Increasing Shareholder Wealth INTRODUCTION The goal of all corporations is to increase shareholder wealth. Shareholder wealth is increased is by increasing the corporation's profit. In a corporation involved in manufacturing, reducing the cost of the factors of production is essential for growth. One of the major components of production costs is labor. When in comes to labor costs, the corporation and the worker usually have very different goals. The corporation wants to pay the worker as little as possible, while maintaining the productivity and quality required by its customers. The worker, on the other hand, seeks to increase his or her personal wealth by demanding the highest possible wages and benefits. Because of this somewhat adversarial relationship, corporations and labor have developed strategies to strengthen their positions. One of Labor's main defenses is to organize in unions. The existence of unions can be an effective method of gaining a position of strength, especially when dealing with power corporations. Depending on the size of the corporation, they might have the power to employ methods which are difficult for the workers to prevent or counteract. One tactic used by corporations to reduce labor costs is the utilization of "sweatshop" labor. A sweatshop is a manufacturing facility that operates below minimum standards of safety and/or wages and benefits. Sweatshops flourished in the United States in the late 1800s and early 1900s. This paper will examine the re-emergence of sweatshop manufacturing in the U.S. and abroad, and its impact on how manufacturers do business. Two U.S. corporations will be discussed in detail. And the issue of utilizing low cost labor domestically and offshore, including arguments for against this practice, will be discussed. ISSUE BACKGROUND Since, by definition, sweatshops violate the basic rights of workers, a brief discussion of the history of the labor movement is a necessary element in understanding the use of sweatshops. This section is intended to give a brief outline of some of the events leading to worker's rights laws. The following information was excerpted from NBC News Online. June 3, 1900 Garment workers form the International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union to protest low pay, fifteen-hour workdays, no benefits, and unsafe working conditions. While weak at the onset, the ILGWU struggles to help all workers fight for better conditions and higher pay. 1909 November 22,1909-February 15, 1910 Organized by the ILGWU, 20,000 shirtwaist makers, mostly women and children, stage the first garment workers strike. Many picketers are beaten or fired. In the end, the garment workers win a pay raise and a work reduction to 52 hours of work per week.
This strike was a battle over several issues. One factor that escalated the strike intensity was the pensions battle. Billons of dollars in pensions were on the line. The Teamste...
An employee strike might seem like a modern technique but it’s moderately, if not fully, based on an actual event in Texas in 1883. This book illustrates the importance of the changing political, social, and economic factors that shaped this country. It shows the devastation that comes with it; people defying and protesting the change that contradicts from their way of living. It also brings out the importance of economic laws and barriers that prevent large businesses from yielding too much power and exploiting the public. The novel not only has some of the elements of western fiction, rich and big against the poor and small, justice serving at the end, and the main protagonist wearing the heroic sheriff’s badge but also brings a great deal of recreation, intuition, and exhilaration. It also provides moments of bonding and congregation as the degradation by big ranchers made the cowboys join together and do the inconceivable – go on a strike. It has an unexpected turn of events from a quarrel over cow brand to a gripping courtroom
Culturally, the Stone Mountain Coal Company is able to maintain control over the residents of Matewan by promoting ignorance and fear of the unknown—“strike breakers,” races, and unions. Pitting Matewan’s resident workers against the incoming strikebreakers allows the Company freedom to raise competition levels for jobs that all the workers need to live, while lowering the amount of mone...
Previous to the fire, the International Ladies’ Garment Workers Union took a stand with the Women’s Trade Union League to strike against the their working conditions. Unfortunately, even though their voices were heard, many of the sweat shop owners disregarded all basic workers’ rights. Management had no fear from
Life in the early 1900’s wasn’t easy. Competition for jobs was at an all time high, especially in New York City. Immigrants were flooding in and needed to find work fast, even if that meant in the hot, overcrowded conditions of garment factories. Conditions were horrid and disaster was inevitable, and disaster did strike in March, 1911. The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory in New York set on fire, killing 146 workers. This is an important event in US history because it helped accomplish the tasks unions and strikes had tried to accomplish years earlier, It improved working conditions in factories nationwide and set new safety laws and regulations so that nothing as catastrophic would happen again. The workplace struggles became public after this fire, and the work industry would never remain the same again.
