LOS ANGELES — Warehouse workers in Southern California have filed a petition in court to name Walmart as a defendant in a federal wage-theft lawsuit, marking a significant turn in low-wage supply chain workers’ fight with the world’s largest retailer.
Although workers in Walmart’s contracted warehouses in California and Illinois have alleged labor violations in the past, the filing on Friday is the first time Walmart itself has been directly implicated in the claims of abuse. Until now, only the retailer’s subcontractors have been accused in court of shorting workers on pay and forcing them to work in substandard conditions.
“Walmart’s name does not appear on any of these workers paychecks, and the Walmart logo does not appear on the t-shirts they’re required to wear,” Michael Rubin, the workers’ lawyer, said on Friday. “But it has become increasingly clear that the ultimate liability for these workplace violations rests squarely on the shoulders of Walmart.”
While Walmart directly manages much of its distribution network, the company outsources the operation of some of its largest warehouses to third-party logistics firms, which in turn hire low-paid temporary workers to perform the heavy lifting. These warehouses have become the target of a union-backed organizing effort through the groups Warehouse Workers United and Warehouse Workers for Justice, and several of them have been hit with employee lawsuits and labor-law violations.
In the case amended Friday, six workers at a Walmart-contracted warehouse in Riverside, Calif., sued a series of subcontractors last year, claiming they were paid less than the minimum wage, required to work in excessively hot conditions and retaliated against by superiors as they loaded and unloaded trucks and containers. Although the workers said the products they handled were destined for Walmart stores, the mega-retailer was not originally named in the suit.
Worker advocates have argued all along that Walmart, as the top company in the contract chain, is morally responsible for the working conditions at the warehouses its goods pass through. By trying to bring Walmart into the lawsuit now, they hope to prove that the company is legally and financially responsible as well, arguing that Walmart controls the operation and serves as the ultimate beneficiary of the work.
“I know that Walmart is responsible for all of this, even though they say they have nothing to do with us,” said one of the plaintiffs, David Acosta, speaking in Spanish on a call with reporters Friday. “The boxes say Walmart, the containers say Walmart — everything belongs to Walmart.”
Acosta said he and his colleagues, many of them Latino immigrants, worked 12 to 16-hour days, earning roughly the minimum wage without overtime pay. He said they received a lunch each day but no other breaks. “Our dignity was thrown to the floor,” he added.
The success or failure of the suit could have broader implications for workers who try to sue subcontractors. As HuffPost reported last year, much of the retail sector’s supply chain is now predicated on a system of outsourcing, where larger, brand-name players subcontract the work to smaller, little-seen players, who ultimately hold the legal liability for workers’ well-being. A similar arrangement now persists in many food-processing and manufacturing operations as well.
According to Rubin, the workers are seeking class-action status for their lawsuit, which could involve up to 1,800 affected workers. Rubin argued Friday that the workers are on sound legal footing in suing Walmart, even though the company does not directly employ workers at the facilities.
“Walmart controls the warehouses and everything that happens inside of them,” Rubin said. The retailer, he said, pays “extraordinary attention to details” in the warehouses, including tracking where every truck and container is and what every worker is doing and how much time it takes them to do it.
“[Walmart] owns or leases each of the warehouses at issue in this litigation. It owns all of the equipment and supplies used in those warehouses, from the forklift to the shrink wrap,” he continued. “We allege Walmart has turned a blind eye to systemic violations of worker rights.”
A Walmart spokesman said the company would not comment to The Huffington Post, although the company has said repeatedly that the warehouses involved in the suit are operated by other parties and that the company takes the allegations seriously even if it isn’t responsible for them. Several workers at the warehouses in California went on strike ahead of the high-profile walkouts and protests at Walmart stores on Black Friday.
The suit filed in California last year included among its defendants the Walmart contractor Schneider Logistics, which has been named in similar suits filed by workers in Illinois. Many of the employees were employed by a firm contracted by Schneider, working for “piece rate” — being paid according to how many containers they loaded or unloaded.
