Daily Archives: May 13, 2010

“Oh to be Solvent When Labor Strikes Back”

This is an interesting idea – that organized labor has more power than it may think in the era of globalization.

Why? Well the argument is that companies use a kind of “just in time” approach to finance, stretching to the breaking point their credit position. Any unexpected pressure from the labor force can tear a damaging hole in the thin fabric of global finance that knits the whole system together.

I made a related point recently in an interview about my new book, From Che to China, with Inside Fashion. I suggested that the race to the bottom of global capital over the last three decades may have reached bottom with widespread labor unrest breaking out in China and thus threatening the cheap labor model that has been so dominant.

Dude, wheres the Dharma?: Oh to be Solvent When Labor Strikes Back.