- the picket lines continued and the whites were getting mad. One day a white person fired a pistol and started screaming, “kill the niggers”. The black people then showed the whites that they too were armed and then all of the sudden the police decided to help because they realized the whites were outnumbered and outarmed
Yellin, Samuel. American Labor Struggles New York: Harcourt, Brace and Co. 1936; Reprinted New York: Arno Press, 1970.
Throughout history women have slowly moved from the role of mother and housewife into the labor force. In the middle of this rise in stature is a relatively unknown set of events that helped women gain the self-respect and individual attitude needed to move up in the work force. Women's participation in strikes during the 1970's and 80's is relatively unknown in U.S. history. Although the women involved in these strikes made a big impact on the strike and its outcome, they go widely unrecognized and uncredited for their roles. This paper will focus on three strikes: the Brookside Coal Strike, the Phelps-Dodge Copper Strike, and the Pittston Coal Strike. Each of these strikes has its own individual history and story, but they have many things in common as well. Most importantly, each strike had women participants who greatly impacted the strike and did a small part to help women move towards a place in the labor force.
The early 1900s was a time of many movements, from the cities to the rural farms; people were uniting for various causes. One of the most widespread was the labor movement, which affected people far and wide. Conditions in the nation’s workplaces were notoriously poor, but New York City fostered the worst. Factories had started out in the city’s tenements, which were extremely cramped, poorly ventilated, and thoroughly unsanitary. With the advent of skyscrapers, factories were moved out of the tenements and into slightly larger buildings, which still had terrible conditions. Workers were forced to work long hours (around 12 hours long) six hours a day, often for extremely low pay. The pay was also extremely lower for women, who made up a large portion of the shirtwaist industry. If a worker were to openly contest an employer’s rule, they would be promptly fired and replaced immediately. Also, strength in numbers did not always work. Managers often hired brutal strikebreakers to shut movements down. The local police and justice were often of no help to the workers, even when women were being beaten. At the time, the workers needs were not taken seriously and profit was placed ahead of human life. This was not just a struggle for workers’ rights; it was also a movement for the working class’ freedom.
Norma Rae a loom operator in the weaving room is an outspoken individual and is very out spoken about her poor working conditions such as excessive noise, long hours with short breaks, physical stress from standing for long periods and abnormally high temperatures in the work areas. Added to all this is management¡¦s apathy for the working conditions, as seen when her mother looses her hearing temporarily with little or no sentiment from the company doctor, who knows this is a common problem for the workers. With this setting, the film progresses through most of the stages for employee organization. While management tries to get the workers support to keep the union out, and labor struggles to get a foothold to develop worker unity and get the union elected as the official bargaining agent both sides violate federal laws or come precariously close. First the Unfair Labor Practices (ULP) of the union will be examined.
Failure to achieve positively valued goals, such as a rich status in financial terms. This can range from not being able to afford common household bills to not being able to afford something which would highten social status such as an expensive car or house. . Agnew discussed 3 notable types of goals which people aim to achieve or acquire. The first of which is finances, in particular, money. As money is typically gained through legitimate means, failure to reach these needs or demands may cause a level of strain upon the individual. Agnew’s theory differs from traditional theories as he believes this causes a limited amount of crime, and only that which directly affects financial gain, such as theft or robbery. (Agnew, 1994).
People need money to live, and enough to buy the basic goods one needs to survive, but everybody wants more money. More money means an easier life. The more money one has, the more money one wants, as is shown in the story, "The Rocking Horse Winner" by D. H. Lawrence.
...heir obsession with materials and wealth. However, though each class tries to rise higher than those below, the fact is that each class is crucial in the survival of the others.
wanting to give more than what they have. moral character of the rich and the poor and
The working conditions are horrible and there is a lot of violence present in the workforce. Often times, industrialists and workers will fight in order to gain control. Many of America’s first larg...