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