Wal*Mart
We have recognized that Walmart does not view its wage and benefit structure as being a problem. On its Website, Walmart announces what the company is doing to improve its image in terms of sustainability and other ethical issues ("Walmart Announces New Commitments to Drive Sustainability Deeper into its Global Supply Chain," 2012). However, the company fails to mention anything about how their low wages are hurting communities and the economy as a whole. This approach to public relations must change if the company is to continue being successful. Walmart needs to be more proactive, and at least start pretending to care about its employees.
There are several political image-boosters that Walmart can use to improve its public relations without actually making changes to its human resources policies. One strategy is to feature an employee of the week on the company Website. This will make the company seem like it cares…...
Barbara Ehrenreich, Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting by in America
Ehrenreich, Barbara. Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America. New York: Metropolitan Books/Henry Holt & Company. 221 pp. $23. ISBN-10: 0312626681
Barbara Ehrenreich was born in 1941, in Montana. She attended Reed College, where she studied chemistry, and graduated in 1963. She also received a Ph. D in cellular immunology from Rockefeller University. She has written fourteen books during her prodigious career as an essayist and activist. She labels herself as a Democrat Liberal, while being part, for a long time, of the Democratic Socialists of America. She has written both fiction and non-fiction, but, as the New York Times called her, she remains a "veteran muckraker"
. As the paragraphs below will discuss, the book "Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America" fits well into this category.
Nickel and Dimed is a book focusing on the life of…...
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Works Cited
Ehrenreich, Barbara. Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America. New York: Metropolitan Books/Henry Holt & Company. 2000
Galagher, Dorothy. Making Ends Meet- a review of Nickel and Dimed. The New York Times. 2001
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Keeping all these facts and figures in mind, it would not be wrong to conclude that low wage is one of the more serious problems of the country and needs urgent remedy. The government needs to address the issue properly and effectively keeping in view the current demographic trends.
eferences
1. Anthony Bimba, The Molly Maguires: The True Story of Labor's Martyred Pioneers in the Coalfields (1950; reprint, New York: International Publishers, 1975), pp. 54-66.
2. Ibid., p. 65.
3. Ibid., p. 66.
4. Edward Wolff, "ecent Trends in Living Standards in the United States," New York University and the Jerome Levy Institute of Economics, New York, 2002 p. 1.
5. U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Outlook Handbook: Tomorrow's Jobs. Online. Available: http://www.bls.gov/oco/oco2003.htm. Accessed: September 9, 2006.
6. Ibid.
7. Ibid.
8. Ibid.
9. U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Labor Force Statistics from the Current Population Survey. Online. Available: http://www.bls.gov/cps/cpsaat37.pdf. Accessed: September 9,…...
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References
1. Anthony Bimba, The Molly Maguires: The True Story of Labor's Martyred Pioneers in the Coalfields (1950; reprint, New York: International Publishers, 1975), pp. 54-66.
2. Ibid., p. 65.
3. Ibid., p. 66.
4. Edward Wolff, "Recent Trends in Living Standards in the United States," New York University and the Jerome Levy Institute of Economics, New York, 2002 p. 1.
Essay Topic Examples
1. The Impact of Minimum Wage Increases on the Hospitality Industry:
This essay could explore how raising the minimum wage affects the hospitality sector, focusing on aspects such as employment rates, pricing strategies, service quality, and business profitability. It might also discuss the potential trade-offs between higher wages and job automation.
2. Tipping Culture and Its Effects on Wage Equity in Hospitality:
This topic allows for an examination of how reliance on tips rather than base wages influences the income stability of hospitality workers. The essay could consider the disparities between front-of-house and back-of-house staff, and the move towards no-tipping policies in some establishments.
3. Wage Disparities and Gender in the Hospitality Industry:
An essay under this topic would discuss the wage gaps that exist between male and female employees in the hospitality industry. It could explore the reasons behind these disparities, such as occupational segregation, differences in hours worked, and the representation…...
