Symptoms of Problems at Texaco
Identification of Root Problems and Unresolved Issues
Highly qualified African-American employees filed a class action suit against Texaco in 1994, stating that the company failed to promote African-American employees to a higher position and it failed to compensate them in relation to Caucasian employees in similar positions. Throughout the investigation of Texaco if was found that documents would potentially damage Texaco were being withheld. When secret tape recordings from Texaco executives revealed not only vilely insensitive racial attitudes but it also demonstrated the eagerness of the executives to withhold any and all sensitive internal documents pertaining to the discrimination court case.
Discrimination throughout Texaco was a big problem. Texaco's problems were not just with the lower-level employees, but also with the other levels of management. Comments from Caucasian managers were "I never thought I'd see the day when a black woman had an office at Texaco" (Trevino, 2004). Being called uppity and a "smart-mouthed little colored girl" (Roberts, 1996) were only some of the comments made by the Caucasian employees.
The company's problems got worse when a former senior financial analyst wrote a book speaking about the humiliating experiences that minorities faced while at Texaco, this would also include him. These problems continued because the minorities at Texaco were scared to speak up for themselves at the time. When minority employees would file a grievance they would not be addressed and no one would follow through. Management and other employees were scared that their jobs would be given to the minorities and that minorities would have more control than they did. ...
... middle of paper ...
... start at upper levels of management and ethical values have to be re-examined for today's society. While Texaco has since merged with Chevron, the organizations committed to uphold the high standards and practices it set for itself. Only time will tell if the organization will maintain the changes for long-term and cultural change.
References
Chevron Corporation. (2006). 2005 Corporate Responsibilities Report. Retrieved
September 30, 2006 from
www.chevron.com/cr_report/2005/priorities_progress_plans/integration/business_ethics
CNN News 1996 Cable News Network, Inc. Jackson: Keep pressure on Texaco until
culture changes 1-4. Retrieved September 30, 2006 form www.cnn.com/US/9611/17/texaco
Texaco: Case Study of Corporate Racism. (1996). Revolutionary Worker #883. Retrieved
September 30, 2006 from www.rwor.org/a/firstvol/883/texaco.htm
One of the issues in the case EEOC v. Target Corp. is that the EEOC alleged that Target violated the Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 by engaging in race discrimination against African-American applicants who were interested in management positions. It is argued that Target did not give the opportunity to schedule an interview to plaintiffs, Kalisha White, Ralpheal Edgeston and Cherise Brown-Easley, because of racial discrimination. On the other hand, it argues that Target is in violation of the Act because the company failed to retain and present records that would determine if there was reason to believe that an unlawful practice had been committed.
The Tucker vs. Walgreen Company was a nationwide known class action case. It fell into the category of race discrimination. This cases was brought to the attention of the law by African Americans who were employed at this retail and pharmacy store. This pledged that they were being discriminated to by the following acts:failure to move up in positions (promotion), dieing them the opportunity to apply for assistant manager and manager, and being assigned to an undesirable store for an extended period of time compared to whites. They filed a class action lawsuit with the demand of compensatory and punitive damages and declaratory and injunctive relief. Along with these demands, the plaintiffs desired class certification for those who have been previously affected by the defendant’s discriminatory acts as well as any who will suffer from them in the future.
The names and sex of all of the Junior Executive Secretaries that were terminated are important to this case. A wrongful termination, Title VII claim was brought against Greene’s. Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 states, individuals are protected against discrimination on bases of sex, religion, race, color, and national origin. Knowing all of the terminated Junior Executive Secretaries sex, can determine whether there was a male employee terminated as well. A male working within that title would suggest Greene’s did not terminate Ms. Lawson due to her
The leaders of big business didn’t give workers the rights they deserved. In the text, Captains of Industry or Robber Barons?, it states, “Workers were often forbidden to strike, paid very low wages, and forced to work very long hours.” This evidence is a perfect example of the dehumanization of workers. The employers treated their workers like interchangeable parts, which were easily replaced. The big business leaders started paying less attention to the working conditions, and more to the production rates, and money. They didn’t care about worker’s family or the worker’s wellbeing. Due to the horrible working conditions, the workers were more likely to be injured, and sometimes, die. The capitalists didn’t give their employees the rights and respect they deserved, because to them they were just unskilled, cheap labor. If the workers were unhappy, they would easily replace them with other unskilled workers. That’s why they were considered interchangeable parts. This evidence shows the big business leaders only cared about money, and didn’t treat their workers
Prior to the year of 1999, Exxon and Mobil were the two largest American oil companies, which were direct descendants of the John D. Rockefeller’s broken up Standard Oil Company. In 1998 Exxon and Mobil signed an eighty billion dollar merger agreement in hope to form Exxon Mobil Corporation, the largest company ever created. Such a merger seems astonishing, not only because it reunited parts of Rockefeller’s Standard Oil Company, but also because it would be extremely difficult for the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to approve this merger due to its size and importance in the oil market. In fact, it took the FTC an entire year after the merger was proposed to make a decision due to its rigorous analysis in the product and its geographic market, the concentration of the oil market, the potential anticompetitive effects of the merger, the effects towards their growth and labor force, and lastly, the likelihood of entry and the efficiencies that may affect anticompetitive concerns. Although all of these notions are played a role in the analysis of the merger, it is important to remember that the merger’s result efficiencies did outweigh the the anticompetitive risks that were involved, especially since the oil market was headed towards decreasing prices to expand production.
