Labor group to organize Wal-Mart workers

[Eugene]

Labor group to organize Wal-Mart workers
Thu Aug 18, 2005 5:10 AM ET

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Labor leaders from around the world will meet in
Chicago next week to draft a plan to organize Wal-Mart Stores Inc.
(WMT.N: Quote, Profile, Research) workers in certain countries,
including Brazil, Argentina, Germany and the United Kingdom, the Wall
Street Journal reported on Thursday.

The newspaper said that devising a Wal-Mart strategy is a priority for
the annual conference of the Union Network International, a federation
based in Europe that represents more than 15 million workers in 100 countries.

UNI would not identify the countries to be targeted, but said it would
focus on those where high percentages of the work force are unionized,
which likely would include Brazil, the Journal said.

http://today.reuters.com/News/newsArticle.aspx?type=businessNews&storyID=2005-08-18T090943Z_01_N18283041_RTRIDST_0_BUSINESS-RETAIL-WALMART-LABOR-DC.XML

[Robert Oak]

1. we should support them

This is *the* company to target...

but the other question is how is labor going to organize yet address
the needs of white collar career professionals?

But, I think this is damn straight, the number one corporation to focus on is Wal-mart, not only do they go to extremes to labor bust,
but they have ruined many union jobs with their "mega mart, chemical meat" stores in rural America.

Never mind the slave wages earned by their suppliers overseas for 6 dollar pairs of pants.

[IrishDemocrat]

2. Thank you!

Labor needs to expand into the white collar sector NOW! The fact that I just got out of college with an Accounting degree and now envious of Steamfitters and Electricians is quite sad. Not to say their jobs are easy, but they make twice as much as college grads in business fields right out of school and are not saddled with the enormous debt we are. I applied for a tax accounting job at Deloitte recently, got an interview, and was only offered $42,000 for 60+ hours per week. Compared to my trade union friends (mind you I live in Philly), that is a mere pittance plus the fact I'm exempt from overtime to boot. I stuck with my current government job instead. Their benefits are also far superior to ours as well.

Am I wrong in thinking this is a problem?

[Robert Oak]

3. No, you're not wrong

Whatever problems labor has the reality is they are the ones
who got good wages and pensions for blue collar workers.

If anyone notices, the pension system has been decimated by corporations and these so called 401k's don't come close to what a pension offers.

Right now retirees are still living on pensions but the next generation to retire I think there is going to be a disaster.

The college debt is also a huge issue.

The demand white collar workers put in 60+ hours is now the norm.

Labor fought for a 40 hour work week and they got it. Corporations through salaried employeed by-passed it.

There is no job security at all, firing can be "at will" and without cause.

The real question to me is what kind of structure does white collar labor need to meet it's needs yet organize?

I don't see a bunch of "labor bosses" with the rank and file working in anyway in white collar labor. It would have to be a democratic organization to the maximum, possibly even more like a guild.

[IrishDemocrat]

4. Also

When I gripe about this I have people tell me "be a company man and it will be better. You just have to put in your time." Know what I say: BULLSHIT!! Well, I find there are people that do and get the boot when they start making decent money and have to do it all over again somewhere else. Granted the government is immobile, but I've also heard recent students only getting $500 bonuses for hundreds of excess hours during tax season over 40 per week. Meanwhile the partners are going out golfing at 1 or 2 in the afternoon and making upwards of $500,000 per year. Odds of making partner: 1 in 1000.

[Robert Oak]

5. company man

I agree. I think they are using that "culture" thing and it's not getting challenged. There is some hidden message to "be one of the guys", "go along", "be silent" and so forth and eventually you'll be "in" and be "one of them" and make a bunch of money and so forth.

But, starting in the 80's, that turned out to be a lie. Now it's routine for anyone in their 50's to have their career terminated,
pensions wiped out, people fired for no reason and so forth.

Yet there is this bizarre white collar mentality that "aligns with management" even though unless one is in the executive class, it's now clear there is no loyalty or any true "in club" in the white collar profession.

Accounting is also being offshore outsourced so I would imagine it's bad.

I know the AFL-CIO did put together a tech union (washtech.org) but I don't know how well that's doing. I just see "no man's land" in terms of labor organization of career professions and frankly when I try to study labor relations and structure I plain fall asleep at it all..
seems way to rigid, too many rules, hardly enough democracy and ...
well, something slightly different needs to happen for white collar...
but even with all of those rules and so on, I think white collar sitting around slitting their own throats by buying into whatever executive mantra is being passed down is a very bad scene.