The lawsuit alleged rampant abuse, claiming warehouse employees “spend their workdays performing strenuous, unskilled physical labor in an environment where the temperature often exceeds 90 degrees,” where management “routinely responded with threats of retaliation and actual retaliation, including by sending the inquiring workers home without pay, refusing to give them work the next day … and imposing other forms of discipline on them.”
Schneider has denied the allegations in the suit.
Prior to the lawsuit, the California labor commissioner filed a number of labor-law citations against temp companies operating within the warehouse, saying many workers weren’t given complete paystubs for their work. The commissioner, Julie A. Su, told The Huffington Post at the time that the alleged violations epitomized broader problems with subcontracting in the low-wage economy.
“Warehouses are one example of the ever-increasing contracting out of labor. It’s difficult for enforcement, and in many instances it’s a deliberate effort to avoid compliance,” Su said.
Walmart Wants You To Know That Their Workers 'Love Their Jobs'
in Uncategorized/by MAM Team11/30/2012
Michael Bender, president of Walmart West, wrote in the San Francisco Chronicle on Friday that “the overwhelming majority of Walmart associates who love their jobs deserve a voice, too.” He claimed that 86 percent of Walmart hourly workers said in a survey they agree with the statement “I really love my job.” He did not specify the survey’s response rate.
“Our associates know the truth: We typically pay as much or more than the competition, the majority of our associates work full time, and entry-level pay often exceeds that of union hires,” he wrote. “We also offer careers, not just jobs.”
Warehouse Workers Move To Name Walmart In Wage-Theft Lawsuit
in Uncategorized/by MAM Team“Walmart’s name does not appear on any of these workers paychecks, and the Walmart logo does not appear on the t-shirts they’re required to wear,” Michael Rubin, the workers’ lawyer, said on Friday. “But it has become increasingly clear that the ultimate liability for these workplace violations rests squarely on the shoulders of Walmart.”
While Walmart directly manages much of its distribution network, the company outsources the operation of some of its largest warehouses to third-party logistics firms, which in turn hire low-paid temporary workers to perform the heavy lifting. These warehouses have become the target of a union-backed organizing effort through the groups Warehouse Workers United and Warehouse Workers for Justice, and several of them have been hit with employee lawsuits and labor-law violations.
In the case amended Friday, six workers at a Walmart-contracted warehouse in Riverside, Calif., sued a series of subcontractors last year, claiming they were paid less than the minimum wage, required to work in excessively hot conditions and retaliated against by superiors as they loaded and unloaded trucks and containers. Although the workers said the products they handled were destined for Walmart stores, the mega-retailer was not originally named in the suit.
Worker advocates have argued all along that Walmart, as the top company in the contract chain, is morally responsible for the working conditions at the warehouses its goods pass through. By trying to bring Walmart into the lawsuit now, they hope to prove that the company is legally and financially responsible as well, arguing that Walmart controls the operation and serves as the ultimate beneficiary of the work.
“I know that Walmart is responsible for all of this, even though they say they have nothing to do with us,” said one of the plaintiffs, David Acosta, speaking in Spanish on a call with reporters Friday. “The boxes say Walmart, the containers say Walmart — everything belongs to Walmart.”
Acosta said he and his colleagues, many of them Latino immigrants, worked 12 to 16-hour days, earning roughly the minimum wage without overtime pay. He said they received a lunch each day but no other breaks. “Our dignity was thrown to the floor,” he added.
The success or failure of the suit could have broader implications for workers who try to sue subcontractors. As HuffPost reported last year, much of the retail sector’s supply chain is now predicated on a system of outsourcing, where larger, brand-name players subcontract the work to smaller, little-seen players, who ultimately hold the legal liability for workers’ well-being. A similar arrangement now persists in many food-processing and manufacturing operations as well.