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Primary Sources
Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor. \"Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics: Food Services and Drinking Places.\" May 2021.
National Restaurant Association. \"2021 State of the Restaurant Industry.\" National Restaurant Association, 2021.Cornell University School of Hotel Administration. \"Compensation and Salary Studies for the Hospitality Industry.\" The Center for Hospitality Research, 2019.International Labour Organization. \"Wages in the Hospitality Sector: A Comparison of Minimum Wages.\" ILO Sectoral Policies Department, 2020.American Hotel & Lodging Association. \"AHLA\'s 2020 State of the Hotel Industry Report.\" American Hotel & Lodging Association, 2020.
Essay Topic Examples
1. Wage Disparities in the Hospitality Industry:
Explore the reasons behind wage disparities in hospitality, focusing on factors like location, job role, and experience.
2. The Impact of Minimum Wage Laws on Hospitality Workers:
Analyze how minimum wage legislation affects the wages, employment rates, and overall economic conditions of hospitality workers.
3. Tips vs. Base Wages: A Comparative Analysis:
Discuss the implications of relying on tips versus a stable base wage for hospitality employees, including job satisfaction and financial stability.
4. Gender Wage Gap in Hospitality:
Investigate the existence and extent of the gender wage gap within the hospitality sector, exploring causes and potential solutions.
5. The Role of Unions in Wage Negotiations in Hospitality:
Examine how unionization affects wage levels, working conditions, and employee rights in the hospitality industry.
Essay Title Examples
1. "Serving Up Fairness: Wage…...
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Primary Sources
Primary SourcesUnited States Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor StatisticsMLA Citation: \"United States Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics. Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics. U.S. Department of Labor, www.bls.gov/oes/.\"
Hospitality Industry Research Reports
MLA Citation: \"Hospitality Industry Research Reports. IBISWorld, www.ibisworld.com/industry-trends/market-research-reports/accommodation-food-services/hospitality/.\"National Restaurant AssociationMLA Citation: \"National Restaurant Association. Restaurant Industry Compensation and Benefits Report. National Restaurant Association, www.restaurant.org/research/reports/compensation-benefits/.\"
Incentive Programs Among Low Income
The effects of work incentive programs in encouraging low income individuals to participate in employment depend on the income thresholds of reforms in whether the individual gains benefits that are equal to or greater than what they would receive by not working. The factors in the determination include after tax income plus benefits, such as Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) and fixed work costs, compared to the total change in revenue received. If the loss of welfare is greater than the total change in revenue, work incentives have no value and discourage employment participation. On the other hand, if the total amount of changed revenue is greater than the welfare loss and compensates for fixed work costs, incentives encourage employment among the low income.
The Tax Reform Act of 1986 (TRA86) expanded EITC benefits by increases in the standard deduction, personal deductions, and favorable tax rates.…...
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Works Cited
Elissa, Nada. Taxation and Labor Supply of Married Women: The Tax Reform Act of '1986 as a Natural Experiment. Feb 1995. working paper. 20 July 2013.
Elissa, Nada, Kleven, Henrick Jacobsen, & Kriener, Claus Thustrup. Welfare Effects of Tax Reform and Labor Supply at the Intensive and Extensive Margins. May 2004. working paper. 20 July 2013.
Riccio, Jim. Promoting Employment Stability and Advancement Among Low-Income Adults. Mar 2013. article. 20 July 2013.
Rothstein, Jesse. The Unintended Consequences of Encouraging Work: Tax Incidence on the EITC. May 2008. pdf. 20 July 2013.
Laws and Wages
Legislation and Wages: An Intricate Dance, but Who's Leading?
