been gone a while.
But having read some recent Economist articles, I would like to ponder the fate of Old Europe. What came to my attention when I was studying in France was the utter inefficiency of the French workforce and their economic system on a larger scale. This was particularly apparent after a 3-day trip across the border to Germany, where stores were open on Sunday, and lunch was always easy to find, even at 3 pm.
Upon our return, we continuously berated the French system, pointing out the need to change, only to hear out French peers expound on the importance of family time together, sitting down for meals, counting on job security, free health care, free education, affordability of 'healthy' food, etc. On the last point, which involves state subsidies to French farmers of all sorts, I can only say that while French food and drink look amazing and taste no worse, Germans across the border, who buy 45 % of their groceries in generic packaging at discount supermarkets like Lidl, look healthier than many a French(wo)man.
Unions
The pervasiveness and unreasonable power of unions in France is devastating to the country; we are now past the age of worker exploitation during the Industrialization era, when work days could range from 12 to 18 hours, health insurance was not a term in use, and the abolition of child labor was just becoming a hot topic of debate. There is now equal pay for equal work, albeit some women and certain minorities continue to face discrimination in the workplace - but as long as there is discrimination (and no utopia in sight), it will manifest itself wherever humans act out their lives. In France, unions of workers who I did not know had the need to unionize (farmers or teachers is one thing, air traffic controllers is another) wreak havoc on a daily basis by disrupting traffic, altering academic calendars by strikes, to name a few. In the US, the few unions that remain - and it is not so few, according to statistics - are largely powerless and ineffective, poster-perfect examples of bureaucracies that perpetuate themselves and do so frequently at the expense of unwilling average union members.
Let's think what abolishing unions would do to society? Young employees would undoubtedly gain the edge, as they would be more competitive in both their skill set (technologically savvy, more globalized) and more willing to put in extra effort and extra hours to impress their leadership and to advance themselves in the company or career. Older (trusted, merited) employees would suffer, and that is when everyone talks about job security. Not to mention that so many jobs can nowadays be taken away from the American citizen (or a western European citizen) by immigrants, either from a distant country like India or China or Turkey, or just from across the border (Mexico, Romania, Serbia). Would getting rid of unions mean that the foreigners and not the country's young would get jobs previously securely held by citizens, as private companies greedily seek to slash production costs by employing cheaper labor - or worse, outsourcing?
These are difficult questions to answer, but ultimately the EU's public will have to throw some confidence behind the idea of corporate social responsibility. Regulating companies creates an less friendly business and investment climate. However, having well-known public expectations of companies' contributions to the betterment of local communities (including those within the EU) has been proven to give results.
Personally, I believe that if it is economically reasonable fro me to be fired, or laid off, or conversely be hired to replace a less efficient, more expensive employee, then I have no problem with that. Ultimately, if you are involved in an industry that is inefficient, then you cannot depend on job security to keep you afloat until you are set to retire at the ripe age of 60 (though, admittedly, that would be nice). One must be ready to go down with the sinking ship - or jump overboard, try to find a new career path in the current job market, which is unbelievable open to people with the most varied skill sets and past experiences. Harder to do at 55 than at 25, but if we enjoy the fast pace of change that lets us watch streaming soccer from half-way across the world on our laptop while we are at work, there is no excuse for not taking the bad along with the good. The reality is, to be a competitive employee today, one must be very versatile and familiar with many things technological, social, professional, global - the adjectives can keep on rolling! It is those workers the workplace should seek out and cater to, if companies, which in the EU as anywhere else, make up portions of countries' GDPs are not to linger in danger of going under and remain in need of government bail-outs. I agree with populists on one thing: the bail out money would be more needed in hospitals and schools - next time, if the lessons of these 3 years go right over Europeans' heads. I do think that the rising generation - my generation - is fully aware of what needs to be done, and they are ready to hold on as the reforms turn Old Europe upside down. Only their readiness may go unwanted, because according to the EU age pyramid - a scary thing! - the majority of EU voters in the next decade will be in their 50's or older; too old to be re-trained if they become victims of modernizing reforms and to attached to the old socio-economic order to see it thrown away in favor of competitive capitalism as the EU wheezes in the race to new global markets.
