Norway Intervenes to Avert Oil Industry Closure

http://news.yahoo.com/norway-intervenes-avert-oil-industry-closure-005718546--sector.html

OSLO (Reuters) - Norway's government ordered on Monday a last-minute settlement in a dispute between striking oil workers and employers in a move to alleviate market fears over a full closure of its oil industry and a steep cut in Europe's supplies.

Message is: Collective bargaining by labor unions, even with strong unions, and a labor gov't isn't allowed to bargain when push comes to shove.  The reason the capital controlled oil industry in Norway wouldn't bargain after 3 weeks of strikes is that they know full well if they stick to their position long enough the gov't will ultimately stop the strike. ... so there's absolutely no reason for capital to bargain at all.  This is just one more in common examples of how gov't political interests, right or left, are controlled by capital's interests over those of labor's.  This is much like the banking and financial industry.... ... there's no disincentive to taking excess risk and leverage since there's really no severe loss for the capital owners no matter how it turns out... in fact, the more severe & widespread the losses would be, the greater the likelihood that taxpayer's will be forced to pay for it one way or another.... so it actually incentivizes greater risk and leveraging of assets than less of it.   Prudence doesn't pay.

The business of labor unions is to obtain the fair share of capital's income.... that's what collective bargaining is... it is supposed to remove capital's divide and conquer tactical and strategic advantage.  Unfortunately for labor, gov't is controlled by capital's interests, so laws allow gov't to intervene when the industry (whatever it is) is deemed to be critical to the national interests.... which is simply the propaganda used to justify negating the collective bargaining process in favor of capital's interests.  

Such it has always been and shall always be.  Money talks, everybody else walks.