Government and employment have always had and will necessarily continue to have a complex and mutually influential relationship, not least in the area of wages. What people are able to earn has always been a pressing issue in any capitalist system, and can influence the formation and the actions of government in numerous direct and indirect ways. In the other direction, legislation enacted by the government can both directly impact employees' wages and have indirect impacts through the changing of burdens that employers must contend with in compensating employees and operating their businesses. This paper briefly examines the relationship between government and wages, and specifically between legislation and employers' abilities to pay wages and utilize wages as an effective workforce motivator and stabilizer. This examination shows that good intentions can sometimes have questionable results, even when the ethical goods they…...
he ramifications for this in the economy would be that in order to maintain profits, prices would need to increase in order to match the rise in wages that stemmed from sustained constraints on the labor supply.
he Corn Laws were introduced in 1815 as import tariffs, designed to protect corn prices in Great Britain from lower-priced imports. Ricardo naturally opposed the Corn Laws, as he believed in free trade as espoused in his theory of comparative advantage. Ricardo viewed the corn tariffs as unnecessary -- if other nations can product corn better, labor would need to be repositioned in Britain to other activities in order to trade with those grain-producing nations.
he Corn Laws also had an adverse impact on wealth distribution. At the time, unemployment was high in Great Britain so it was more likely that usual that the iron law of wages would hold, given the surplus of…...
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The Corn Laws were introduced in 1815 as import tariffs, designed to protect corn prices in Great Britain from lower-priced imports. Ricardo naturally opposed the Corn Laws, as he believed in free trade as espoused in his theory of comparative advantage. Ricardo viewed the corn tariffs as unnecessary -- if other nations can product corn better, labor would need to be repositioned in Britain to other activities in order to trade with those grain-producing nations.
The Corn Laws also had an adverse impact on wealth distribution. At the time, unemployment was high in Great Britain so it was more likely that usual that the iron law of wages would hold, given the surplus of labor. The Corn Laws essentially locked in prices for grain for local producers, meaning that land owners would see increased profits, precisely at a time when workers were seeing real wages decline.
Ricardo understood that the Corn Laws would produce unequal distribution of wealth. He saw that if protections of domestic grain markets were removed, labor would be redeployed to other areas of the economy. Real wages in the agricultural sector would increase and the workers' share of wealth would increase as a result. The nation would also benefit as the price of corn and grain would decrease due to foreign trade. Redeployed workers would be able to help other areas of the economy grow, in particular those free from tariff burdens, again achieving a greater distribution of wealth than occurred under the Corn Laws.
Columbus Carpentry1Culture and organizational structure could be playing a significant role in the turnover problem at Columbus Custom Carpentry (CCC). Although a problem of culture is not explicitly stated by any of the stakeholders in the CCC case study, many of the problems described can be traced back to the companys lack of a strong organizational culture.Culture refers to the shared values, beliefs, attitudes, and practices of the organization. The company\\\'s culture may be contributing to the problem if it doesn\\\'t align with employees\\\' expectations or if it\\\'s not conducive to employee satisfaction and engagement. For example, if the company culture doesn\\\'t prioritize work-life balance or doesn\\\'t recognize employees\\\' contributions and achievements, employees may feel undervalued and be more likely to leave. This is certainly the case with those in the crating department as well as those on the production line who have left or who have been tempted to…...
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ReferencesColumbus Custom Carpentry Case Study. (n.d.).
Another serious con when it comes to the minimum wage is that raising it stops some people who would have otherwise gone on to further their education (Wellington, 1991). These people do not see the need for more education, because they realize that they can enter the job market and make enough money to survive. That makes them happy, so they are satisfied with what they have. Later, when they realize that they cannot advance without a better education, they become frustrated and stuck in their job (Wellington, 1991). They feel trapped, but by that time there is not a lot that they can do. They may already have a lot of bills and/or a family, and going back to school is not something that they can do at that time. The lack of education in the workforce brings the entire economy down and keeps companies that are looking for…...
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Bibliography
Black, John (2003). Oxford dictionary of economics. New York: Oxford University Press, p. 300
Sowell, Thomas. (2007). Basic economics (3rd ed): A common sense guide to the economy. New York: Basic Books, pp. 210-221.
