Radio Smart Talk for Thursday, August 25:
Last week, about 150 international students working at a plant serving The Hershey Company walked out because they were unhappy with working conditions. The young adults, who were participating in a cultural exchange program, have said they had hoped to see more of the United States, but their heavy workload at the facility operated by Exel Incorporated prevented them from doing so. After the students staged a protest in downtown Hershey, the company offered them one week of paid vacation. The students are currently considering the deal.
This incident begs some larger questions: How well are employees treated in the United States? Are any groups of workers more likely to be mistreated than others? How important are unions in protecting workers' rights?
On Thursday's Radio Smart Talk, we'll discuss labor relations with Frank Snyder, Secretary-Treasurer of the Pennsylvania AFL-CIO, and Dr. Paul Clark, head of the Department of Labor Studies and Employment Relations at Penn State University.
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We are closer to real job and union security now as other place's wages catch up to ours. While "muscle jobs go where the muscle is the cheapest" is true there are fewer place to go to.
You can't go to Japan, Korea, where wages are competitive with ours - heck they build their stuff in Malaysia and China now.
My issue with international commerce is the question of operating on a fair playing field, benefits, working conditions, minimum wage, waste handling and emissions requirements etc must be more standard internationally .
I'll match our workers to any on such a common ground.
If a nation doesn't meet them than adjustments should be made tariff-wise. Why should companies in this country have to operate with these cost and not have to elsewhere -
Recently I've been reading Refuse to Stand Idly By, a book of oral histories of labor and civil rights activism in the U.S. There was a learning center in rural Tennessee called Highlander where union leaders trained rank and file with potential as leaders to organize communities. These activists paid with their lives and livelihoods when they were persecuted as "Commies" by the Sen. McCarthy reign of terror. When Woodie Guthrie and Pete Seeger stayed there they would write songs to inspire the students. I hope Pete is hearing about these brave young workers and will commemorate them in song.
This is from a Michigan Law Review abstract:
As a veteran labor scholar once said, if you want to know where the corpses are buried in labor law, look for the of course statements in court opinions. The statements are: (1) Workers have no right of self-defense against employers that commit unfair labor practices (NLRB v. Fansteel Metallurgical Corporation); (2) Employers enjoy the right permanently to replace economic strikers (NLRB v. Mackay Radio & Telegraph Company); (3) The NLRB has no power to deter unfair labor practices (Consolidated Edison Company v. NLRB); (4) Employers may exclude union organizers from their property (Lechmere, Inc. v. NLRB); (5) Employers may close operations out of spite against workers who choose to unionize (Textile Workers Union v. Darlington Manufacturing Company).
The Hershey Board is made up of retired politicians like Leroy Zimmerman who also serve on other Hershey entities like the Hershey Trust. This Board and Zimmerman also pay themselves over $500,000 for serving on a charity board. This is only the tip of the iceberg of what goes on in Hershey. However, the Attorney General's Office will never conduct a thorough investigation of the Hershey Boards because they are all well-connected politicians. Just look at who makes up these Boards.
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