We expect individuals to work for a living and then corporate

[Stargazer99]

America does this to a young man only 19 years old. Due to inadequate safety procedures both his legs were mashed up and shattered. Our culture demands people work for a living and then doesn't have the balls to make harming a worker really painful...like nationalizing the company that can't or will not make sure their workers are safe. Cannon fodder for Corporate America. This company was fined $6,000 for each safety infraction. How in the hell can that compare with the loss of both legs at age 19? When will Joe Citizen get off his a** and put an end to legalized killing and maiming of labor? The idiot that mouths business mantra that labor does not need unions is in denial.

[Vexatious Ape]

1. Your right

Labor does need unions. I'm a Teamster, and if I lost my legs I believe I'd be a lot better compensated than just 6 grand. Is this someone you know, what happened?

[Stargazer99]

5. No one I know just an article in our news paper

The $6000 fine was for each safety violation, I don't remember the amount if any given to the young man, but no amount of money can compensate for the horror this young man has gone through.

[Erika]

2. The GOP mantra is we worship and glorify big business

Without big business we would starve. So goes the GOP mantra.

[Zookeeper]

3. Do you have a link to this story?

IMHO, one of the reasons that "Joe Citizen" doesn't get off his a** is because he is probably a white collar worker who can't conceive of the idea of suffering a job-related injury more serious than Carpal Tunnel Syndrome. Joe doesn't expect to ever work in a factory, so why should he care? Besides, creating safer working conditions will wreck our booming economy. I mean, it might actually add a few cents to the cost of a product. And the shareholders won't be happy about that. :sarcasm:

The prevailing Rethug-inspired attitude is "every man for himself."

[drm604]

4. Surely this young man can sue, right?

He needs to get himself a lawyer.

[Muddy Waters Guitar]

6. Makes me mad, and I agree, we need unions

The GOP- and DLC-supported, anti-union corporate plutocracy has become a dangerous place for workers to operate in. Companies that viciously ignore workers' rights are given at worst a slap on the wrist.

At the same time, American employees are forced to work harder, longer hours, suffer ever more declining health, be split from their families, harassed and humiliated on the job-- and even then they STILL suffer declining wages, often losing their jobs anyway despite working a brutal 100 hours/week, since <b>outsourcing</b> is soooo much cheaper to companies.

(Any candidate who supports outsourcing or refuses to confront it effectively should be immediately disqualified.)

This is why so many well-qualified American workers are emigrating these days-- to places like Italy, France or Germany in Europe, to South America, even to some East Asian countries, where workers are much more highly valued and treated and paid fairly. When you try to drain your workers of every ounce of energy and capable labor they have while ruining their health and splitting them from your families, as companies in the USA are now doing, then you suffer brain drain.

[Zookeeper]

8. That's why I've encouraged my kids to study....

a northern European language. Two study French and the other studies German. I haven't been very confident in the future of the U.S. for quite a while.

[Infinite Hope]

7. Shameful.

There have got to be more fines than that. OSHA fines for petty things like a ladder on a sales floor is $10,000.