Wellington, Alison J. (1991). Effects of the Minimum Wage on the Employment Status of Youths: An Update. Journal of Human Resources, 26(1), pp. 27-46.
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) has several important roles in the American economy. The FLSA establishes standards for the basic minimum wage and for overtime pay in the United States. It was established by the U.S. Congress in 1938, and it also sets the standards for child labor, and for recordkeeping by employers, according to Susan Healthfield, writing in about.com. The FLSA " ... affects most private and public sector employment," which includes federal government employees, state and local employment as well (Healthfield, 2015). This paper delves into how the FLSA applies to compensation in a variety of ways and situations.
The Minimum age -- Issues and Differences
hile the FLSA sets the national minimum wage at $7.25 per hour -- that rate went into effect on July 24, 2009 -- it does not " ... provide wage payment collection procedures" for the additional wages that an employee may have been promised…...
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Works Cited
CBS / KCBS. (2015). San Francisco Minimum Wage Rises to $12.25 An Hour. Ties Oakland For Highest in Nation. Retrieved January 23, 2016, from http://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com .
FLSA Home Page. (2007). Coverage under the FLSA. Retrieved January 23, 2016, from http://www.flsa.com .
Healthfield, S. M. (2015). What You Need to Know About the Fair Labor Standards Act.
Mollie's Job
The viewpoint expressed in (b) is the closest to the way this paper will be presented. Indeed the roles that all Street (profit first, workers be damned) and the U.S. government played in this nonfiction book are the main reasons why Mollie's job was moved first to Mississippi and then to Mexico. To be sure, this sad legacy could have ended up with a more positive result for Mollie and a less negative result for the Mexican worker, Balbina Duque.
In fairness, statement (a) also has a ring of truth since the way corporations are moving jobs to cheaper locations (like China, where Apple employs many thousands of workers at low wages to assemble the iPads and other technologies) is good for business. But (a) is "not for the best" when it comes to corporate behaviors creating an inevitability that good people like Mollie and other hard-working employees will be…...
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Works Cited
Adler, William M. (2000). Mollie's Job: A Story of Life and Work on the Global Assembly
Line. New York: Touchstone Book / Simon & Schuster.
Staffing at Piedmont Airlines
Finding solutions at Piedmont Airlines
Overview of Organization
Piedmont Airlines is a fully owned subsidiary of U.S. Airways. U.S. Airways is the 6th largest airline in the United States (Piedmont Airlines, Inc., 2011). Piedmont flies 440 daily departures to 55 cities throughout the Eastern United States and Canada. They operate 44 DeHaviland DHC-8 Turbo prop aircraft as their primary fleet. The headquarters is based in Salisbury, Maryland. They employ nearly 4000 aviation professionals (Piedmont Airlines, Inc., 2011).
Like many organizations, Piedmont is facing problems with employee morale. Low employee morale is closely linked to high turnover rates in many organizations. Low morale also leads to low productivity. Employee satisfaction is one of the most important factors in maintaining an experienced workforce. Poor morale leads to excessive employee absences and a higher absence rate (CCH, 2007). This costs the company money and lost time. It also has an impact on customer…...
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References
CCH 2007 Unscheduled Absence Survey [Poor Morale Leads Up to Even More No-Shows. CCH Human Resources Management Ideas & Trends. 2007, Summer. Retrieved from www.CCH.com Web site: http://www.CCH.com
Grawitch, M., Gottschalk, M., & Munz, D. (2006). "The Path to a Healthy Workplace: A Critical
Review Blinking Healthy Workplace Practices, Employee Well Being, and Organizational Improvements." Consulting Psychology Journal Practice and Research.
ace to the Bottom
Social clause refers to standards which contractors observe in order to cater for public contracts. They usually must be respected to avoid downward pressure on income and working standards. This is usually viewed to bring division between the rich (also referred to as the global north) and the poor (referred to as the global south). The difference between the north and the south has led to a competition that seems to be bringing the north down to the same level with the global south also called the 'race to the bottom'. I believe that the 'race to the bottom' is happening and modern trends such as globalization and liberalization continue to catalyze the process. This paper will look at the 'race to the bottom' theory and how it is gradually unfolding in present times.
