Even ignoring the medallion situation, I'm sure things differ just based on how different cultures view unionized labor.
Here in the US we used to be quite pro-union but this sentiment has changed drastically in the past 3-4 decades. I'm just old enough to have seen some of the change first-hand.
Some argue that this occurred at great cost to our ability to sustain a middle class:
Being from the US it is hard for me to know how well a non-US citizen understands how much our view of unionized labor has changed here in the relatively recent past.
Steinbeck suggested (paraphrased) “Socialism never took root in America because the poor see themselves not as an exploited proletariat but as temporarily embarrassed millionaires.”, this is now more true than ever and it goes beyond socialism to ideas like unions and progressive taxes on the rich (and/or corporations) where the majority of citizens here (at least the ones who vote) are now against these despite the fact that in many cases these things would actually be in their own personal better interest today (as opposed to tomorrow when they win the lottery or get their own redneck reality tv show and are suddenly one of the elites).
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Even ignoring the medallion situation, I'm sure things differ just based on how different cultures view unionized labor.
Here in the US we used to be quite pro-union but this sentiment has changed drastically in the past 3-4 decades. I'm just old enough to have seen some of the change first-hand.
Some argue that this occurred at great cost to our ability to sustain a middle class:
http://www.salon.com/2013/12/30/the_middle_class_myth_heres_...
Being from the US it is hard for me to know how well a non-US citizen understands how much our view of unionized labor has changed here in the relatively recent past.
Steinbeck suggested (paraphrased) “Socialism never took root in America because the poor see themselves not as an exploited proletariat but as temporarily embarrassed millionaires.”, this is now more true than ever and it goes beyond socialism to ideas like unions and progressive taxes on the rich (and/or corporations) where the majority of citizens here (at least the ones who vote) are now against these despite the fact that in many cases these things would actually be in their own personal better interest today (as opposed to tomorrow when they win the lottery or get their own redneck reality tv show and are suddenly one of the elites).