Discrimination in the workplace continues to be topics and issues of discussion, despite efforts to minimize or eliminate its ugly head. Discrimination is defined as the unfair or prejudicial treatment of people based on race, gender, disability or age (Fieser, 2015). Furthermore, some companies has used other forms in conjunction with discrimination like sexual harassment to mask unjust treatment in the workplace. Lilly Ledbetter was an employee at Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company, Inc. for over 19 years. During this period, she consistently received low rankings in her annual performance-and-salary reviews. As a result, Lilly received significantly lower raises than her male counterparts, which led to her filing a civil lawsuit
Blatant discrimination against African Americans and Hispanics was the norm in the 1950’s in many parts of the country. The miners are fighting for the same rights as the Anglo or white miners, who are safer because they are able to work in pairs. The company uses the fact that the miners were minorities as an excuse to not take them seriously. They think that they are lazy and would give up on the strike easily. At one point the company men say the Mexican miners are like children, and should be treated that
Initially, this recognition appears to take the form of a stable income, despite price fluctuations within the marketplace for copper ore. In the book “Holding the Line: Women in the Great Arizona Mine Strike of 1983”, Barbara Kingsolver recounts several stories by miners of how the management structures in place within Phelps Dodge (and the mining industry in general throughout the southwest) allowed workers to be segregated into hierarchical classes based on race or gender. These stories demonstrate how structural violence within Phelps Dodge exacerbated discriminatory race relations between Anglo and Mexican Americans as well as the newly embroiling gender discriminations brought on by the increasing presence of women within the rank and file of the unionized mine workers in the
Institutions in the businesses sector are swarming in racial discrimination, much of which is covert and difficult to detect and prove. Racial discrimination excludes, marginalizes and exploits those citizens who are discriminated against, ceasing any opportunity for economic progress and development. Under certain regulations some businesses are required to diversify their workplace by hiring certain amounts of people of color, but in reality these small quotas do not do much for the overall condition of the people who are being discriminated against. Businesses that fail to take action on racial discrimination tend to have lower levels of productivity. This stems from employees not being interested in working hard, or because people with exceptional talents and skills choose to shy away from certain places of employment due to the fear of racial discrimination. Employees who feel wronged also tend to switch jobs, forcing the organization to spend more time and resources on hiring and training new employees, besides coping with the low productivity of a new employee. (Nayab)The effects of racial discrimination in the American work force could be identified with funded research on the topic. With ample data employers will be able to better understand the negative affects that racial discrimination have
In today’s world, the American still has barriers to overcome in the matter of racial equality. Whether it is being passed over for a promotion at the job or being underpaid, some people have to deal with unfair practice that would prevent someone of color or the opposite sex from having equal opportunity at the job. In 2004, Dukes vs. Wal-Mart Stores Incorporation was a civil rights class-action suite that ruled in favor of the women who worked and did not received promotions, pay and certain job assignments. This proves that some corporations ignore the 1964 Civil Rights Act, which protects workers from discrimination based on sex, race, religion or national origin.
Racism was very big in the 1930’s. In an excerpt from The Help written by Kathryn Stockett, it says “Sit down on your behind, Minney, because I'm about to tell you the rules for working for a white lady.” During this time, many white people had African Americans working for them. They would treat them unfairly and had so many harsh rules, just because they were black. “You use the same cup, same fork, same plate everyday. Keep it in a separate cupboard and tell that white woman that’s the one you'll use from here on out” (Stockett, 1). If you worked for a white person, you had to use your things everyday, and if you got caught laying a hand on a white persons things, you'd be out on the street. African Americans weren't even allowed to share the same toilet as a white person, as it says “Don't ever let that white lady find you sitting on her toilet” (Stockett, 1). In the 1930’s, African Americans were treated so unfairly and racism was a very big
All of these lawsuits started after Betty Dukes, a 54 year old employee of a Walmart who has worked there for six years realized that she wasn’t getting the same opportunities as advancement as her male co-workers (Toobin). A statistic from an article from the New Yorker states that 72% of the workforces are women and a third of them are in management positions( Toobin). After 11 years in court the case was ruled in favor of Walmart because although there were over a million plantiffs it and was decided that they were not discriminated in the same way. Even though this she lossed the case Betty Dukes still continues her fi...
Even in the Mecca of supposed racial equality, these sorts of discrimination are still prevalent. Advertisements for products produced by African-Americans were also skewed. Paramount Records deemed itself the “The Popular Race Record”.... ... middle of paper ...
One more problem with race relations in the United States is employers. Some bosses/CEO’s refuse to hire a certain race, which is discrimination – according to SAGE journal articles – because members of a particular group are being excluded from certain privileges. Another article also said that “During the fourth quarter of 2012, unemployment among whites stood at 6.3 percent; for Hispanics it was 9.8 percent; for blacks, 14.0 percent”, due to the fact that racial discrimination exists where success takes
However, by the end of the 20th Century, women, blacks, and other minorities could be found in the highest echelons of American Society. From the corporate offices of IBM, to the U.S. Supreme Court bench, an obvious ideological revolution bringing integration and acceptance of a variety of human beings had taken place, but only at the expense of great amounts of sweat and blood.... ... middle of paper ... ... Blacks walked miles to work, organized carpools, and despite efforts from the police to discourage this new spark of independence, the boycotts continued for more than a year until in November 1956 the Supreme Court ruled that the Montgomery bus company must desegregate its busses.