According to Rubin, the workers are seeking class-action status for their lawsuit, which could involve up to 1,800 affected workers. Rubin argued Friday that the workers are on sound legal footing in suing Walmart, even though the company does not directly employ workers at the facilities.
“Walmart controls the warehouses and everything that happens inside of them,” Rubin said. The retailer, he said, pays “extraordinary attention to details” in the warehouses, including tracking where every truck and container is and what every worker is doing and how much time it takes them to do it.
“[Walmart] owns or leases each of the warehouses at issue in this litigation. It owns all of the equipment and supplies used in those warehouses, from the forklift to the shrink wrap,” he continued. “We allege Walmart has turned a blind eye to systemic violations of worker rights.”
A Walmart spokesman said the company would not comment to The Huffington Post, although the company has said repeatedly that the warehouses involved in the suit are operated by other parties and that the company takes the allegations seriously even if it isn’t responsible for them. Several workers at the warehouses in California went on strike ahead of the high-profile walkouts and protests at Walmart stores on Black Friday.
The suit filed in California last year included among its defendants the Walmart contractor Schneider Logistics, which has been named in similar suits filed by workers in Illinois. Many of the employees were employed by a firm contracted by Schneider, working for “piece rate” — being paid according to how many containers they loaded or unloaded.
The lawsuit alleged rampant abuse, claiming warehouse employees “spend their workdays performing strenuous, unskilled physical labor in an environment where the temperature often exceeds 90 degrees,” where management “routinely responded with threats of retaliation and actual retaliation, including by sending the inquiring workers home without pay, refusing to give them work the next day … and imposing other forms of discipline on them.”
Schneider has denied the allegations in the suit.
Prior to the lawsuit, the California labor commissioner filed a number of labor-law citations against temp companies operating within the warehouse, saying many workers weren’t given complete paystubs for their work. The commissioner, Julie A. Su, told The Huffington Post at the time that the alleged violations epitomized broader problems with subcontracting in the low-wage economy.
“Warehouses are one example of the ever-increasing contracting out of labor. It’s difficult for enforcement, and in many instances it’s a deliberate effort to avoid compliance,” Su said.
Study Shows US College Students Suck At Math
in Uncategorized/by MAM TeamWhen the students were asked whether a/5 or a/8 was greater, only 53 percent answered correctly. The authors believe that many of the participants could’ve been just guessing, since 36 percent were unable to explain why one was bigger.
The researchers said that since much of math education is just following formulas, students are incapable of tracking problems only slightly different than ones that they have encountered.
A student was asked in the study whether it was possible to check if 462 + 253 = 715. The student correctly answered that you could subtract 253 from 715, but when he was asked whether one could also do 715 – 462, the student “did not think so.”
Another set of questions checked to determine whether students would take advantage of relationships between problems to find easy solutions. These students were asked to solve the following problems: 10 × 3 = ; 10 × 13 = ; 20 × 13 = ; 30 × 13 = ; 31 × 13 = ; 29 × 13 = ; and 22 × 13 = .
Once problem two is solved, the third becomes easier by simply multiplying the answer by two. However, 77 percent of the students never took advantage of those relationships, and simply did the multiplication for each problem.
The researchers found that 77 percent of the students believed that math was not something that could be figured out, or that made sense. Instead, the students believed math was a step of procedures and rules to be memorized.
The team believes the results suggest that U.S. students may be able to do a lot better in math if they can develop a basic conceptual understanding.
“This finding helps make sense of the community college students’ lack of conceptual understanding,” Nate Kornell wrote in “Everybody is Stupid Except You,” published in Psychology Today. “They have been taught in a way that deprives them of the chance to work through the concepts they are being taught. No wonder they see math as an exercise in memorization.”
“The concepts are learnable. On the other hand, teaching mathematical concept is deceptively difficult. Teachers need high quality training, and more research (and funding) is needed to make that happen,” Kornell concluded.
