Worth a read......Will Bassa read it???
The article mentionned by P Ridley should be mandatory reading for all cc.
If you can't be bothered to read it, here are some excerpts.
1. "A study of strikes in the 1980s shows why. Economists from the London School of Economics found that the average increase in annual pay produced by strikes was only 0.3 per cent, while the average strike lasted 11 days. Each strike day, of course, costs the worker a day’s wages. The study concluded that the wage gain would have to be retained by individual employees for 30 years simply for them to break even."
2. " The Framingham data provides the strongest statistical support we have yet had for an idea that social psychologists have held for some time — that members of groups “catch” behaviour from each other. Connected argues that this is particularly the case where networks are tight and where links with other networks are weak.
The postal workers union forms a classic social network of this type. However little sense striking may make to an individual, the idea that it is the right thing to do has spread round the group until everyone in it thinks that it makes sense. This is why the union is so resistant to the hiring of non-union labour to help to clear up the backlog of post. They fear that their mere presence will undermine the strength of the network.
The network effect is accompanied by another psychological quirk. A study of university fraternities showed that the more painful the initiation rites to the chapter, the more members value their membership. They have to do so to rationalise the ordeal that they have been through. Strikes work in the same way. Instead of the resolve of strikers weakening as the costs mount and the whole things becomes uneconomic, resolve strengthens. "