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xchrom

(108,903 posts)
Tue Jul 24, 2012, 06:32 AM Jul 2012

7 Ultra-Rich Companies Rake in Profits While Paying Workers Peanuts

http://www.alternet.org/story/156390/7_ultra-rich_companies_rake_in_profits_while_paying_workers_peanuts/

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1. Toys 'R' Us

The friendly face of Geoffrey the Giraffe, recognizable to kids all over the US, hides a low-wage empire controlled by another familiar name: Bain Capital. That's right, the second-largest toy supplier in the country is owned by a group of private equity firms that includes Mitt Romney's former company. And as often happens to companies bought out by private equity, 75 Toys 'R' Us stores closed shortly after Bain took over, putting some 2,250 people out of work.

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2. Walmart

“The majority of people in our job carry three cards -- that’s our Walmart associate card, our discount card, and a welfare card. New York does not need a retailer that will take sustainable, quality jobs away from these neighborhoods by creating low-wage jobs,” Girshriela Green, a member of OUR Walmart (Organization United for Respect at Walmart), told United NY and ALIGN. It's a common refrain that you hear repeated from Walmart employees around the country— AlterNet heard the same story recently from workers in Los Angeles. Walmart is by far the country's largest low-wage employer, with a US workforce of 1,400,000 people, according to NELP. And last year its highest-paid exec took home $18.1 million, or $9,066 an hour.

***SNIP

3. Con Edison

New York's energy company is in the headlines right now for its lockout of 8,500 skilled workers, the folks who keep the city's power grid running and keep the air conditioning flowing during record heat. “And they say we have to cut costs, to keep the stock profitable... They don't answer to us, they don't answer to the customers out on the street,” a Con Edison mechanic told AlterNet's Michelle Chen.


4. Lage Management Corp Car Washes

For a city that runs on public transit, New York still has a lot of car washes—and they're some of the worst offenders when it comes to abusing low-wage workers. New York's Department of Labor investigated the industry in 2008 and found that over 78 percent of the city's car washes were violating minimum wage and overtime laws, 39 percent had managers pocketing workers' tips, and a quarter didn't provide meal breaks for workers. When ALIGN and United NY surveyed 5,000 car wash workers this year, they found that only 23 percent of them were offered protective gear to keep them safe from the harsh chemicals they use to leave customers' vehicles sparkling.



***MORE AT LINK
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7 Ultra-Rich Companies Rake in Profits While Paying Workers Peanuts (Original Post) xchrom Jul 2012 OP
k&r Starry Messenger Jul 2012 #1
246 views, two replies 13 recs, shame on DU DainBramaged Jul 2012 #2
I'm rec #97... Rhiannon12866 Jul 2012 #22
Econmic Royalist RedstDem Jul 2012 #3
Thanks, read and posted to Facebook. CurtEastPoint Jul 2012 #4
k&r . . . .n/t annabanana Jul 2012 #5
Not-rich people are expendable. That's why they're send to war to be killed and mutilated and valerief Jul 2012 #6
I'm pretty sure the not rich people outnumber abelenkpe Jul 2012 #16
K&R BrendaBrick Jul 2012 #7
Minimum wage is going to be the prevailing wage. Raise it while there's still time. K&R n/t Egalitarian Thug Jul 2012 #8
WalMart pioneered the practice of two part-time jobs to avoid paying for health insurance. HopeHoops Jul 2012 #9
Hedges really gets to the core eom LittleGirl Jul 2012 #10
Rec! progressoid Jul 2012 #11
Um, APPLE computers? nt Romulox Jul 2012 #12
The jobs are out there. The job creators don't want to pay us. Initech Jul 2012 #13
Reads like the backbone of every prudent retirement package. raouldukelives Jul 2012 #14
Thanks for putting some of the information in your post Lifelong Protester Jul 2012 #15
good article, thanks Voice for Peace Jul 2012 #17
Walmart 80% employees have food stamps-meaning taxpayers subsidize Walmart ErikJ Jul 2012 #18
How many DUers shop at Walmart? OnlinePoker Jul 2012 #20
For simple minds 12ZTR Jul 2012 #19
It's not just big companies. phylny Jul 2012 #21
 