Growing Demand for ‘Made in U.S.A.’ Apparel and Textiles
in Apparel/by MAM TeamDecline of U.S. Apparel Manufacturing
By 2007, 95% of apparel bought in the U.S. is imported from abroad. It’s primarily a combination of political, economical, and social factors with lower prices as a major driving force. Apparel manufacturing rose shortly after World War II when retailers met the demand from an increasingly affluent American population with the same mass production processes used to make military uniforms for the war.
When Japan and Asian countries came into the picture offering a competitive advantage of cheap labor on mass-produced apparel, the industry started to decline. By the 50s and the 60s, mass retailers were highly dependent on Asian labor to produce clothing designed in the U.S. By the mid-1980s, bulk of American apparel production has been moved overseas.
An economic downturn in the 70s, the emergence of branded labels that sourced from foreign contractors, and a demand for synthetic fibers readily available from Asia eventually led to the almost complete disappearance of clothes Made in U.S.A. In 2005, apparel imports from China rose to almost 100% after import restrictions on textiles and apparel expired in 2004.
Stamping the ‘Made in USA’ Quality
Despite the market’s heavy reliance on mass-produced clothes, there have been calls to improve quality and to bring back manufacturing in our own backyard. The textile and apparel sector is also at the forefront of the current administration’s National Export Initiative aimed at doubling U.S. exports by 2014. At present, the industry directly supports 400,000 jobs and the ‘Made in America’ initiative is designed to promote even more.
In August, L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa announced the first ever ‘Made in L.A.’ Pavilion at the Sourcing at MAGIC tradeshow, held in Las Vegas in the same month. The announcement came alongside a string of initiatives aimed at promoting L.A. as a major garment and apparel center in the global market; one of which was a city-wide ‘Made in L.A.’ logo design contest.
The Sourcing in the Americas Pavilion was also featured for the second time at the largest apparel sourcing tradeshow in North America. ‘Made in the Americas’ was the central theme of key discussions of the Sourcing at MAGIC’s lineup of seminars.
“Building on the huge success we had last year, we felt it critical to return with another Americas Pavilion and Summit to highlight Made in America products. As the largest textile and apparel event of its kind, this forum provides American businesses with a unique opportunity to highlight Made in America products to a global audience,” Commerce Under-Secretary for International Trade Francisco Sánchez announced then.
In the upcoming edition of Sourcing at MAGIC to be held in February next year, the ‘Made in L.A.’ Pavilion will yet again be highlighted. It will capitalize on a bigger-than-ever demand for Made in U.S.A. products and offer countless opportunities for local manufacturers to promote the quality of homemade garments and to come face to face with thousands of attendees, major retailers, and top design companies in L.A.
Currently, the Department of Commerce is also working with Los Angeles in developing an online registry that will make it easier to look for apparel, textile, and footwear manufacturers in the U.S. While sourcing from abroad is not likely to end anytime soon, this and all other government initiatives will hopefully be the start of an increased global awareness and recognition of American competitiveness in the clothing and apparel sector.
In light of a recent study which showed that three in four Americans believe that buying local is important – even if it costs a bit more – it could certainly be said that America is on the right track.
76 Percent of Americans Say Buying American Made Apparel is Important
in News/by MAM TeamNot that brands and retailers shouldn’t explore the opportunity to “build and sell more American product,” Cohen continued. “The companies that are building product in the U.S. and those selling those products need to exploit it; and those who aren’t sourcing here or using product sourced here need to explore it. Who can overlook the opportunity to address what might be even a 20 percent level of greater passion about the products they’re offering?”
A growing number of Americans say they’re ready to buy American even if it costs more.
