In Keeping Down American Workers, Corporate Crime Pays (AlterNet)

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In Keeping Down American Workers, Corporate Crime Pays

By Ben Zipperer and John Schmitt, AlterNet. Posted July 20, 2007.



Crime may not pay for ordinary criminals, but companies avoid paying millions in wages and benefits by committing crimes against their workers.

President Dwight D. Eisenhower once lambasted union busters, proclaiming, "Only a fool would try to deprive working men and women of the right to join the union of their choice." But the fools today are actually acting quite rationally. Facing trivial penalties, anti-union employers are increasingly breaking the law to keep their workers from organizing.

Fifty years ago, more than 30 percent of private-sector workers were organized. That share today is 8 percent. Globalization and the new, technology-driven economy have contributed to the decline, but advanced economies in Europe survive these same developments and still have union coverage rates of around 80 percent.

Much of the falloff in the United States is not due to the "new" economy or waning worker interest; it's instead the result of illegal intimidation by employers. Our recent analysis of cases brought before the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), which oversees union-management relations in most of the private sector, shows that employers illegally fire as many as 1 in 5 union organizers.

Actions by the world's largest employer are a case in point. When butchers at Wal-Mart's Jacksonville, Texas, store joined the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union, Wal-Mart permanently closed its meat-cutting departments, switched to prepackaged meat and fired four of the union supporters.

Wal-Mart's not alone, as much of the business community hates unions. Unions fight for increased wages and benefits and for redistributing earnings from employers to workers. Corporate managers, on the other hand, try to maximize profits for shareholders and compensation packages for those at the top. Compelled by the threat of lower profits, many employers will do whatever it takes to avoid a union workplace. ......(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.alternet.org/workplace/56401/