Ikea's U.S. factory churns out unhappy workers

[zoog]

Perhaps we're slowly returning to a production economy after all. A few more years of developments like this and we'll be the next cheap manufacturing center for the world.

But three years after the massive facility opened here, excitement has waned. Ikea is the target of racial discrimination complaints, a heated union-organizing battle and turnover from disgruntled employees.

Workers complain of eliminated raises, a frenzied pace and mandatory overtime. Several said it's common to find out on Friday evening that they'll have to pull a weekend shift, with disciplinary action for those who can't or don't show up.

The dust-up has garnered little attention in the U.S. But it's front-page news in Sweden, where much of the labor force is unionized and Ikea is a cherished institution. Per-Olaf Sjoo, the head of the Swedish union in Swedwood factories, said he was baffled by the friction in Danville. Ikea's code of conduct, known as IWAY, guarantees workers the right to organize and stipulates that all overtime be voluntary.

Laborers in Swedwood plants in Sweden produce bookcases and tables similar to those manufactured in Danville. The big difference is that the Europeans enjoy a minimum wage of about $19 an hour and a government-mandated five weeks of paid vacation. Full-time employees in Danville start at $8 an hour with 12 vacation days — eight of them on dates determined by the company.

What's more, as many as one-third of the workers at the Danville plant have been drawn from local temporary-staffing agencies. These workers receive even lower wages and no benefits, employees said.

Bill Street, who has tried to organize the Danville workers for the machinists union, said Ikea was taking advantage of the weaker protections afforded to U.S. workers.

"It's ironic that Ikea looks on the U.S. and Danville the way that most people in the U.S. look at Mexico," Street said.

latimes

[oddlots]

Re: Ikea's U.S. factory churns out unhappy workers

It seems to me that unions are one of the few forces capable of forcing some of the economy's blood down into the body politic where it's required, especially when you have a dearth of demand. If we are disgusted by the rewards available to those looting the public purse through bailouts and similarly disgusted by the great middle-class-wrecking pump-and-dump of housing that preceded it, why is there simultaneously such animosity towards unions amongst us. It seems to me that the demand for reasonable wages has only become more obviously just and reasonable in the context of the crisis. And yet the ideologues of the right have only doubled down in their commitment: if the first glass of kool aid didn't kill you the second will surely make you invincible.

It seems obvious to me that the resources that have built banker's castles in Greenwich are exactly the resources absent from so many other communities. Where else could it have come from really? We're not talking about technology here. It's banking for F's sake. If they are thriving then someone - almost by definition - is hurting.

[chr5648]

Re: Ikea's U.S. factory churns out unhappy workers

why is there simultaneously such animosity towards unions amongst us.

Have you searched for prevailing wages in you county? Have you checked out how much various union workers make?, electricians? longshoreman? teamsters? police? fire? construction workers?

People are jealous of those wages and many times they end up paying for them either through taxes or increased product costs.

In NJ we have a pothole infestation especially after this hard winter. Roads could all easily be resurfaced there were no prevailing wages or at least reasonable prevailing wages. Thats why people are pissed, nothing can get done without costing an arm and a leg. Can't build a bridge, road, school, etc.

[SeanO]

Re: Ikea's U.S. factory churns out unhappy workers

Seems to me that a missing aspect of the union debate, is the unionization of public vs. private employees. Makes little sense to me that public employees are forced into unions whose dues influence who gets elected and ultimately sets their wages & benefits - all at taxpayer expense.

[blazespinnaker]

Re: Ikea's U.S. factory churns out unhappy workers

Well, this is exactly it. You want jobs without innovation / education and just via low currency, then you have to mexicanize your economy. So that means low paid assembly work. At least it's work, I guess.

[LazyBoy]

Re: Ikea's U.S. factory churns out unhappy workers

In NJ we have a pothole infestation especially after this hard winter. Roads could all easily be resurfaced there were no prevailing wages or at least reasonable prevailing wages. Thats why people are pissed, nothing can get done without costing an arm and a leg. Can't build a bridge, road, school, etc.

Well, NJ's broke no matter what the wages are. I would say you 'Can't build a bridge, road, school, etc.' now because every level of government went into debt during the good times instead of saving for a rainy day. It's raining now and we're screwed.

OTOH, they do Git R Done better in some other places.

The Japanese road destroyed by quake repaired in 6 days

[touchring]

Re: Ikea's U.S. factory churns out unhappy workers

i'm tryin to figure out if the photos are after and before the quake, or before repair and after the repair? lol

[don]

Re: Ikea's U.S. factory churns out unhappy workers

i'm tryin to figure out if the photos are after and before the quake, or before repair and after the repair? lol

A little Photoshop never hurts

[chr5648]

Re: Ikea's U.S. factory churns out unhappy workers

Well, NJ's broke no matter what the wages are. I would say you 'Can't build a bridge, road, school, etc.' now because every level of government went into debt during the good times instead of saving for a rainy day. It's raining now and we're screwed.

OTOH, they do Git R Done better in some other places.

The Japanese road destroyed by quake repaired in 6 days

Pics look almost the same except for the hue of the trees in the background, seems like a big difference in color unless the cloud cover caused the change in hue.

If the curb in the bottom picture was broken then it should be the same curb in the top picture. They seem legit.

If those pictures are legit it is more proof that homogenous, high-iq societies(Japan) have a unique approach.


