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IKEA's retailer's solved global 'unhappy worker' crisis by raising salaries

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Re: IKEA's retailer's solved global 'unhappy worker' crisis by raising salaries

#211

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'd say just cutting out half of the headline is more editorializing than trying to edit it to fit more of it.

I'd give the submitter more credit than that. The title was cut for length, retaining the earlier (and presumably more significant) aspects of the original. As I noted in my other comment, wordsmithing title is a challenge, and most people probably aren't fully aware of HN's nuances and preferences in the practice. And you did do a better job of it, as I also indicated a few minutes ago.

Of course, no negativity towards the submitter – I was just trying to make an argument for editing titles more carefully and trying to preserve original meaning. I think you did a better job in the sibling comment though!

Re: IKEA's retailer's solved global 'unhappy worker' crisis by raising salaries

#212
post #210
post #209

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ladies and gentlemen, this is what a sore loser looks like. No arguments left, only smears. Desperate because you are used to that your bullying tactic works, that people back off and gets sidetracked, but here it didn't, which I already explained to you that you get nowhere with that here. Swedes rejected your ideas, first in the general election of 1976, were Social democrats got ousted and lost an election for the…

I'm closer to syndicalism, but unorganised since I'm in a position of leadership. It's weird to phrase it as "Swedes rejected", when it was the labour buyer's cartel that bused people to the demonstration in Stockholm, and the Social Democrats polled quite high after LAS and the general parental insurance. The string of wildcat strikes at the time didn't affect their polling performance. It was newspaper scandals tha…

If the reforms leads to Bolshevism then it is Bolshevism. What Bolsheviks never accept is that society is more than their political ideas.

It is important to remember that the Social democrats is the political wing to the LO union. It is the union that has permanent seat in the governing board of the Social democrats (Verkställande utskottet), not the other way around. It is the LO union that funds the Social democrats. It is in the union where the real power is (at least back then).

What the union wanted was to get the political wing to implement a legislation so that the union could confiscate private business. This would have been the end of Sweden's pluralistic parliamentarism. Instead an all ruling union with unelected bureaucrats with it's own political wing would have almost total control economically and eventually politically and then later socially.

Your timeline is completely messed up, jumping years back and forth, probably intentionally to confuse the reader what actually happened. Here is a real timeline with the most important dates

  1973 September: Social democrats wins election
  1974          : LAS Lag om anställningsskydd (Employment Protection Act)
                  Abandoning the spirit of Saltsjöbadsavtalet from 1938
  1974          : General parental insurance
  1975 August   : LO union present the idea of Löntagarfonder (Employee funds)
                  20% of company profits should forcibly be transformed
                  to equity issuance and handed to the union
                  No limit on number of shares, i.e eventual union takeover
  1975 November : Dictator of Spain Francisco Franco dies
  1975 New Years: Union boss Hans Ericson vacations in Spanish Canary Islands
  1976 March    : Astrid Lindgren writes here famous story about high taxes 
                  in "Pomperipossa i Monismanien"
  1976 April    : Ingmar Bergman leaves Sweden
  1976 May      : Reduction of taxes as a response to
                  Astrid Lindgren critique about high taxes
  1976 Summer   : LO union decides on supporting Löntagarfonder
  1976 Autumn   : Right wing opposition attacks the Löntagarfonder,
                  calling it "Öststatssocialism" (East State Socialism)
  1976 September: Social democrats loses election to the Right wing opposition
                  First pure right wing government since 1936
                  Coup d'état as a famous social democrat called it
  1978          : Pamphlet "Fritt näringsliv eller fondsocialism", 
                  opposition from the Swedish employers' organization SAF
  1979 September: Right wing wins election
  1982 Februari : Revised version legislation for LAS 
                  (note this is by the right wing government)
  1982 September: Social democrats wins election
  1982 October  : Big Bang, massive devaluation of 16% for the Swedish Krona (SEK)
  1983 October  : Massive demonstrations against Löntagarfonder 
  1983 December : Revised and water downed version, because of the massive protests,  
                  of Löntagarfonder implemented    
                  5 different funds 
                  each fund could not own more than 8% of a company (less than 50%)
  1985 September: Social democrats wins election
  1985 December : Swedish Centralbank (Riksbanken) decided together with the
                  social democratic finance minister to approve de facto 
                  unlimited loans for commercial bank customers
  1986 Februari : Prime minister Olof Palme murdered
  1988 September: Social democrats wins election 
                  (probably would have lost if Palme hadn't been murdred)
  1989 November : Berlin wall falls
  1990 August   : Iraq invades Kuwait, increased interest rates follows
  1990 October  : Investment company Nyckeln cannot pay its debt 
                  speculation on real-estate with massive loans
                  Begins the Banking, Housing and Financial crisis in Sweden
                  Banks and real-estate companies goes bankrupt
  1991 September: Right wing wins election
                  First decision of new government is to scrap Löntagarfonder
  1992 Autumn   : Floating exchange rate for the Swedish Krona (SEK)
                  after a failed attempt to defend a fixed exchange rate
                  The era of politicians devaluing the currency is over
  1994 September: Social democrats wins
  1996          : Finanspolitiska ramverket (Fiscal policy framework)
                  no more overspending by politicians, end of Keynesian politics
  1998 September: Social democrats wins
  1999 Januari  : Independent Central bank by law
                  No more money printing by politicians 
                  to bribe the electorate

