I panicked this morning when I saw an earlier version of this article with the headline "Mexico City Evicts 15,000 Traders." Fortunately, these are the traders selling snacks and trinkets, not stocks and bonds. But this part of the article confused me:
The president of one street vendors' union, Alejandra Barrios, criticised the government, saying: "They are not thinking about the fact that these people don't have jobs. What do they think these people will do?"
First of all, worst union representative ever: "You fail to consider the fact that everyone I represent is, basically, a panhandler who produces litter." Second: a union? For street peddlers? Aren't these guys all self-employed? What kind of negotiating power do they have? And for that matter, why would they negotiate wages when they could work on commission? This is probably the purest sales job in the world -- offer something that's almost certainly worthless to a bunch of harried American tourists*, and see how much you can wheedle them into paying for it. What does a union offer these guys?
Comments (1)
Doesn't it stand to reason a union rep for panhandlers would have a terrible rep? Dues are pretty low.
Posted by Tom Clancy | October 23, 2007 9:35 PM
Posted on October 23, 2007 21:35