Exploitation Makes an Excellent Stocking Stuffer
In your ongoing quest for the perfect gift, you have no doubt been considering some of the many exciting electronics on the market this year. Most of them are sold by American companies, and yet, they are likely mass produced far from American soil (and the laws put in place to protect the rights of workers). In fact, most electronics are manufactured in Asian countries by workers in sweat-shop conditions. These workers are not only paid an incredibly miniscule pittance for their labor, they are often subjected to poor working conditions and long hours (not to mention the fact that many of them only return home once a year to see the families they are working so hard to support). And all so wealthy (or even not-so-wealthy) citizens of “civilized” nations can pay hundreds of dollars to multi-billion-dollar conglomerates for the products they make for pennies. Read more
International Workplace Safety Fueled by Major Incidents
It often seems that the only way to get things done is by making a scene (the squeaky wheel gets the grease). Unfortunately, in many parts of the world this principle applies to workplace safety. If you’ve been paying attention to the news over the last couple of months, then perhaps you saw the coverage of the 33 miners in Chile who became trapped half a mile under the surface of the Earth after a collapse (and remained there for over two months while teams of men with heavy machinery labored to extract them). This incident, while shocking, shines a glaring light on the issue of workplace safety across the globe. While mining, as an occupation, certainly comes with a number of known risks, the miners who came out of that shaft weeks after the collapse admitted that there had been a number of signs leading up to the incident that were largely ignored. The entire episode could have been avoided if proper safety protocols had been enforced (or outlined in the first place). And while it is lucky that all of these men survived, this is not an isolated incident. Read more
Spreading Holiday Cheer: The Skinny on Booze at Holiday Parties
Many companies opt to reward employees for another year of service by hosting a holiday party on the company dime. A nice meal is provided, along with entertainment, awards are given out, and sometimes there are even random drawings for employees to win company merchandise or services. And in most cases, this festive shindig includes an open bar. Countless videos on YouTube can attest to the fact that most of the staff takes this as an invitation to get as gut-wrenchingly drunk as possible (three sheets to the wind doesn’t even begin to describe it) and do something stupid such as proposition the boss’s wife, dance erratically while sloshing drinks all over fellow coworkers, or try to hook up with that hot chick from marketing (who’s equally inebriated). And while all of these actions are mostly harmless and easily laughed off after the fact, a larger number of guests who imbibe may opt to drive home, leading to potential accidents, DUIs, and even lawsuits. Read more
Are Holiday Gifts for Employees Appropriate?
The holidays are a time of giving and while many of your employees are likely to use this opportunity to show appreciation for their fellow coworkers by passing out cookies, candy canes, and other sweet treats of the season, you may find that some of them are also presenting their colleagues with gifts. If your company doesn’t have a policy pertaining to this type of inter-office fraternization, perhaps you should think about some of the ramifications of allowing staff to conduct personal business on company time. On the surface, it seems rather arbitrary to disallow the sharing of gifts between employees. After all, it seems like a fantastic way to encourage camaraderie and enhance team spirit. But in fact, if left unchecked, it can cause a host of problems amongst employees and between superiors and their underlings. Read more
Thanksgiving: A Day of Celebration or a Stain on Our National Heritage?
Most Americans know Thanksgiving as a day to gather with family and friends, eat a huge amount of food, and celebrate the many things in life we have to be thankful for. Some people may even have an inkling of knowledge concerning the history of this event, along the lines of “the first Thanksgiving”. It goes something like this: In the autumn of 1621, the pilgrims located at Wampanoag laid out a feast to celebrate their first successful harvest and the fact that they weren’t going to have to starve through another winter (truly, something to be thankful for). If stories are to be believed, the magnanimous white men even allowed some of the Native Americans (the same ones who taught them how to plant corn and hunt for wild turkey) to join in their celebration. All rejoiced and a tradition was born. Or so the kids learn in school. Of course, this was before Manifest Destiny and the perpetration of what amounted to a holocaust against the people that helped us to survive and flourish in their land in the first place. Read more
Dickies Helps the Unemployed
Dickies have long been known as the premiere company for providing tough clothes for tough jobs. With a wide variety of pants, shirts, jackets, coveralls, and so on, they are the place to go if you’re a blue-collar worker (such as a mechanic, plumber, welder, or electrician, just to name a few) who needs durable cover to carry out a demanding job. And no city is better known as a home to blue-collar industries than Detroit, MI, at least until recently. With all the troubles facing American automobile manufacturers, from the poor economy to ailing sales to recent recalls, it seems like the entire industry in Detroit has simply folded up and fled town, leaving thousands of skilled laborers with no recourse and a tough job market to contend with. In short, many people who long supported Dickies by purchasing their products have suddenly found themselves in the unemployment line. And the company that thrived on the consumer dollars coming out of a now defunct industry has decided to give something back to the individuals who suffered from its collapse. Read more