4 ms·

I'm rather skeptical of any "workers at factory are mistreated, unhappy, et cetera" story that just happens to coincide with an attempt by a big-labor union to

by hugh3 15y ago

I'm rather skeptical of any "workers at factory are mistreated, unhappy, et cetera" story that just happens to coincide with an attempt by a big-labor union to unionize said factory. Where did this story come from? Why are we reading about it right now? Of all the thousands of factories in America, why is the attention of the Los Angeles times focused on a single furniture factory in Virginia? Some of the Virginia plant's 335 workers are trying to form a union. The International Assn. of Machinists and Aerospace Workers said a majority of eligible employees had signed cards expressing interest. Which is it? Are they trying to form their own union? Or is an extremely large union trying to get them to join it? Why is it that the only people they managed to interview for the story were one disgruntled former worker (where did they find him?) and a union representative? What I'm trying to say is that I think the very existence of this story, and the spin which has been put on it, is a combination of deliberate feeding by the union combined with lazy journalists.

onemoreact 15y ago
It's is being covered in Sweden and they did get some response from the company. "Plant officials didn't return calls and declined to meet with a Times reporter who visited the Virginia facility. Swedwood spokeswoman Ingrid Steen in Sweden called the situation in Danville "sad" but said she could not discuss the complaints of specific employees. She said she had heard "rumors" about anti-union meetings at the plant but added that "this wouldn't be anything that would be approved by the group management in Sweden." What's interesting is not the conflict between workers and management at a camp, but how similar the coverage of the story is with bad press in the home country for outsourcing work to the US. PS: Still, it's an old story and the company responded by reducing the need for overtime: http://www.ikea.com/us/en/about_ikea/newsitem/Swedwood_statement http://www.ikea.com/us/en/about_ikea/newsitem/Swedwood_state... " The audit team identified one issue regarding excessive use of overtime. Although the use of overtime at Danville is within legal parameters, it does not live up to the high demands of IWAY. The remark has been taken seriously by the Danville management, which has designed a process to solve this issue and they are well on their way. IKEA will continue to monitor the situation to ensure an acceptable level of voluntary overtime in Danville. "
duncanj 15y ago
Actually, 76% of workers ended up voting for union representation at the end of July. http://www.bwint.org/default.asp?index=3639 http://www.bwint.org/default.asp?index=3639 This story is kind of old. It will be interesting to see how things go in the future, but unless things change for the worse, it is unlikely to me that any newspaper will do any follow-up.
RyanMcGreal 15y ago
> I'm rather skeptical of any "workers at factory are mistreated, unhappy, et cetera" story that just happens to coincide with an attempt by a big-labor union to unionize said factory. Unions don't waste their time trying to organize happy, satisfied employees.
- hugh3 15y ago
  Unions are happy to take anyone's money. In fact they'd rather represent happy workers rather than unhappy workers -- happy workers pay their dues and don't cause any trouble. I know from experience that unions are very good at forcing reluctant populations of workers to unionize. All they have to do is make you sign a little card, and they're not keen on taking "no" for an answer.
- MartinCron 15y ago
  Unions don't waste their time trying to organize happy, satisfied employees Well, sometimes they do, but it generally doesn't work very well. I remember reading a story about how a labor organizer just totally failed to get anyone interested in signing up because their jobs were just fine, thank you.

by hugh3 15y ago

onemoreact 15y ago

It's is being covered in Sweden and they did get some response from the company. "Plant officials didn't return calls and declined to meet with a Times reporter who visited the Virginia facility. Swedwood spokeswoman Ingrid Steen in Sweden called the situation in Danville "sad" but said she could not discuss the complaints of specific employees. She said she had heard "rumors" about anti-union meetings at the plant but added that "this wouldn't be anything that would be approved by the group management in Sweden." What's interesting is not the conflict between workers and management at a camp, but how similar the coverage of the story is with bad press in the home country for outsourcing work to the US. PS: Still, it's an old story and the company responded by reducing the need for overtime: http://www.ikea.com/us/en/about_ikea/newsitem/Swedwood_statement http://www.ikea.com/us/en/about_ikea/newsitem/Swedwood_state... " The audit team identified one issue regarding excessive use of overtime. Although the use of overtime at Danville is within legal parameters, it does not live up to the high demands of IWAY. The remark has been taken seriously by the Danville management, which has designed a process to solve this issue and they are well on their way. IKEA will continue to monitor the situation to ensure an acceptable level of voluntary overtime in Danville. "

duncanj 15y ago

Actually, 76% of workers ended up voting for union representation at the end of July. http://www.bwint.org/default.asp?index=3639 http://www.bwint.org/default.asp?index=3639 This story is kind of old. It will be interesting to see how things go in the future, but unless things change for the worse, it is unlikely to me that any newspaper will do any follow-up.

RyanMcGreal 15y ago

> I'm rather skeptical of any "workers at factory are mistreated, unhappy, et cetera" story that just happens to coincide with an attempt by a big-labor union to unionize said factory. Unions don't waste their time trying to organize happy, satisfied employees.

hugh3 15y ago
Unions are happy to take anyone's money. In fact they'd rather represent happy workers rather than unhappy workers -- happy workers pay their dues and don't cause any trouble. I know from experience that unions are very good at forcing reluctant populations of workers to unionize. All they have to do is make you sign a little card, and they're not keen on taking "no" for an answer.
MartinCron 15y ago
Unions don't waste their time trying to organize happy, satisfied employees Well, sometimes they do, but it generally doesn't work very well. I remember reading a story about how a labor organizer just totally failed to get anyone interested in signing up because their jobs were just fine, thank you.