The Off Topic Topic

[Caliga]

I mean it's just strange to hear of a case where a car manufacturer considered pulling out of the area, that's all.

[Jacob]

I mean it's just strange to hear of a case where a car manufacturer considered pulling out of the area, that's all.

Apparently some businesses prefer operating in a less than feudal relationship with their workers. I can see how that may not work in the American South.

[Admiral Yi]

I mean it's just strange to hear of a case where a car manufacturer considered pulling out of the area, that's all.

I see no sign that VW is considering pulling out of the area.

[crazy canuck]

I mean it's just strange to hear of a case where a car manufacturer considered pulling out of the area, that's all.

Its a collision of worlds story.  Neither side really understands the other.

[CountDeMoney]

Its a collision of worlds story.  Neither side really understands the other.

This.  Unions are apparently twats, and there's no direct German translation for "twat".  VAS IST TWAT

[alfred russel]

I mean it's just strange to hear of a case where a car manufacturer considered pulling out of the area, that's all.

Apparently some businesses prefer operating in a less than feudal relationship with their workers. I can see how that may not work in the American South.

Your article only quoted a labor representative for Volkswagen. I know he has a seat at the table for running the company, but it isn't at all clear that he speaks for the business.

[Syt]

[Jacob]

I mean it's just strange to hear of a case where a car manufacturer considered pulling out of the area, that's all.

I see no sign that VW is considering pulling out of the area.

Yeah, that's right. It may (or may not, depending on the pull of the labour representative on the board) stop further expansion.

[Sheilbh]

I think that's perfectly fair play.

If the company operations relies on worker-management cooperation, and local government uses intimidation tactics to prevent such cooperation from taking place, it makes perfect sense for the company to focus its production in a place where the government is less hostile to the company.

Yeah. If you've got co-determination from each factory to the company level and there's a part of the world where that's not possible then it seems fair to expand elsewhere.

Yeah, that's right. It may (or may not, depending on the pull of the labour representative on the board) stop further expansion.

I think the company works council is 50-50 labour-management and they need to approve major investments like new factories. So it depends how many other workers' representatives he speaks for, and if it's enough I imagine management probably wouldn't want to get into a fight over something like this.

If VW's union has the pull force a closed shop then I guess it's tough luck for the non-union workers.

It's not a closed shop, which is illegal in Germany and most European countries. But co-determination requires union representation both legally and practically. But you can have multiple unions in a workplace and workers who join none, they can all then elect whoever they want to the works council.

Edit: But CC's right, it's two totally different mindsets misunderstanding each other.

[Sheilbh]

The British Board of Film Censorship guidelines, 1917:

[Zanza]

So Facebook buys WhatsApp for 19 billion dollar. I am a WhatsApp user and pay 99 Euro cents per year for the service. Presumably so do hundreds of millions, but that still makes for a revenue of hundred of millions and presumably much lower profit. How can such a high price be justified?

[Sheilbh]

Phone numbers?

[Zanza]

I think the company works council is 50-50 labour-management and they need to approve major investments like new factories. So it depends how many other workers' representatives he speaks for, and if it's enough I imagine management probably wouldn't want to get into a fight over something like this.

The corporate charter of Volkswagen actually specifies that you need a 2/3 majority in the 20 person supervisory board for decisions on building/closing production plants. And you have to consider that two of the shareholder representatives are currently the social democrat prime minister and economics minister of Lower Saxony, so the union representatives plus social democrat politicians have a simple majority in the supervisory board.

[Sheilbh]

Reason 361 Australia's weird:
http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/feb/20/marsupials-suicidal-sex-habits-new-species

[Josquius]

So Facebook buys WhatsApp for 19 billion dollar. I am a WhatsApp user and pay 99 Euro cents per year for the service. Presumably so do hundreds of millions, but that still makes for a revenue of hundred of millions and presumably much lower profit. How can such a high price be justified?

Reading that news led me to google what WhatsApp even is. At least back when it was instagram I knew what it was.
But then the web 2.0 economy rarely makes sense.