Whether they’ll put their wallets where their mouths are remains to be seen, but Americans say that they’re ready to buy American even if it costs more. More than one in five respondents—21.4 percent—said they’d pick a U.S.-made shirt or blouse over a comparable import as long as the price wasn’t 25 percent higher. Another 17.3 percent said they’d choose the domestic option if the price was no more than 10 percent more expensive than the alternative. Three in 10, or 30.4 percent, would buy American only if the prices were approximately the same, while 21.8 percent would buy American “under any conditions.”
“Consumers are telling us that they’re willing to pay at least a bit more, and occasionally quite a bit more,” Cohen said. “The tolerance [for higher prices on American products] is there and the consciousness is there, but so far there hasn’t been a move in that direction.”
“Made in America” is a more attractive sell because of intangibles such as social responsibility and national pride, Barbara Kahn, director of the Jay H. Baker Retailing Center at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, told WWD. “People are more likely to pay for ‘Made in America’ if there was a value proposition tied to it,” she said. “The Italians have done that, and in that kind of a trade-up, people are willing to pay extra money for something. You can market to the economic recovery, the need for more American jobs and social responsibility, but it takes on greater meaning if it’s coupled with emphasis on quality, as some of the premium denim brands have seen.”
Americans may disagree about the premium they’re willing to pay for U.S.-made clothing, but if money were no object, nearly three-quarters—74.2 percent—approve of incentives to rebuild garment and textile production in the United States. Support for new trade barriers to discourage imports was less certain, with 55.7 percent of respondents in favor, 14 percent opposed, and 30.3 percent undecided.
President Obama Touring K’NEX Manufacturing Facility at The Rodon Group
in Consumer Products, Domestic Sourcing, Jobs, Made in USA, Manufacturing, Toys/by MAM TeamWhen President Obama comes to Montgomery County on Friday, he will speak in front of a two-foot-tall toy helicopter, a toy roller coaster, a toy grandfather clock, a motorized toy carousel, and an American flag made of 49,000 K’Nex pieces.
Read more
Treasury Declines to Brand China a Currency Manipulator
in Uncategorized/by MAM TeamNovember 27, 2012
Critics blame Beijing for holding down the value of its currency, the renminbi, in order to boost China’s competitiveness in international trade at the expense of other countries.
Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney vowed during the campaign to brand China a currency manipulator, a potential step towards trade sanctions. The Obama administration, however, has avoided this designation.
he Treasury Department said in its report Tuesday that the renminbi has appreciated by 12.6% against the dollar when adjusted for inflation since June 2010. Nevertheless, it added that the renminbi “remains significantly undervalued, and further appreciation… against the dollar and other major currencies is warranted.”
Treasury said that for China to secure sustainable growth going forward, it needs to increase domestic consumption. Additional renminbi appreciation is a “critical part of this process,” the report said, as a stronger currency increases the purchasing power of Chinese households.
The oft-delayed report was originally scheduled to be published last month.
At Work: Manufacturing Jobs Returning To U.S.
in Uncategorized/by MAM TeamBut they are.
And that’s not all. Other jobs in manufacturing now seeing a revival that had major job losses in the recession include metal pourers and casters. These people “operate hand-controlled mechanisms to pour and regulate the flow of molten metal into molds to produce castings or ingots,” according to BLS.
Also rallying are jobs for computer-controlled machine-tool operators for metal and plastic production and engine and machine assemblers. The resurgence is highest among computer-controlled machine tool operators, which has even more workers now than in 2007.
One thing is clear: These jobs are related to the types of industries tied to energy, production, technology and transportation.
You can find these jobs at such employers as iron and steel mills and steel product manufacturing and machine shops. They are at manufacturers who make machinery for mining, agriculture, engine and turbines, and plastic and rubber as well as manufacturers that make equipment for companies that make cars, motor vehicle bodies and parts, railroad stock and aerospace.
Yes, the country is “predominantly a service economy,” writes Professor Farok J. Contractor of Rutgers Business School in YaleGlobal Online Magazine. “But the nation is still the world’s biggest manufacturer,” he says, with “unrivaled productivity in terms of manufacturing value-added per employee or per hour worked.”
