Let’s give support to labour

Labour tends to be the garbage bin where we throw all the blame for any troubles arising in business and economic strategy. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Labour has the right to organise like corporations because, like corporations, they know what is in their best own interests; and when they cannot perceive it immediately, the right is theirs to sort it through properly.

But labour and capital are never equal, since labour is people and people must come first; and this is only natural.

Labour must study this more closely; it is under pressure to conform. The real problem would be when organised labour colludes with capitalism; in which case labour abandons itself to the worst that will happen and puts itself into the guilt of the greed, envy and despoliation.

It is not just a truism that capitalism is exploitative, it is a fact that capitalism can easily become overbearing and destructive trying to maximise profits and sector objectives, putting people and everything else — the environment, social dignity etc — last; and, in reality, in the aftermath, leaving others to struggle with the consequences.

Labour has to come up against these perversions of business and development; and since labour is comprised for the most part of ordinary people and communities who have to endure, labour can best put the checks on capitalist excesses.

In more recent times labour has had to bear even graver responsibilities, facing governments and other organisations that are capitalistic and that act in unison with corporations.

We must acknowledge and reassert the primacy of labour over capital and lend labour the advantage and our encouragement.

E GALY via email