Vol. 79/No. 1 January 19, 2015
In Washington, D.C., two members of OUR Walmart — the organization of Walmart workers fighting for higher pay, full-time work and respect on the job — are among the garment, airline and retail workers who recently sent blood money bonuses to the Socialist Workers Party Capital Fund. Ned Measel and Glova Scott sent $208 and $387.75 respectively, which they had been given as part of Walmart’s “MyShare” program.
The company claims this quarterly “profit-sharing bonus” goes up or down depending on “shrinkage” (missing or damaged inventory) and the number of reported employee and customer injuries on company property, Measel told the Militant.
Production, holiday and other “bonuses” — designed to bribe workers to accept speedup, unsafe job conditions and wage cuts — are referred to as blood money by supporters of the communist movement, who turn them over to the party’s Capital Fund to help finance the party’s long-range work.
Becky Ellis, who works at a credit union in Minneapolis, sent $323.80 “for blood money from my boss for back pay for a new contract.”
Dean Hazlewood in Miami sent $118.38 paid to him from a class-action suit against a former employer in Los Angeles, American Apparel. “This was a place where the air was very dusty, leading to respiratory problems for many, myself included,” he wrote. “Only the bosses had air conditioning, and the hot-air exhaust from their air conditioning units shot straight out onto the production floor to make things even hotter. As garment workers are in the forefront of many labor actions around the world, what better use for this bribe.”
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— MAGGIE TROWE