Among the factors cited for the resurgence is that “jobs once offshored are now returning in industries including automobiles and even unlikely areas like furniture and televisions.”
One of several factors that could inhibit the resurgence is U.S. companies’ lack of an apprenticeship system, he says.
The study also looked at other industries where new jobs have accelerated the most. They are in markets tied to health care and consulting.
Overall, job growth has increased by double digits in the past two years in these industries:
• Internet publishing and broadcasting and Web search portals — a 30% growth.
• Drilling of oil and gas wells, up 29%.
• Electronic shopping, up 23%.
• Crude petroleum and natural gas extraction, up 21%.
• Temporary help services, up 21%.
• Machine shops, up 18%.
• Marketing consulting services, up 13%.
• Computer systems design services, up 12%.
• Specialized freight, up 11%.
• Home health care services, up 10%.
I know it’s not easy to pick up and move. But if you are wondering where these jobs are, the survey found that the 10 areas with the most job growth are in some surprising places hard hit in the recession such as Detroit and Phoenix.
The other areas are Austin; Dallas-Fort Worth; Houston; Oklahoma City; Raleigh, N.C.; Salt Lake City; San Francisco; and San Jose.
After a depressingly negative election campaign season in which we were led to believe that the automobile industry was our last vestige of manufacturing and that the rest of our manufacturing had been outsourced to other parts of the world, statistics suggest otherwise.
In fact, they seem to indicate that we indeed are still No. 1 in the world. And that products — and jobs — are still made in America.
Career consultant Andrea Kay is the author of Life’s a Bitch and Then You Change Careers: 9 steps to get out of your funk and on to your future, www.andreakay.com orwww.lifesabitchchangecareers.com. See an index of Kay’s At Work columns here. Write to her: andrea@andreakay.com. Twitter: @AndreaKayCareer.
Aldermen Say – City Should Buy Milwaukee-Made Goods
in Uncategorized/by MAM TeamProducts are defined as Milwaukee-made if they are manufactured, mined or produced in the city of Milwaukee, “and the cost of the components made in Milwaukee County used in the production of the good exceeds 50 percent of the total cost of all the components.”
According to the ordinance, if a Milwaukee-made or Milwaukee County-made good is not available for purchase, the next choice should be an “American-made good.”
The ordinance states that taxpayer funds should maximize the creation of American jobs “and restore the economic vitality of the community.” It mentions the fact that Milwaukee has a high unemployment rate, which “negatively affects the city’s property tax base, revenues and expenditures for city services.”
ABC World News with Diane Sawyer Invites Viewers to Have a “Great Made in America Christmas” — Are You In?
in Uncategorized/by MAM TeamNov 28, 2012
Reports will air each Wednesday during the month of December as “ABC World News” weekend anchor David Muir scours the country for the best gifts that are made in American towns. Along the way he will introduce viewers to some proud American businesses, the people they employ, and the ingenious products they make.
Viewers who want to join in on “The Great Made in America Christmas” this holiday shopping season can get more information at ABCNews.com/WorldNews.
“ABC World News with Diane Sawyer” airs at 6:30 p.m., ET on the ABC Television Network. Michael Corn is the executive producer of the broadcast. Follow Diane Sawyer and the “World News” team online: @DianeSawyer; @ABCWorldNews; facebook.com/DianeSawyer; facebook.com/WorldNews.
About “Made in America”
In 2011 “World News with Diane Sawyer” kicked off a special series, “Made in America,” to examine American manufacturing, the economy, and what simple things people can do every day to help power up jobs in this country. “World News” continues to highlight various American businesses that are contributing to their local economies and creating more jobs here in the U.S.
Follow the Made in America Movement on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Tumbler, and Google+
Email us for corporate membership and/or sponsorship details: info@TheMadeinAmericaMovement.com