RedstDem

(1,239 posts)
3. Econmic Royalist
Tue Jul 24, 2012, 07:55 AM
Jul 2012

these companies are run like their goal is to bring down the country.
traitors...

valerief

(53,235 posts)
6. Not-rich people are expendable. That's why they're send to war to be killed and mutilated and
Tue Jul 24, 2012, 08:11 AM
Jul 2012

bomb the life out of others. That's why not-rich people food is iffy and not-rich people have to bear EVERY BURDEN for rich people. EVERY BURDEN. EVERY SINGLE ONE.

 

HopeHoops

(47,675 posts)
9. WalMart pioneered the practice of two part-time jobs to avoid paying for health insurance.
Tue Jul 24, 2012, 09:55 AM
Jul 2012

They cross-bill between departments, so an employee can work in the same department for over 40 hours per week and still not qualify as a "full-time" employee. It's beyond disgusting.

Initech

(100,081 posts)
13. The jobs are out there. The job creators don't want to pay us.
Tue Jul 24, 2012, 10:48 AM
Jul 2012

Fuck them - this is what happens in an unregulated economy.

raouldukelives

(5,178 posts)
14. Reads like the backbone of every prudent retirement package.
Tue Jul 24, 2012, 11:29 AM
Jul 2012

Just doing their part to ensure these practices expand and proliferate as much as possible.

Lifelong Protester

(8,421 posts)
15. Thanks for putting some of the information in your post
Tue Jul 24, 2012, 12:48 PM
Jul 2012

it did 'encourage' me to click the link.

Just my thoughts, but I HATE IT when posts have just a link. Please, post a little of the information to get folks to proceed to the main course.

BTW, good info. I don't eat at fast food places (I'm a rural dweller!) but when I travel, these places (also check out the "5 Fast Food companies run by right wingers&quot will be off my list, even for a salad.

Sorry to see Starbucks on the list. Here I thought they took better care of their employees. Guess not.

 

ErikJ

(6,335 posts)
18. Walmart 80% employees have food stamps-meaning taxpayers subsidize Walmart
Wed Jul 25, 2012, 02:27 AM
Jul 2012

How ya like that? Walmart makes us taxpayers buy their employees their groceries.

OnlinePoker

(5,722 posts)
20. How many DUers shop at Walmart?
Wed Jul 25, 2012, 04:24 AM
Jul 2012

Or use the services of any of the other listed companies for that matter. If you do, does that mean you're giving tacit approval to the companies for their policies? I'm sure it's not only Republicans that are keeping these leeches in business.

phylny

(8,380 posts)
21. It's not just big companies.
Wed Jul 25, 2012, 06:50 AM
Jul 2012

I work in a pediatric therapy clinic, and we are attached to a daycare. We see lots of kids at the facility. It is the most chaotic environment for children I've ever seen for a daycare facility. I talked to one of the employees when I was over there yesterday. I was joking that I can never find the kids in the same room twice, and that I have difficulty remembering what kid has which teacher because kids and teachers are shuffled around so much.

The teacher replied, "Well, the management will do anything to save their 725." I was confused, thinking that 725 was some regulation that they had to adhere to regarding child/teacher ratio. She clarified: $7.25 per hour they pay the employees. They "haul cots" from one room to the other to get the numbers just right. Then they tell teachers, "We don't need you for two hours because it's nap time, go home and come back later." There is no ability to have any structure in the classrooms because children are moved from one class to another to shuffle the numbers just right so that someone can be sent home.

This teacher told me she had a job interview this week at a healthcare facility that would pay her double what she's making. I told her not to worry, that I would not say anything to anyone. She replied, "Oh, they know. They tell anyone that comes to them with a concern that they're 'replaceable.' The conditions are terrible, the turnover is constant, but they just got themselves a new Jaguar." The last thing she shared is that parents are upset, too, because when the facility was closed earlier this month due to a six-day power outage, the facility demanded that parents pay for the whole week. "They weren't paying us, because they were closed, but wanted their money from parents anyway."

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