So unions are "rent-seeking" from the shareholders who want to profit from extracting surplus value from their labor. Should labor not be able to use their surplus value in the free market?
The collapse of American manufacturing and industry could also be traced to outsourcing abroad, which devastated American labor and unions and resulted in profits for the shareholders from the reduced labor costs.
There is also the financialization of industry as represented by a shift of management techniques away from industry to finance in order to boost share values. Eventually industry runs into reduced returns in growth, but finance provides new schemes to create profit based off of speculation on the future.
>shareholders who want to profit from extracting surplus value from their labor.
Profit is not surplus value from workers' labor. It is compensation for the value contributed by investment. Without profit, there is no investment, and without investment, there is no wage growth:
The collapse of American manufacturing and industry could also be traced to outsourcing abroad, which devastated American labor and unions and resulted in profits for the shareholders from the reduced labor costs.
There is also the financialization of industry as represented by a shift of management techniques away from industry to finance in order to boost share values. Eventually industry runs into reduced returns in growth, but finance provides new schemes to create profit based off of speculation on the future.