Well Well,So now I am antiunion? I have never considered myself antiunion, and I never will. The point I am trying to make, is that in Sweden we do not have any problems with the union.
The middleway which I was talking about has nothing to do with shutting out the union - this is your interpretation, and I do not take kindly to having words put in my mouth. I am talking about the understanding between unions and companies, in which both can profit.
Let me take an example:
There was a restaurant on Gotland, an island outside mainland Sweden, that was not "a member" of the union. The employer paid above minimum wage and followed all laws. None of the employees wanted to join the union, since they thought everything was ok, and even better than ok. The union went in and said that if they did not join, then they would put the restaurant in boycott. None wanted to join, and the boycott, in which others unions participated, went into effect. What happened? The restaurant closed, the owner lost a considerable amount of money and the people were laid off. Is this how a union should work? A union should interfere if there is a problem and laws are being broken! This is not the case in Sweden, where the unions seem more concerned with politics than making sure that there are work and a fair pay.
So, I have npthing against unions. I just think that we have to realize that we are living in a modern era, and you can not apply rules which are outdated. This has nothing to do with abolishing the union or stopping someone from join - if you read that into what I have written, then you need glasses.
I am sorry that I did not get your question about levels of pay. I thought you were refering to turnoverrates. Before i adress the levels of pay, it would be interesting to find out what you thought about the turnover rate? I would say that a company that, according to you, pay low wages and misstreats employees should have a higher turnoverrate?
I am not taking a defensive position about levels of pay - it was you who brought it up! I do not think that we pay low wages. You did not comment on the figures which I gave you. I repeat my question, is a difference of 37% to much? If you accept more responsibilities - should you get more money?
You stated yourself that you have no problems with differences in pay - then what is all the commotion about? I agree with you that people should get a fair wage, but we have to have differential pay, otherwise no one will assume the extra work.
The average cost for labour in a McDonald´s in Sweden is about 33%. Thats a lot of money.
You seem to live in a illusion that owners of McDonald´s are greedy monsters that make a lot of money on the backs of other paeople. You cuold not be more misstaken. Most owners are hard working people who have a genuine care for their employees. The average profit is 3-4 % bottomline. In most companies that would mean bancrupcy. The owners get their franchise for 20 years and start making some money, in average, after 4-5 years.
I ask of you - is 3-4 % bottomline a big profit? Is this the profit of the big Ogre from McDonald´s? Where is all the cash you seem to think is flowing in the pockets of McDonald´s?
McDonald´s is built on volume. We earn a small amount of money on each guest. We hope to have many guests, and earn some profit this way. Each McDonald´s pays a fee for the right to use the logo, and this of course means that USA is making a considerable amount of money, since there are close to 20000 stores, but this does not mean that the individual owner is rolling in money!
I do not like Mrs Thatcher and I never had. I was merely pointing out that after the coalminers strike, the unions in the UK were paralyzed. This was partly due to Thatcher, but just as much to the old uniontactics. Had Scargill not gone the way the did, I am convinced that the unions in the UK would have had a stronger position in the buliding of a society for the year 2000.
So I am not antiunion, I am not in love with Maggie and I am still waiting for how you think that McDonald´s should pay their emplyees? Should there be differental wage? How big a difference? Should there be a lower wage initially?
