IT'S ALL ABOUT VALUES
by Ryan Oddey
If you were asked to go to the Wal-Mart closest to your home, could you? Myself, as well as many others could certainly do that with no problem. Wal-Mart is such a part of the American landscape on many different levels, and that is the problem. One of the social levels that Wal-Mart participates in is the political arena. For some time now, Wal-Mart has been one of the largest corporate donors to the Republican Party and recently, was able to reap the rewards of that close relationship at the expense of the American people. After examining the deal between the Department of Labor and Wal-Mart, it appears the only thing lower then the prices at these mega stores, is the morals of the executives and officials who reached this agreement. The Democrats needs to seize this opportunity and win back some of the ground for middle America.
The Department of Labor had been investigating Wal-Mart after allegations of violations of Child Labor Law arose in Connecticut, Arkansas, and New Hampshire. These accusations involved people under the age of 18 operating certain machinery such as chain saws. The total fine for these violations was $135,540. Obviously the government was not looking to send a message to Wal-Mart, because this low fine would be the equivalent of the common American being fined a couple of pennies. To put this fine in further perspective, Maine fined Wal-Mart $205,650 for similar labor law violations.
The situation becomes worse from here as the Department of Labor agreed to give Wal-Mart fifteen days notice prior to any investigations involving wage and hour grievances, such as overtime or minimum wage. In contrast, the Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA) does not allow their investigators to notify companies of upcoming investigations.
If Wal-Mart did not have a record of mistreating its workforce, then the agreement with the Department of Labor would not seem as bad. However, history shows us that Wal-Mart has consistently taken action that is detrimental to employees.
In January 2004, the New York Times printed a story about Wal-Mart's policy of locking overnight employees in the store, often times with no access to a key so that they could be let out in the case of emergency. One such emergency did happen in Texas, when a man shattered his ankle on the job, but had to wait over an hour for medical attention because no one at the store had a key. Other cases of negligence exist involving employees having heart attacks, as well as an inability to leave when a family emergency occurs. Wal-Mart claims that the lock-in policy is only done in areas of high crime and violence. Augustine Herrera, a former Wal-Mart employee in Colorado Springs, claims his store was in lock down in spite of being in a very safe neighborhood.
The lock-ins are one example of how Wal-Mart treats its employees, there are others.
A Wal-Mart in Quebec opted to close down instead of reaching a labor agreement with its recently unionized employees. Although Wal-Mart claims that there was no way the store could have been profitable had they met the demands of the union, the union claims that Wal-Mart closed the store to discourage others from forming a union. It's not the first time Wal-Mart took drastic actions to teach a lesson.
In 2000, eleven meat cutters at a Wal-Mart in Texas unionized only to see Wal-Mart eliminate the meat cutter position in its stores across the nation. Although Wal-Mart claims the move was for cost reasons, the coincidence can not be ignored.
All of this information is in the public domain, and the government knew about it when they reached an agreement with Wal-Mart. The Republican Party, the alleged party of values, gave Wal-Mart a soft deal so they can continue their unjust labor policies. Fortunately for America, in the wake of a Republican agenda that is hopeless, the Democrats have offered some promise.
Representative George Miller (D-Ca) called for an immediate inspection by the Department of Labor's Inspector General into the agreement reached with Wal-Mart. Miller called for the investigation because the current agreement with Wal-Mart sets up a system where employees of Wal-Mart have no confidentiality when reporting grievances to the Department of Labor. This lack of confidentiality would discourage people from coming forward, and thus allow Wal-Mart to continue mistreating employees.
Although Representative Miller's call for an investigation is a positive step, it is not a means towards resolving the ongoing problem of the special treatment some companies get when it comes to labor violations. The best way to ensure the fair treatment of employees by there employers is the passing of a Safe Workplace Act. When Americans suffered due to the intentional financial mismanagement of companies like Enron, the government responded with imposing prison terms on executives who knowingly mislead the public about financial information. A Safe Workplace Act would punish the executives of companies that continually break labor laws with prison terms. Perhaps with prison time looking over their heads, the executives at Wal-Mart would be a little friendlier to their employees.
A Safe Workplace Act proposed by the Democrats would force the Republicans to show their true colors. If the Republicans backed this bill, the Democrats can claim they reached across the aisle for the sake of progress. If the Republicans rejected this bill, then the public will see that all those GOP claims about being the party of values were hog wash. Situations like these are a virtual win-win for the Democrats and must be taken advantage of for two reasons. One, programs like this will help the Democrats gain seats in 2006. Two, America needs a party that is looking out for its values.
2006 is not so far away, and when you step up to the polls, ask yourself. Are you going to vote for a party that allows businesses to exploit its workers or are you going to vote for the Democrats, who have a track record of supporting worker rights and will continue to do so in the future?
It is all about values, what are yours?
