How Corporations Intimidate Workers
By The definition of bravery is a worker who organizes a union or speaks out about bad conditions in the workplace. That’s because companies come down like a ton of bricks on these workers.
See for instance Elvia Bahena, a housekeeper who works for a company Hyatt Hotels uses to subcontract its cleaners. She testified in front of the Indianapolis City Council on the working conditions she and her other housekeepers face. And now she’s been fired.
Or take Wal-Mart, which is punishing workers who took their story to the company’s shareholder meeting. According to Josh Eidelson (America’s best labor journalist in my opinion), Wal-Mart has fired one worker involved in the action and has issued a “third-level warning” to another, meaning they are ready to fire him the next time he drops a bag of diapers or something.