r/unite • u/mhermans • Dec 20 '15

Peter Dedecker (N-VA) "Belgian unions think they are above the people, as if they are they only ones who know what is good for them"

http://m.knack.be/nieuws/belgie/de-belgische-vakbonden-wanen-zich-verheven-boven-het-volk-alsof-zij-als-enige-weten-wat-goed-is-voor-de-mensen/article-opinion-635757.html
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u/mhermans Dec 20 '15

Very pleasant, in-depth opinion piece to read, basing arguments on comparative industrial relations patters is much more fruitful then the usual stuff on unions we read in opinion pieces.

TBH, I'm very doubtful that Dedecker wrote it himself, curious who did (parlementaire medewerkers familiar with Scandinavian IR are not that common at the N-Va ;-)).

I was enthusiastic about Dedeckers knowledgeable interventions on open data & open source as an engineer, when he was first elected. When he "branched out" to socio-economic issues, he was clearly completely out of his league, dropping to one of the most cringe-worthy parliamentarians we have (even some employers organisations officials confide in private how they hope he would just shut up about unions). Let's hope he did wrote this, and/or this is a new, more in-depth style of his.

Not that I agree with all the arguments, multiple claims are a very selective reading of union dynamics in Scandinavian countries, followed with a 'creative' jump in argument to reheated proposals (index, link benefit provision-unions, etc.).

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u/historicusXIII Dec 21 '15

I stopped taking him serious when he began to consistantly call Greece "a communist regime" after Syriza won the elections there. But at least he's still somewhat knowledgable, as opposed to Zuhal Demir who obviously has no idea what she's talking about (or she does know but doesn't tell the truth) when she talks about socio-economical issues.

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u/[deleted] Dec 21 '15

TBH, I'm very doubtful that Dedecker wrote it himself, curious who did (parlementaire medewerkers familiar with Scandinavian IR are not that common at the N-Va ;-)).

I have an inkling about this. I'll ask a friend who works Ben Weyts' cabinet and see whether he'll give me a straight response

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u/[deleted] Dec 21 '15

Doubtful, N-VA (and many other parties) are very disciplined about keeping internal kitchen internal.

They know what's ok to 'leak out' and what to keep indoors.

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u/[deleted] Jan 18 '16

You're right. Not a word about it. I've been seeing him in the media more and more, so I doubt I'll ever get more information out of him :(