Actually, in the real world the competition does exist. This can be proven by…...
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References
Grandy, S. (1998). "New Jersey Corporate Chartermongering, 1875-1929." The Journal of Economic History 49 (3): 677-692.
Rudra, N. (2008). Globalization and the Race to the Bottom in Developing Countries: Who Really Gets Hurt. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Tonelson, A. (2002). The Race to the Bottom: Why A Worldwide Worker Surplus and Uncontrolled Free Trade Are Sinking America Living Standards. New York: Basic Books.
Employment Discrimination at Wal-Mart
Foundation of the Study
This study examines the legislative and judicial climate that enables corporations like Wal-Mart to engage in practices that violate workers' rights. The popular consensus is that Wal-Mart, the largest retail store in the United States, displays an inordinate disregard for the human dignity and morale of its employees and, despite continual litigation, continues to blatantly violate the legal rights of its employees. Wal-Mart faces charges of violating The Federal Fair Labor Standards Act (2011) by asking management to adjust time sheets so that overtime will not need to be paid, and so that all employees will work under the hourly limit required by the union in order to obtain membership. Employees were insured, without their knowledge, against their death by Wal-Mart. The company was named beneficiary; following death of an employee, the entire benefit amount was retained by the corporation. Not a single cent…...
Job opportunities and working conditions for Canadian women during the period between 1880 and 1920 were fairly limited. Women were expected to be part of the labor force, but only until they married. At that time, men were expected to be the primary breadwinners and married women were discouraged from participating in the workforce. In fact, over all the progress towards women’s rights in Canada has been relatively slow.
Technically, the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century offered many opportunities for advancement for women’s rights. Women began to attend universities and....
Outline for an Essay on "The Causes and Consequences of Migration in Trinidad and Australia"
I. Introduction A. Hook: Begin with a captivating statistic or personal anecdote related to migration. B. Thesis statement: Clearly state the argument that migration in Trinidad and Australia has multiple causes and consequences.
II. Causes of Migration: Trinidad A. Economic factors: Discuss the role of unemployment, low wages, and economic inequality in driving migration. B. Social factors: Explore issues such as crime, political instability, and discrimination. C. Environmental factors: Consider the impact of natural disasters and climate change on migration patterns.
III. Causes of Migration: Australia A. Economic opportunities: Highlight the appeal of higher....
I. Introduction A. Brief explanation of fast food and its popularity B. Thesis statement: Despite its convenience and quick service, fast food has detrimental effects on individuals' health, environment, and society.
II. Body Paragraph 1: Health Concerns A. Explanation of the high levels of unhealthy ingredients in fast food (processed meat, trans fats, excessive sodium, and added sugars) B. Discussion of the health problems caused by regular consumption of fast food, such as obesity, heart diseases, and blood pressure issues
III. Body Paragraph 2: Environmental Impact A. Explanation of the excessive use of packaging materials in fast food industry B. Discussion of the environmental consequences of fast food....
Title: The Bitter Bean: Core-Periphery Dynamics in the Global Coffee Industry
Introduction: The global coffee industry vividly exemplifies the core-periphery relationships prevalent in the world economy. Core countries, such as the United States and Western Europe, exhibit economic dominance and control over production and distribution, while peripheral countries in the Global South, where coffee is primarily cultivated, experience exploitation and marginalization. This essay delves into recent news developments in the coffee industry and analyzes how they reflect these core-periphery dynamics.
Coffee Prices and Income Inequality: Recent reports highlight the widening income gap between coffee producers and corporations. In 2023, the global coffee industry was....
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