On Thu, 18 Feb 1999 sokol at jhu.edu wrote:
> McDonald's operates on the franchise basis, so each retail outlet is a
> nominally separate entity. Ditto for outsourcing - the "independent
> contractors" might be controlled by the parent company, but nominally they
> are 'separate' firms. That was, among others, a lesson learned by living
> wage activists here at Hopkins. After presenting President Brody with a
> demand for a living wage for all Hopkins employees, including janitorial
> workers, Brody replied with a straight face that ALL Hopinks employees
> receive such a wage. Janitors are employed not by Hopkins but by an
> "independent" contractor (set up and controlled by Hopkins).
This type of arrangement is also very common in agriculture. In both the pickle and the chicken industry in this region, the packer/marketer controls the entire labor process through contracts with small growers. The workers nominally work for the "independent" grower or sometimes for a foreman. But the situation is not unorganizable. On Ohio and southern Michigan, the Farm Labor Organizing Committee has won three-party contracts among, marketers, growers, and pickle workers. Also tomato workers. Now they are trying the same thing with North Carolina pickle workers.
Oh and by the way, don't buy Mt. Olive pickles.
Tom
Thomas Waters twaters at usit.net 1021 East Oak Hill Avenue, Knoxville TN 37917 But this wall is not real. How can it be real? It's only made of concrete and barbed wire.