revival (Greenhouse/Blanc)

  • Economic inequality: Rising inequality fuels workers’ rights movements

  • Labor laws: Changes in public policy and labor laws are revitalizing unions

Power Shift, Systemic Changes (Reich)

  • Corporate power: Growing influence of corporate elites at the expense of democratic institutions

  • Proposed solutions: Rebalancing power, stronger labor rights, and progressive taxation

Kuznet’s “Fairy Tale” (Piketty)

  • Critique of Kuznets: Economic growth doesn't reduce inequality naturally

  • Policy needed: Progressive taxation to address wealth concentration

Troika

  • European financial aid: ECB, IMF, and EC coalition imposing austerity measures on debt-stricken countries

  • Criticism: Prioritizes fiscal discipline over social welfare, contributing to economic hardship