Sweatshops? In the US?

[firecat]

Ikea's U.S. factory churns out unhappy workers
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-ikea-union-20110410,0,4172495,full.story
Exerpt:

Swedwood's Steen...acknowledged the pay gap between factories in Europe and the U.S. "That is related to the standard of living and general conditions in the different countries," Steen 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."

I'm not sure "ironic" is the right word for this.

ETA: Obsidian Wings has a good post about this.
http://obsidianwings.blogs.com/obsidian_wings/2011/04/full-circle.html

Comments

[kaigou]

I think that situation needs an even stronger word than 'irony' (which doesn't really apply in this case, much, anyway) -- seeing how Sweden is an incredibly unionized country, and Ikea's had worker's unions for as long as there's been an Ikea. Then again, the majority of the management at the US factory isn't Swedish, but American, so I have a strong suspicion as to who, exactly, is being the spanner against the workers organizing. The Swedes, in general, sure don't have a problem with it.

[lilacsigil]

Yeah, I don't think "ironic" is the right word, either. I think "inevitable" might be better.

[labeopen.livejournal.com]

Great writing! I want you to follow up to this topic!?!

[prairierabbit.livejournal.com]

Thanks, Stef. I'm posting this on FB, since I know several people on my friends list there who patronize IKEA heavily and probably/hopefully wouldn't if they were aware of these issues.

Linketies (with a lot of online resources for nature-identification)

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