What does this all sum up to? That the "reform politics" of the Social democrats died in the 1980s. The 1990s was the tough years of cleaning that mess up.

Today the Social democrats is just an empty shell of its former glory. Just an empty vessel for corruption and greed without any new ideas or reforms.

Re: IKEA's retailer's solved global 'unhappy worker' crisis by raising salaries

#213
post #212
post #210

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm closer to syndicalism, but unorganised since I'm in a position of leadership. It's weird to phrase it as "Swedes rejected", when it was the labour buyer's cartel that bused people to the demonstration in Stockholm, and the Social Democrats polled quite high after LAS and the general parental insurance. The string of wildcat strikes at the time didn't affect their polling performance. It was newspaper scandals tha…

If the reforms leads to Bolshevism then it is Bolshevism. What Bolsheviks never accept is that society is more than their political ideas. It is important to remember that the Social democrats is the political wing to the LO union. It is the union that has permanent seat in the governing board of the Social democrats (Verkställande utskottet), not the other way around. It is the LO union that funds the Social democra…

It's still insane to claim that Lenin has ever been the main ideologue of LO and SAP. Clearly you've never heard about "IB-affären" or Erlander's "arbetskompanier".

Re: IKEA's retailer's solved global 'unhappy worker' crisis by raising salaries

#214

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can company provide a choice for employees where they can either get facilities or a raise?

In the US, and presumably elsewhere, no way. My wife tried to negotiate a higher salary in exchange for forgoing health insurance a few times, to no avail.

> In the US, and presumably elsewhere

In every other developed country everyone has healthcare, irrelevant of job - even people that don't have a job.

Healthcare is not tied to your job, it is a basic human right.

So this discussion makes no sense outside the US.

Re: IKEA's retailer's solved global 'unhappy worker' crisis by raising salaries

#215
post #213
post #212

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If the reforms leads to Bolshevism then it is Bolshevism. What Bolsheviks never accept is that society is more than their political ideas. It is important to remember that the Social democrats is the political wing to the LO union. It is the union that has permanent seat in the governing board of the Social democrats (Verkställande utskottet), not the other way around. It is the LO union that funds the Social democra…

It's still insane to claim that Lenin has ever been the main ideologue of LO and SAP. Clearly you've never heard about "IB-affären" or Erlander's "arbetskompanier".

The greatest hour of the Social democrats was when they kicked out the Bolsheviks from the party in 1917 as reaction to the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia. This made Social democrats a reform party that accepted the already existing parliamentary system and the monarchy ("den borgerliga demokratin"). And by doing so the Social democrats paved the road to becoming one of the most successful political parties in the West.

