 |
12/12/04
LABOR
With Christmas and New Year's Eve fast approaching and retail specialists predicting a significant boost in online sales, some workplace advocates are focusing on the low-wage workers who make the clothes, toys, and other goods Americans will buy this season. Last week, for example, a group of children marched outside Wal-Mart in Lynn. Carrying signs and singing protest songs, they said they were concerned about America's reliance on sweatshop labor. They said they chose Wal-Mart because the goods the company sells are made by workers who earn low wages and labor under poor conditions. ''Wal-Mart is the largest corporation in the world; it makes great profits at the expense of others,'' said Ralphy Kasobel, a 10-year-old member of the Workmen's Circle Shule, a Jewish Sunday School that helped sponsor the march along with several union, religious and workplace groups. Felicia Frazer, a spokeswoman for the shule, said the children have been learning about the sweathshops their Jewish ancestors worked in when they came to the United States. Wal-Mart earns billions of dollars in revenues yearly, making it one of the largest businesses in the world, but, the protesters said, it sells goods made by low-wage workers who receive few benefits and labor in unsafe or poor conditions. ''Workers at a Wal-Mart factory in Bangladesh earn between 7 and 17 cents an hour under working conditions that include forced overtime, locked bathrooms and mandatory pregnancy tests,'' Frazer said in a statement. Beth Keck, director of international corporate affairs at Wal-Mart, said the company has acted responsibly and has a factory certification program that has a set of standards the companies are expected to follow. ''We expect the factories we receive goods from to be in compliance with their national regulations governing pay, hours, benefits and health and safety standards like vacation,'' Keck said. ''Our inspectors will take people aside and ask them how much they are being paid. We will also check their hours against official records, and we will ask them whether they are allowed to take vacations.'' Keck maintained Bangladesh is paying close attention to factories to make sure they follow the rules. ''Last year, for example, we inspected every factory that we directly sourced from, more than 57,000 factories,'' she said. ''And 80 percent of the factories that supply Wal-Mart with goods, including in Bangladesh, have onsite child care and medical clinics.'' Last week's young demonstrators were not the only ones who are concerned about sweatshop labor this holiday season. Robert J.S. Ross, a professor at Clark University, is the author of a new book, ''Slaves to Fashion,'' that looks at sweatshops in the United States and the student antisweatshop movement. In his book published this fall by the University of Michigan Press, Ross says the decline of union activism in the workplace, the rise of unregulated global trade and intense competition over prices are causing wages and benefits to decline in this country. At the same time, he said, workers abroad and sweatshop workers in this country are laboring in intolerable conditions. Ross says there are about 175,000 sweatshop workers in the United States, down from 250,000 in 2000. Many are undocumented men and women with little recourse. And most are employed in small shops tucked away in major urban centers, he said. He added that unions, who today represent 12 percent of the overall US workforce, down from 25 percent in the 1970s, are no longer strong enough to significantly change government or corporate policies that impact working conditions at sites abroad, and many of the sweatshops in the United States are not unionized. ''Many Americans, as a matter of conscience, would prefer to buy things that are not made by exploited workers,'' he said. ''They do not want to feel like parasites, but they are unaware of the importance of unions to protecting workers. So, I want to teach people that for these workers to get better benefits and wages we have to change the legal climate so that unions can grow and workers can defend themselves.'' --DIANE E. LEWIS
DIVERSITY A new study on businesses led by women reveals that 47 percent of those businesses grew by more than 5 percent between 2002 and 2003. In all, the Massachusetts companies surveyed generated more than $7.5 billion in 2003 and employed 25,288 workers, according to research conducted by Babson College and The Commonwealth Institute, a Boston nonprofit that seeks to promote entrepreneurship among women. ''Women-led businesses provided employment to more than 25,000 individuals in 2003, with 84 percent of those workers employed full time,'' said the report. Of the workers employed by the firms polled, 57 percent were women. According to the study, the average female chief executive had 27 years of work experience. On average, they had spent 13 years in their current positions as chief executives or presidents of their firms. ''In addition, most bring an advanced education to their work,'' the report said. ''Ninety-two percent completed college and 45 percent completed graduate work beyond college.'' The study, the third annual report released by the college and nonprofit, identified Massachusetts' top women-led companies as Cumberland Farms Inc. and Massachusetts Electric Co., which were both ranked first. The other firms include Western Massachusetts Electric Co., third, and Agar Supply Co., fourth. Garber Travel, a travel agency with offices throughout Boston, ranked fifth. Cumberland Farms, which operates convenience stores and gas stations, is run by Lily Benates, chairwoman and chief executive. The company reported $2 billion in revenue, and it employs 7,200 people. Mass. Electric reported $2 billion in revenues and employs 1,964 people, according to the study. Cheryl LaFleur is president and chief executive. Western Mass. Electric reported $391.2 million in revenues and employs 423. Its chief executive is Cheryl Grise. By contrast, Agar reported $350 million in revenues and it employs 300 workers. Karen Bressler is the chief executive. Garber, founded by president Roz Garber, reported $334 million in revenues. It employs 325 workers, the study said. Of the firms polled, 75 percent reported revenues of at least $1 million. Thirty-two percent said they had revenues under $10 million. In addition, the majority of the firms are service companies. For example, 35 percent provide professional services, 32 percent offer marketing, public relations or communications services, 22 percent provide human resources, 22 percent described themselves as professional service firms, and 20 percent offer consulting services. Only 11.4 percent were high-tech companies. Despite the challenges, the report indicated many of the female chief executive have found a way to balance their personal and professional lives. For example, 74 percent are married or have partners and 79 percent have children. --DIANE E. LEWIS
|
|
||||||||||||
|
|
|
E-Mail This Article
