General Motor's decision to close 11 factories allowed the corporation to gain more money but put thousands out of work, devastating the workers and the towns they lived in. The corporations should think of how their decisions affect people. Although this move may provide Americans with cheaper jobs, it has added thousands more to the already high unemployment. After watching the movie "Roger and Me," directed by Michael More, one would notice the changes in the town of Flint after the closing of the factory. While senior management is getting raises and expanding their corporation, people are living in misery because of the lay-offs; this could change if the corporations gave those unemployed some compensation.
Labor Union strikes were the most prominent form of worker insurrection against employers. During the period of 1875-1900, many labor unions participated in strikes, however many of them failed to achieve their goals. The biggest reason that farmers and workers went on strike was clearly stated by a machinist before the Senate Committee on Labor and Capital. Because machines were taking jobs away, workers would lose their livelihood, and most likely their only source of income. In the year of 1877, employees working for the four largest railroads went on strike due to the fact that their employers cut their wages by 10 percent; this was known as the Great Rail Road Strike.
I. Material Facts of the Case Bob Bad was hired as a machine operator for Goodly Corporation. Bad started his employment under the expected 60 day probationary period at Goodly. At the conclusion of 60 days, Goodly would decide whether to keep the new employees or let them go. After Bad worked for only 20 days, the Union representing the employees called a strike pending negotiation of a collective bargaining agreement with Goodly.
When he was seven, his dad died and a few years later the family moved to the poverty-stricken west side of Detroit (Unknown, 2012). He was keenly aware that his father’s death was directly related to the working conditions on the job in the town’s coal mines and never forgot the pain and hardships it caused. Hoffa began taking on odd jobs and continued this practice when he moved with his mother and three siblings to Detroit in 1924 (A Worker's Hero, 2012). Jimmy dropped out of school at 14 to work, spending his teen years unloading box cars and trucks. By age 19, he was working at Kroger Grocery’s produce warehouse where, despite being on call from 12-14 hours, he and the other
Newcastle herald 23rd march 2013, More mining jobs axed, Whitehaven coal laid off 40 workers in NSW to deal with lower coal prices. The company lost $47 million in the first half of the financial year and is expected to be the same in the second half. As prices aren’t lowering and they are still trying to find ways to save money, more jobs will be redundant.800 workers have been sacked in just 6 months from Queensland, Brisbane, and NSW hunter valley. With all these job losses more and more families are having to find new homes and new jobs because they have no money. Newcastle herald 23rd march 2013, Apple blames record labels for high prices, Australia has to
It had become news that a new window and door factory was opening up in Red Oak, Iowa and that the owner was from a company that was just incorporated on November 18, 2008. The owner was Sharon Gillman, the wife of Republic owner Richard Gillman (Lydersen, 57). On Tuesday, December 2, the plant operations manager had the workers report to the cafeteria for a meeting and told them that the plant was closing, in three days. The employees were also told that they would not receive severance pay nor pay for their accrued vacation time. Many of the workers had delayed their vacations at the request of the company due to the busy season of the window industry.
Karen Olsson talks about how an American cannot live on the wages walmart offers their hourly employees. Jennifer Mclaughlin has worked for Wal-Mart for over three years now and earns $16,800 a year. “The way they pay you, you cannot make it by yourself without having a second job or someone to help you, unless you have been there 20 years or you’re a manager.” She states that Wal-Mart managers force her to work overtime, off the clock, and that practice is not only localized to her store only, it is a nationwide practice. “Wal-Mart settled similar lawsuits involving 67,000 workers in New Mexico and Colorado, reportedly paying more than $50 million.” (Olson, They Say I Say pg. 348) In a way to make sure unions do not come into Wal-Mart the have interrogated workers, confiscated union literature, and fired union supported all in violation of the law.
14 February 2012 Double Taxation Hit Small Business In an economy where employers are laying off employees in unheard of numbers and the unemployment numbers are dancing around records levels a new government debacle is plaguing America’s business; and there seems to be no end in sight. Unemployment benefits and taxes are hitting businesses twice. The majority of unemployment benefits are paid by business. With the increasing number of unemployment claims most states’ benefits funds were exhausted shortly after the start of the recession. Resulting in the asking for Federal funds to help cover benefit payments; because of this many states are having trouble in repaying the interest owed to the Federal government.
The prices of the products will either increase or stay the same but the wages of the people will always decrease. Black Thursday…as it was remembered, October 24,1929, nearly 13 million shares of stock changed hands on the New York Stock Exchange, the prices dropped sharply causing great alarm in financial community. The next day, the President reassured the people that there’s no need to alarm because the economy was on sound footing. Days, weeks, months, and years passed people lived in poverty, there are people who are called as ‘hoovervilles’ that were blaming the President of their current living status. The
Once the spill occurred the economy face a drop in its growth. The chemical plant was placed on probation until the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) could figure out a solution to this problem. Placing the company on probation put many employers on leave until the company started up again. According to Ap’s website “Virtually every restaurant was closed Saturday, unable to use water to prepare food, wash dishes or clean employees' hands. Meanwhile, hotels had emptied and foot traffic was down at many retail stores.” People were loosing money because of the spill.