NJ politics is unique, the unions never bargained with the state, the state government from the 1980's to the whitman to mcgreevy to corzine administrations worked hand in hand with the unions, just giving away the treasury to the unions and corrupted politicians friends. One of the big bargaining points were prevailing wages, no wonder the state is in such big debt when your paying a construction worker $50 an hour, or an electricians $70 an hour, or a pipe fitter $63 an hour (confirmed from a friend), it is near impossible to get a project done within any reasonable cost, everyones hands in the treasury, each project goes deeper and deeper into debt. The idea of a rainy day doesn't exist in NJ.

The problem with christie, is he is trying to save a completely screwed up system, abstractly similar to the wall street bailouts of 2008. The best thing would for a complete collapse and to start from a new.


It is really shameful, that we can't fix a few potholes, resurface a few yards of roads here and there, and we are still one of the richest states in the US.

[wayiwalk]

Re: Ikea's U.S. factory churns out unhappy workers

As painful as a state bankrupcy would be, I have thought the same about fixing NJ.

The system has been gamed for too long - there are many state workers getting a paid vacation (retirement) at more than most of the private sector makes working full time at the top of their career!

[flintlock]

Re: Ikea's U.S. factory churns out unhappy workers

no wonder the state is in such big debt when your paying a construction worker $50 an hour, or an electricians $70 an hour, or a pipe fitter $63 an hour (confirmed from a friend), it is near impossible to get a project done within any reasonable cost

Sounds like perhaps your friend is confusing wages with hourly rates charged by the company for its services? Or maybe not? I just see wages vs rates confused all the time in my business. Some people think I pay my help $70 hour! They wish!

[chr5648]

Re: Ikea's U.S. factory churns out unhappy workers

Sounds like perhaps your friend is confusing wages with hourly rates charged by the company for its services? Or maybe not? I just see wages vs rates confused all the time in my business. Some people think I pay my help $70 hour! They wish!

Welcome to NJ

http://lwd.dol.state.nj.us/labor/wag...minations.html

[dcarrigg]

Re: Ikea's U.S. factory churns out unhappy workers

Sounds like perhaps your friend is confusing wages with hourly rates charged by the company for its services? Or maybe not? I just see wages vs rates confused all the time in my business. Some people think I pay my help $70 hour! They wish!

Here are the rates for NJ...they have to be documented and paid. It can be a federal offense if federal money is used on a construction project (often it is) and workers are paid rates less than the wage.

They vary by county, but the highest I see for a pipefitter is $50/hr - $63 seems a bit high. To be fair, I did not go through every county. Perhaps I am mistaken.

Some states have laws pushing these requirements onto state-funded works. Others do not. Union shops typically stick to this wage no matter what. Other employers will use it for state-funded and/or federal-funded work that requires it, then pay their employees substantially less when it is not required (split out by the hour).

Sole-proprietors and owners are exempt from having to 'charge' these rates for work they do themselves. Some employers try to forge documents to get around it. Sometimes they get caught; sometimes not. It is not extremely well enforced in several areas.

This thread has gone from Ikea paying factory workers $8/hr in VA to talking about public works projects to discussing $50/hr pipefitters in NJ. Splitting the difference probably helps one arrive a fairly decent middle-class wage. Yet I'm sure plenty of people are angry at the pipefitter.

My guess is that public works projects would probably not get much (if any) cheaper even if this law changed. There's a collective 'expected cost' of doing business. Companies are not going to instantly drop their bids in unison because the law gets removed. The Bechtels will just bump a few spots on the Forbes 400 list. Heck, at least they inherited a company that makes things (except for the capital holdings companies in the group). Regardless, taxpayers will not see tax reductions.

Of course, I could be wrong. Regardless, cutting back the wages of the pipefitter will not help the plight of the Ikea factory worker. As I have stated many times here, I will not promote the middle class turning on itself in an attempt to get a pound of flesh from its own arm. Cannibalism is not a good solution to starvation.

[don]

Re: Ikea's U.S. factory churns out unhappy workers

This thread has gone from Ikea paying factory workers $8/hr in VA to talking about public works projects to discussing $50/hr pipefitters in NJ. Splitting the difference probably helps one arrive a fairly decent middle-class wage. Yet I'm sure plenty of people are angry at the pipefitter..

The vitriolic difference voiced toward an overpaid pipefitter and a grand construction swindler like Brown & Root can be counted on as a given. I have 7-figure friends that have a visceral hatred of working people. Not really sure why. Their rants toggle between working people are lazy and don't want to work, to when they are working they want way too much. They hate illegal immigrants but admire how hard and how cheap some of them will work. To this day they feel the TBTFs are over-regulated, strangled by Obama, who's also hamstringing the military. It's truly a no-fare trip to outer space

[chr5648]

Re: Ikea's U.S. factory churns out unhappy workers

Of course, I could be wrong. Regardless, cutting back the wages of the pipefitter will not help the plight of the Ikea factory worker. As I have stated many times here, I will not promote the middle class turning on itself in an attempt to get a pound of flesh from its own arm. Cannibalism is not a good solution to starvation.

IMO, unions would get more support from average middle class people if they weren't funding politicians and political parties. By funding political parties and politicians they bring animosity to themselves.

If they did stop all funding of the political class, I think most people would get rid of their anti-union bias and support unions. I know I would.

http://www.halfsigma.com/2005/04/the_unequal_bar.html