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Opinion Retail Employment and the Wal-Mart Effect I remember one of my first jobs. I was a senior in high school in Mount Vernon, N,Y., a suburb of New York City, and I got a job at a sporting goods store. The pay seemed decent, at least that is how I remember it. But what was noteworthy was that older adults worked in the store and had worked in the store for some time. No, I don’t mean retirees who are forced to work because their Social Security is not enough; I mean non-retirees who had made a life for them- selves in the retail industry. It was not uncommon to go to major stores and find employees who had made a career in the retail industry. But it was not just major stores. There were plenty of smaller stores like the sporting goods store that employed me that held onto employees. Like many other industries in the USA, retail underwent changes that have produced an entirely different work environ- ment and work force. In efforts to secure greater profits, salaries T RANS A FRICA Bill Fletcher Jr. have been reduced, hours altered (and in many cases sliced), and the target workforce has become either younger adults or senior cit- izens. In either case, the employers do not have or promote the expectation of employment longevity. The bottom line is that it has become less and less possi- ble for a worker to make a living working retail. This is the portion of the workforce that has been described as being the underem- ployed, i.e., those who have a job (whether part-time or full-time) that simply cannot sustain their living standard. We have been hearing more and more about the horrendous work- ing conditions at Wal-Mart. While Wal-Mart is a leader in the new retail industry—with a very vulnerable workforce—it is not standing alone. They have suc- ceeded in promoting a precarious employment environment for their workers and, in doing so, have helped to set a pattern for the rest of the industry. As opposed to unionized retail workers of days gone by who might have had pen- sions and healthcare, with they have attempted to keep the salaries/wages of retail workers low. They are even prepared to accept a transitory workforce where it is not expected that a worker will stay for long. The problem, at least from the stand- point of the worker, is that you may sicken of a particular employ- er but rather than social mobility up, you as a retail worker live the life of the lateral pass, going from employer to employer, but rarely Retail employers are failing to invest in their workforce Wal-Mart you have no unions, few benefits, and an excessive amount of vulnerability. I wish that Wal-Mart was the only such employer. Retail employers are failing to invest in their workforce. Claiming that they will not be able to compete, rising to a respectable living stan- dard. The reality is that this situation will not change until and unless retail workers win unionization. As long as employers can compete against one another on the basis of who offers the lowest wages, retail workers will not only be pitted against one another but will find themselves caught in an employ- ment maelstrom, whirling around and around, eventually sinking. As consumers we are being taught to close our eyes to the con- ditions of retail workers, only looking for the best bargains, but here’s my question, to paraphrase the words of the late president of the United Auto Worker, Walter Reuther: If we keep letting the condition of retail workers sink so that there are alleged bargains for the consumers, who will be in a position to buy the products? I don’t see this question asked and answered on the business pages of my local newspapers. How about you? Bill Fletcher, Jr. is a Senior Scholar with the Institute for Poli- cy Studies, the immediate past president of TransAfrica Forum, and the author of “They’re Bank- rupting Us!” – And Twenty Other Myths about Unions. Lincoln, the Movie: What’s Missing? Black History C arter G. Woodson was right when he essentially said that Black history is the missing page of world history. Never was such so true than in the movie, “Lincoln.” While I, as a “weekend historian,” was impressed by Daniel Day Lewis’ portrayal of the 16th president of the United States, my knowledge of history begged questions: Why were Frederick Douglass, Sojourner Truth, and Harriet Tub- man not portrayed or mentioned? Why was the ancient Egyptian mathematical formula attributed to the Greek mathematician, Euclid? The movie, Lincoln, is political- ly presidential, yet porous on people who influenced the end of the American Civil War. The holes in the Steven Spielberg’s epic film are rooted in Holly- wood’s tendency to omit key historical personalities and events B LACK L EADERSHIP Gary Flowers same wages as those paid to White soldiers. Second, Colored soldiers ought to receive the same protec- tion when taken prisoner. Third, when Colored soldiers perform great and uncommon service on the battlefield they should be rewarded by distinction and pro- motion as White soldiers are rewarded.” Moreover, Douglass relieved public pressure on President Lin- coln regarding the Civil War in his speech in Philadelphia three weeks after the president dedicat- ed the federal cemetery at Gettysburg, Pa. Dou- glass did so by saying, “We are not to be saved by the captain, but by the crew. We are not to be saved by Abraham Lin- —Carter G. Woodson coln but by the power of the throne, greater than the throne itself, the from biopics. History reminds us supreme testing of ‘government that Frederick Douglass, Harriet of the people…’ of which the Tubman, and Sojourner Truth all President spoke at Gettysburg. played significant roles in the The ‘Abolition War’ and ensuing American Civil War, and thus in peace will never be completed the decisions of President Lincoln. until the Black men of the South For example, in the summer of and the Black men of the North 1863, Frederick Douglass was shall have been admitted, fully invited to the White House and and completely into the body introduced to President Lincoln by politic of America.” Secretary of State William Henry Likewise, in October 1864, Seward and Sen. Samuel Pomeroy Sojourner Truth was invited to the (Kan.). According to David White House to meet with Presi- Blight’s “Race and Reunion: Civil dent Lincoln. Following her War in American Memory,” Dou- “Ain’t I a Woman” speech at a glass said, “I told him I was women’s convention in 1853, she assisting to raise Colored troops to was a renowned abolitionist. The enlist in the Union Army but was meeting of Truth and President troubled that the United States Lincoln at the White House is government would not treat them documented in Berry Horton’s fairly in three ways. First, Col- famous painting depicting the ored troops ought to receive the “‘Negro History’ is the missing segment of world history” president showing Truth his Bible. Another omission of the movie Lincoln involves Harriet Tubman. Her many trips delivering enslaved Black people from bondage to freedom provided her with knowledge of the terrain of the Confederate states. As such, Tubman contributed mightily to Union strategy in the Civil War. According to Benjamin Brawley’s “Harriet Tubman,” President Lin- coln listened to the ideas of Harriet Tubman. And yet, neither of these significant Black histori- cal figures was portrayed or even mentioned in the movie. At one critical point in the movie Lincoln justifies his posi- tion on passing the 13th Amendment to the United States Constitution, which would outlaw slavery on the basis that “all men are created equal…” cited the Greek mathematician Euclid’s the- orem that “things equal to the same are equal to one another.” What was omitted in the movie is that Euclid did not originate the theorem; a Black Egyptian mathe- maticians at the Library of Alexandria, Egypt trained him in 300 B.C. When people erroneously con- demn “Black History” as a separatist scholarly pursuit, we need to look no further than movies made by Steven Spielberg, Clint Eastwood, and other Holly- wood directors who—consciously or unconsciously—omit the con- tributions of Black people to world history and, thus, give un- earned credit to White scholars as the progenitors of higher thought. We must re-insert Black History in the pages of world history. Gary L. Flowers is executive director and CEO of the Black Leadership Forum, Inc. Week on the Web Portland Funeral Services for Charles Hopson, Saturday Nov. 24 ... In NW News Mortgage Rates Fall to Record Lows Again ... In US News Police Investigating Early Morning Fire at Mack & Dub’s Excellent Chicken & Waffles ... In NW News City of Portland Rolls Out New Initiatives for Minority Contracting ... In NW News Portland Prime Gives Away Fifty Thanksgiving Turkeys ... In NW News Dana Thompson Stars as Lt. Uhura in Trek in the Park ... In Entertainment www. The Skanner.com has the latest news from Portland and beyond, on your mobile or your desktop. It’s your go-to place for the news you won’t see in mainstream publications. It’s your community. It’s The Skanner. November 28, 2012 The Portland Skanner Page 5
