Corporate Crime

Bosses Cheat Low-Wage Workers  

It’s not bad enough that low-wage workers receive no sick pay and earn poverty wages.  A recent study, “Broken Laws, Unprotected Workers” found that employers also rob 7 out of 10 workers of part of their legal pay!

            Researchers surveyed 4,387 workers in NY, Chicago and LA in retail sales, childcare, manufacturing, restaurants, home health etc. Some workers were forced to work off the clock. Others were not paid overtime. Many were paid less than minimum wage. And most workers were pressured into not filing for Workers Compensation when injured.

Only 8% of workers injured on the job filed for compensation for medical costs and lost days at work.

            Employers paid women sub-minimum wage more frequently than men. They robbed African Americans three times more than whites. And women immigrants suffered the most employer theft.

            How do the bosses get away with such blatant violations of labor laws? Six out of ten workers had not received mandatory pay documents. In that way they could not immediately identify the theft. One out of five workers filed complaints to their employers or tried to form a union. But the employers retaliated against nearly half of them, including firing or suspending them.

            Hilda Solis, new Secretary of Labor, plans to stop this “disregard of federal labor laws.” She is hiring 250 more wage and hour investigators. “We have a major task before us to protect the neediest among us,” she said.

Stop Wal-Mart Stores from Coming to Town

(Sung to the tune of “Santa Claus Is Coming To Town”) 

You’d better watch out, it’s happening fast

Mom and Pops shops are a thing of the past

Wal-Mart stores are coming to town

The corner store’s gone, it couldn’t compete

With mega-marts covering a million square feet.

Cuz Wal-Mart stores are coming to town

Two hundred billion dollars

They’re hauling’ in each year

They’re the biggest corporation

In both the hemispheres

They say they’re ‘’just folks’’, simple and plain

We know them as the Merchants of Shame

Stop Wal-Marts store from coming to town

You’d better take note if you’re in retail

Tomorrow your job might be up for sale

Stop Wal-Marts stores from coming to town
A poverty wage is what you’ll expect

When you’ve got the Waltons writing your check

Stop Wal-Mart stores from coming to town

They’re slashing pay and prices

A real downward race

Destroying our economy

While they wear their happy face

So it’s time to say ‘’NO’’, we’re taking a stand

Shopping for Justice, that is our plan

Wal-Mart stores aren’t running this town!

The Bixi: Half Bike, Half Taxi 

In Montreal, Canada people can grab an electric Bixi bike when they need to get somewhere. They leave it behind when they arrive. This service is available 24/7 from May to November. Currently there are 3,000 bixis shared between 300 stations in three boroughs.

The bixis are tracked by a wireless communication system and docked in solar powered parking bays. The dock locations are near shops, universities, cycling paths, and bus and train stations. You can log on to the Bixi website from your iPhone to find the nearest dock.

            The Bixi, an abbreviation of ‘bike’ and ‘taxi’, is modeled on bike sharing programs in Europe. It won the Edison Gold Award for the best product of 2009. You can rent a Bixi on a daily, monthly or annual basis. However, the fee structure encourages short trips.

Corporations: Look Out! 

Three towns in Maine--Shapleigh, Newman, and Wells--have stripped corporations of the rights of “personhood.” This is a legal concept that allows companies to claim the same rights as individual citizens.

            The new ordinances are aimed at stopping the extraction of local groundwater. Nestle bottles their water to sell under the label Poland Springs. For years Maine communities have fought to stop Nestle from expanding its water bottling operations.

Why Is It So Hard to Get Insurance Companies to Cover your Care? 

YOU are paying their CEO Salaries. Not Much Left for Care! 

Ronald A. Williams, CEO Aetna Inc.                           $23.04 million

H, Edward Hanway, CEO Cigna Corp.                        $30.16 million

David B. Snow, Jr, CEO Medco Health                       $21.76 million

Michael B. McCallister, CEO Humana Inc.                  $20.06 million

Stephen J. Hemsley, CEO United Health                     $13.16 million

Dale B. Wolf, CEO Coventry Health Care                    $20.86 million

Jay M. Gellert, CEO Health Net                                     $16.65 million 

And You are paying for their Huge Profits

Aetna Inc,                                                                                            $1.83 billion

Cigna Corp                                                                                          $1.12 billion

Health Net                                                                                           $194 million

Humana Inc.                                                                                        $834 million

United Health Group                                                                          $4.65 billion

WellPoint                                                                                             $3.35 billion

Free Press or Fee Press 

The Washington Post cancelled an “intimate and exclusive Washington Post Salon” after an invitation for the event was leaked. The flier promised CEOs and lobbyists that for $25,000 to $250,000 they could “underwrite and participate” in a health care reform discussion. It offered them the opportunity to “alter the debate,” and “interact with the right people” at an “off-the-record dinner.”

            The dinner was supposed to be at the home of Washington Post publisher Katharine Weymouth. She said the invite was “prepared by the marketing department… and completely misrepresented what we were trying to do.” She said the Post will continue to look into holding similar events that “simply enhance what we do and in no way call into question our integrity.”

Boycott Big Beer 

President Obama sat down for a beer in the White House Rose Garden with Professor Gates and Sergeant Crowley. They drank Bud Light, Red Stripe and Blue Moon.

            Following the “Beer Summit,” Vermont’s Magic Hat brewery issued the following press release:

            “Craft Brewers the country over are chagrined by the President’s choice to consume a beer owned by a company based outside of America’s borders. Bud Light is owned by Belgium-based AB InBev. Blue Moon is owned by London-based SAM MillerCoors. Together they control 94% of the beer market in the US.

“However, the US boasts over 1,500 craft brewers. The majority are small Main Street Businesses that employ less than 50 people.”

            Magic Hat urges us to boycott the beer monopolies of the world. This includes Yuengling, America’s oldest brewery, and Coors, America’s biggest brewery.

            In 2007 owner Dick Yuengling told his workers that if they didn’t get rid of the union he would close the brewery. And he would move down south where labor was cheaper. There were few jobs in the area. So the workers kicked the union out.

            Joseph Coors provided the founding grant to the right-wing Heritage and Free Congress Foundations. In 1977, he hired scabs to replace workers on strike in his company’s Colorado brewery. He donated a $65,000 plane to the Contras in the secret US war against the Nicaraguan Sandinistas in the 1980s. He told the LA Times that allowing unions for workers was like “inviting the Russians to take over America.”

Until 1986, prospective Coors employees had to take lie detector tests. They had to answer questions about their sexual orientation, communist leanings and how often they changed their underwear.

Payday Loan Companies Block Reform and Protect Profits 

In 1994 the maximum interest that could be charged on a loan was 18%. There were only two payday loan companies in Wisconsin then. In 1995, then-Governor Tommy Thompson lifted the cap on interest rates. Now there are 542 payday lenders in Wisconsin. 64% of them are owned by out-of-state interests.

            Advance America, a national payday lender, admitted its annual percentage rate is 391%. Wisconsin payday lenders charge an annual percentage rate of 542%. If a loan is refinanced four times, a common occurrence, it will cost another $200 to borrow $200 for ten weeks.

            The Wisconsin Legislature plans to introduce a bill that would cap the interest rates on payday and auto title loans at 36%. The payday loan industry has hired 27 lobbyists to fight this bill. They claim the 36% cap would put them out of business because it’s not enough to cover their costs. 

Sources: Positive News ~ People’s Tribune ~ Dollars & Sense ~ AlterNet ~ Shepherd Express ~