More On RBC's Outsourcing From Star Readers

I have a busy morning ahead, so for now I take the liberty of reproducing two letters from this morning's Star that make some excellent points as to how to apportion blame for the outrageous corporate practice of outsourcing Canadian jobs, most apparent in the current RBC imbroglio. As well, if you have the time, check out this column by Heather Mallick, who writes on the same topic.

Royal Bank faces heat over foreign worker plan, April 8

The outsourcing by the Royal Bank of Canada of work done by Canadians to foreigners is the logical outcome of the Conservative government's policy of allowing temporary workers into Canada and generally supporting the large-corporation agenda put forth by the Canadian Council of Chief Executives and their ilk. The bankruptcy of these policies is brought into sharp relief when one of the most profitable corporations in Canada enhances its already huge profitability a little bit more at the expense of Canadian employment.

The government's Economic Action Plan should be retitled “Corporate Welfare Plan.” The government has no coherent approach to dealing with the twin job-reduction forces of globalization and technology, other than tax cutting, cost cutting and making Canada safe for corporations.

As for RBC, shame on you. Their stated defence for their action is the usual meaningless corporate blather about “reducing cost to reinvest in initiatives that enhance the customer experience.” Really? When did any of the large Canadian banks put customers ahead of profits?

John Simke, Toronto

RBC's decision to replace Canadian workers with foreign workers under the faulty new federal legislation is an affront to Canada and Canadian workers. Profits at all costs shows a disrespect to Canadian workers.

Since RBC is doing quite well financially, this move is troubling. With five unemployed workers in Toronto for every job, many of them low paid, this is a further slap in the face.

It is clear that RBC shows no moral responsibility to the country and its people, who made them rich. While the executives of this company make millions, they have lost touch with the rest of the population.

Joan Dolson, Toronto

Monsanto Sued By Migrant Workers Over Labor, Housing Conditions

It seems the bigger they are, the more intent corporations are on squeezing everything they can out of workers, doesn't it?

H/t GMWatch and Sandra Harris

Caterpillar, Inc. - A Reprehensible Corporate 'Citizen'

When I think of caterpillars (which, until recently, I have to admit, has been rarely), I think of a slow-moving yet determined creature on its way to metamorphosis, often into something quite beautiful. Unfortunately, that gentle imagery must be cast aside when considering Caterpillar Inc., an ugly corporate entity intent on wreaking havoc to those in its employ.

As previously noted, Electro-Motive Canada, a subsidiary of the company, has made untenable demands of its workers, resulting in a lockout at its London plant. In The Star today, David Olive writes on how the gutting of contracts is a practice well-documented in Caterpillar''s American operations, employing a tactic best described as a war of attrition against its employees:

The firm has a practiced skill at “taking a strike” for as long as required until workers straggle back to work across their own picket lines.

Indeed, the usual excuse of seeking increased productivity during difficult times doesn't even apply to its ruthless tactics:

Well ahead of the Great Recession, during a banner year for the world’s largest maker of construction and mining equipment, Cat insisted that its managers gird for a worst-case scenario of an 80 per cent plunge in sales over two years.

And on a single day in 2009, Caterpillar blithely laid off 11,000 employees, or 9 per cent of its global workforce. Like most U.S. employers, Cat has a hair-trigger for layoffs at the first sign of tough times.

Despite this well-documented practice, it was given permission by Industry Canada in 2010 to purchase Electro-Motive Canada in London, for generations the North American locomotive arm of General Motors Corp.

And yet silence over this outrageous corporate behaviour, which would assumes violates the terms of the foreign takeover, ensues from both the Harper government in general, and Industry Canada is particular.

Where is the outrage?

What were the terms, if any, that Industry Canada stipulated for Electro-Motive's purchase?

Where are the leaders of the opposition parties, who have thus far observed the same stony silence as the government?

Who will speak up in defense of good-paying Canadian jobs?

One shudders to consider the answers.

Shaking Up The Complacent

If anything will defeat us as a progressive nation, it is the complacency and defeatism of the electorate. Feeling powerless, something I am convinced the extreme right wants us to feel, contributes to low civic and political engagement and, of course, low turnout at elections, again keys to victory by the right.

Although the following video is American, I find the issues it addresses and the potential resilience of the people it suggests to be heartening. There is absolutely no reason a similar movement could not exist in Canada:

Michael Moore and Dead Peasant Insurance

Long overdue, I finally got around to watching Michael Moore's latest documentary Capitalism: A Love Story last evening, having borrowed the disc from my local library. (Happily, not being a resident of Toronto, I don't at present have to worry about my branch closing.) While Moore is often criticized for the built-in biases of his films, his works, I think, are analogous to the pamphleteers of old, advocating for a particular goal or point of view. From the right-wing, such efforts are frequently viewed as subversive, while their constant propagandizing, of course, is different, mere earnest efforts to convey “THE TRUTH” (unregulated free markets good – regulation bad). But I digress.

While much of what the film covers wasn't new to me, as always, Moore puts a human face to the economic catastrophe that rocked the world in 2008, and helps us to connect emotionally to the personal tragedies that were the direct result of unregulated and unchecked greed. What was new to me, however, was the term 'dead peasant insurance', the ghoulish corporate practice of insuring the lives of employees, not for their families' benefit should they die, but to enhance corporate profits.

One example drawn from the film details how a 26-year-old young mother, employed by Walmart, died of an asthma attack, her demise yielding almost $90,000 to America's favorite superstore, while the widowed husband and father of their three young children struggled paying medical and funeral bills of over $100,000 for her unsuccessful treatment. No price rollback for him, unfortunately.

Another instance was of a bank benefitting to the tune of $1.5 million when one of its employees died, the widow, of course, having no knowledge of it and, of course, no offers of financial assistance from her late husband's employer.

I could go on with more of the grisly details of corporate greed and depredation the film covers, but I'll stop here and urge everyone to take a look at the film which is also available free online.

American Sweatshops

Since I started subscribing to the Toronto Star, one of the big difference I've noticed from the Globe's business section is its emphasis on the human, as opposed to the corporate dimensions of companies. Today is a good example as David Olive looks at how the U.S. is becoming a sweatshop country being exploited by European companies who treat their American employees quite differently than the workers in their own countries.