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I haven’t posted on here for a while since I’m spending most of my time reading philosophy and economics stuff for next year but I don’t have much to say about that yet. I need something to distract me from microeconomics (oligopoly and game theory) now though. I tried baking a cake but that didn’t turn out too well: it was flat and I think I used too many eggs (the recipe said to use 4 but I’m fairly sure that 2 or 3 would have been better).
At work, on Wednesday I argued with people about the Gate Gourmet caterers, and the solidarity shown by the BA workers. Most people at work disapproved of the baggage handlers because the strike was unofficial. I always find it very strange when people say that illegal action should never be taken. What are we supposed to do? Simply feel sorry for the sacked workers (and allow then to remain sacked?). The story would surely not even have been mainstream press news if it hadn’t been for the solidarity action. From Lenin’s tomb:
>There’s a line spun by the media that we should all feel sorry for the sacked workers at Gate Gourmet, but that we should also condemn the solidarity action taken by BA baggage handlers. In other words, we’re being told that it’s ok to see people as victims, but we mustn’t actually do anything about it (except bring our own packed lunches if we’re travelling by plane).
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Jerry Hicks, at that meeting in Cambridge, put it very well when he said that the purported distinction between ‘official’ and ‘unofficial’ strikes is an ideological anti-union invention. It’s not up to the government or the courts to declare a strike official or not, but up to the workers themselves.
Comment by Tim @ 8/19/2005 7:48 am
Oh, also, what sort of cake was it? Victoria sponges often taste eggy, I find. Dundee cake is a classic, and, I think, has less egg in it.
Comment by Tim @ 8/19/2005 7:50 am
Are you talking to yourself Tim? At a very unsociable hour too…
I’m no labour realtions expert, but for what it’s worth I think it would have been better if the union had balloted its members before going on strike as:
a) It’s more deomocratic
b) I think there would have been more public sympathy for them - vital in the PR age in which we live.
In other dessert news, we made a pie from the blackberries in our garden the other night. It was ace.
Comment by Marty @ 8/19/2005 10:34 am
yes, it was a sponge recipe! My mother gave me a recipe for chocolate cake, which I think I will make instead next time. I found this recipe for dundee cake. It does look really good, but it still has 4 eggs in it (surely that is too much?).
Marty: the BA workers just walked out. You seem to think that the union leadership decided that there would be a strike and forced their members to stop working. In fact, the members decided to walk out themselves. In what way is that not democratic?
Comment by rachel @ 8/19/2005 4:42 pm
Victoria sandwiches are a law unto themselves (Official or unofficial?!!) It can also depend on the freshness of the eggs and the degree to which you beat them into the mixture and then fold in the flour afterwards. I have quite a good recipe for ginger cake which only has one egg and usually seems to work, if you like ginger!
Comment by J @ 8/19/2005 9:58 pm
4 eggs does seem like a lot, unless it’s a really big cake. For a normal loaf tin sized cale, I’d only use two eggs, I think. But I haven’t baked a cake for a year or two, so I may be misremembering.
Comment by Tim @ 8/20/2005 1:36 am
Tim: I think you’re right
J: I’m not keen on ginger, but if you have any other recipes, you can let me know :)
Comment by rachel @ 8/20/2005 3:35 pm
I appear to have missed the boat on this, as the conversation heads cakewards (I’m partial to a bit of carrot cake myself)
Anyhoo, I said a secret ballot was *more* democratic, as it precludes the possibility of intimidation. Also, why not ballot nationally and screw the whole system up?
Not sure if that would have been legal, though (again exposing my lack of labour realtions knowledge).
Still, not revolutionary enough for me, these unions.
Comment by Marty @ 8/23/2005 4:43 pm