|
Brad: A Google search is hardly the measure of corporate ethics (what an oxymoron that is). Enter:lawsuits against "your choice of any successful medium to large business" and you will see much the same results. Those search results are actually a reflection of the greed and ethics of certain elements in the legal profession (legal ethics, another oxymoron). Lawfirms research and identify likely victims (retailers and medical providers are favorites) then troll for the "clients" who are often various and sundry losers with chronic employment difficulties. Funny how they come out of the woodwork with stories of horrible injustices when they smell MONEY. Together they conspire to obtain wealth without working for it. Walmart happens to be the world's largest and most successful retailer and is therefore considered a juicy target by the litigation industry.
In the same way that an employer must carefully select the workers a person also selects the employer. If Walmart were so bad they should have no good employees. Of course that is not true, they employ multitudes of happy successful people who are satisfied with what they are accomplishing however modest. They all have opportunity to make progress however modest within the orgnization unless handicapped by an attitude, laziness, predilections to stupidity, carelessness, addictions, whatever. Fortunately these types are few and usually get weeded out by a responsible employer.
Make no mistake about it, the sole purpose of a modern for profit corporation is to make a profit for the shareholders, period. That is the system and dammit it works. Investors such as you and I should expect nothing less. A corporation is not like a person with feelings, is not an environmentalist, a do gooder, a greeny, a tree hugger and does not adopt liberal cause. A corporation that postures and poses as such does it for PR purposes and hopes it might help profits. Look to people to play nice and share, not to a corporation. If a retailer loudly proclaims "no sweatshop goods in our stores" it does so for profit, nothing else, and oh yes it will cost you more. A corporation wants to appear PC to protect it's good name, encourage investors and customers and enhance profits.
Before you become more of a Wallybasher you should understand more about what it is really like to live in a developing country. I have. Impoverished countries compete for foreign industry in much the same way the leaders of our states, counties and cities compete for industry. The one with the best package gets the deal. Part of that package is the available workforce, it's skill, education level, work ethic etc. The workers then have a chance to have something never before possible, a real job, cash to buy goods, pride. Those workers with a job are able to live far better than their neighbors who may subsist on farming or fishing. The best workers will move ahead economically. That kick starts other local economic activity and it snowballs from there. It takes good leadership, investments in education and infrastructure, huge long term investments from abroad and several decades for a country to evolve from subsistence living to one with viable industries and the benefits that go with. And yes working conditions and pay levels will progress as well.
--
David Hunter
|