By marginalizing the Bolsheviks it is likely that this saved Sweden from a bloody civil war, a civil war that our dear neighbors in Finland suffered from. Our modern history could have been very different, Swedes fighting other Swedes in bloody battles, an open wound that could have been present to this day. For saving Sweden and Swedes from this horror, I’m ever grateful.

That is why I rank Hjalmar Branting as the greatest leader of Social democrats, greater than both Hansson and Erlander.

I am of course fully aware about these affairs you mention, what I’m arguing is that Bolsheviks was accepted back into the movement in 70s.

There were many signs of this, not only in the policies that was enacted but also things like the open flirtation with communist dictatorships and letting well known communists back into the movement.

Re: IKEA's retailer's solved global 'unhappy worker' crisis by raising salaries

#216
post #215
post #213

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's still insane to claim that Lenin has ever been the main ideologue of LO and SAP. Clearly you've never heard about "IB-affären" or Erlander's "arbetskompanier".

The greatest hour of the Social democrats was when they kicked out the Bolsheviks from the party in 1917 as reaction to the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia. This made Social democrats a reform party that accepted the already existing parliamentary system and the monarchy ("den borgerliga demokratin"). And by doing so the Social democrats paved the road to becoming one of the most successful political parties in the We…

What you're arguing is insane. It's batshit crazy.

You have clearly not met any of the people involved.

Re: IKEA's retailer's solved global 'unhappy worker' crisis by raising salaries

#217
post #216
post #215

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The greatest hour of the Social democrats was when they kicked out the Bolsheviks from the party in 1917 as reaction to the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia. This made Social democrats a reform party that accepted the already existing parliamentary system and the monarchy ("den borgerliga demokratin"). And by doing so the Social democrats paved the road to becoming one of the most successful political parties in the We…

What you're arguing is insane. It's batshit crazy. You have clearly not met any of the people involved.

So you are a Bolshevik after all. I never miss.

Re: IKEA's retailer's solved global 'unhappy worker' crisis by raising salaries

#218
post #217
post #216

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What you're arguing is insane. It's batshit crazy. You have clearly not met any of the people involved.

So you are a Bolshevik after all. I never miss.

No, I'm not a statist, which I mentioned earlier.

Re: IKEA's retailer's solved global 'unhappy worker' crisis by raising salaries

#219
post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A lot of high end ikea stuff is REALLY good, it's not all honeycomb crap. Honestly it's ikea or luxury stuff, anything else does not make sense. You can't beat ikea quality and quality at any price point.

Bullshit. Amish folks are feeling the economic pain of high interest rates and have seen sales slow significantly. You can get crazy good deals on Amish made furniture right now, and both from in terms of the quality of materials and the quality of the assembly, it will be superior to anything at similar price point to Ikea. Folks keep acting like it's still 2022 and that we are somehow in a ZIRP era. It's not, and m…

This is not the kind of forum where any reply should begin with calling someone else's respone "Bullshit."

Re: IKEA's retailer's solved global 'unhappy worker' crisis by raising salaries

#220
post #185

Because it costs them less than onboarding. IKEA would never pay more than they can get away with: https://www.fastcompany.com/3035734/ikea-is-a-nonprofit-and-... (TIL Ingvar Kamprad, IKEA's founder, was a part of the pro-nazi Nysvenska party during WW2. If he were from occupied Norway, he would never even have gotten the chance to start IKEA, people didn't buy from quislings. But Sweden was neutral, a very different…

> If he were from occupied Norway, he would never even have gotten the chance to start IKEA, people didn't buy from quislings How about Knut Hamsun?

Hamsun was rich, famous and beloved before the war. After the war, his books were burned, his wife and sons were imprisoned and there was a huge court case which nearly financially ruined his family

> Hamsun was subjected to humiliating clinical psychiatric tests in Oslo, and having been told that he was suffering from "lasting weakened mental capacities", was eventually fined 325,000 kroner after a civil action found him guilty of NS membership. https://www.theguardian.com/books/2009/aug/08/knut-hamsun-ce...

> In later years, studies and inquiries have shown that justice was administered unevenly and—by today's standards—harshly https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legal_purge_in_Norway_after_Wo...

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