OVERWORKED, UNDERPAID, AND UNAPPRECIATED!

OVERWORKED, UNDERPAID, AND UNAPPRECIATED! (Frazer Chronicles)

Sound familiar, it should, it's the new mantra in today's work world, or the battle cry of the employer, "your lucky to have a job." Thank God I'm retired, I wouldn't last a week in today's work environment, the "speed-up, take on more responsibility for less pay" attitude, and demand made by today's employers simply wouldn't do.

What has happened in today's work world saddens me, being a jokester, a guy who always tried to keep the work place a happy place to be, pretty much because we all shared the same problem, "non of us were rich enough not to work." No matter whatever job I held, and I've held many, I needed that job to survive. 

I imagine that Wal-mart workers are in the same case that I was in before I retired, needing their jobs to survive.  I never brought a lawsuit the way more then 1.5 million women employees of the biggest business in the United States did. The suit, alleged that the company discriminated against them in pay and promotion decisions.

Of course everybody knows that women, in the workplace, in their daily lives, in their homes, in athletic programs and in general are discriminated against, that shouldn't be a shock to either women, or men. However, apparently the United States Supreme Court is still in the small minority that doesn't know this.

A Class Action Suit allows a group of people, with the same interest to either bring a legal action, or have a legal action brought against them. So, on the surface of the issue, the 1.5 million women did meet the criteria, as the law applies. However the Justices did not rule on whether the women were discriminated against by Wal-Mart, rather they sited their decision on the fact that, in their opinion, "the plaintiffs' lawyers had improperly sued under a part of the class action rules that was not primarily concerned with monetary claims."

The opinion is a huge set-back for the working public of the United States, but shouldn't come as any great surprise. All one has to consider is one word with regards to the legal action brought against Wal-Mart, that word is "billions."  There are companies in the United States as well as around the world that are immune to the laws of the land, or the world.

Banks are to big to fail, the auto industry is to big to fail, savings and loans are to big to fail, and Wal-Mart qualifies as to big to fail. Cigarette companies were also thought to be to big to fail, but the attorneys, in their decision to fine the companies had a friend, the health insurance industry who stood to lose billions in health benefits, "and they were to big to fail," compared to the cigarette and stogy manufacturers. The Supreme Court found against tobacco, in favor of big insurance.

As more and more union memberships are eradicated from the public and private sectors, the working men and women of America have less and less protection and little or no power against business, management and supervisors. Basically what they are saying, is the law, "even if what they say is dangerous, unfair, or discriminatory," is still the law.

Justice Antonin Scalia wrote the for the majority, said the plaintiffs could not show that they would receive  "a common answer to the crucial question (why was I disfavored)." He noted that Wal-Mart, the nations largest private employer, operating some 3400 stores, had an express policy forbidding discrimination and granted local managers substantial discretion.

Justice Scalia further stated that "he felt that managers, with substantial discretion, to interpret a store wide policy with regards to discrimination, voided Wal-Marts guilt."  I have talked to Wal-Mart   employees, which are mostly women, or in some cases senior citizens or mentally or physically impaired people. They all said that they were under paid, "what's new," and that there was wide-spread discrimination of many different kinds.

I have read and heard how Wal-Mart deals with their employees as well as their vender's and their overseas suppliers of goods. In  every case and without exception, Wal-Mart deals from the bottom of the deck. Their overseas suppliers worker pay is among the industries worst, and Wal-Mart dictates to state-side suppliers what they will pay, not the other way around. In fact Kraft Foods was brought to it's knees with the prices that they could charge to Wal-Mart.

With respect to shipping from it's headquarters, Wal-Mart driver pay is among the industries worst, as the well organized machine of the company drives to capture the lowest possible price for everything that fills the shelves of their 3400 stores.

Absolutely they pass along the lower prices to us, the customer, but  really, at what price? The Supreme Court ruling will one day be lauded as a landmark decision. The day will be marked as a victory for the ruling class of America, those folks with the manicured lawns who live in gated communities while the workers, well they will try to continue from the dumpsters of the rich and shameless.