Organization as an Instrument of Domination

Essay by pathanclanUniversity, Master'sA+, June 2004

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Every time I have gone to a Wal-Mart, and stood next to break room or chatting around the water cooler, I have observed the conversation for a few minutes of Wal-Mart employees. Many of workers mention they are tired, stressed out, need a vacation, and other complaints of how they are being mistreated. Obviously one can observe that the work place is not where they want to be.

Wal-Mart in Western world is safe to work for, but those who work for Wal-Mart in developing country are not safe. Most of Wal-Mart's clothes are mad in Bangladesh and Honduras. In these factories workers are forced to work 14-24 hours a day. If a worker cannot work these long hours they are suspended or fired. The base wage in Honduras factories is 43 cents per hour. The majority of the factory workers are women. Some as young as 14, the women sit on hard wooden benches, without back rests, in long production lines of 60 or more sewers.

They are not allowed to talk, and they need permission to use the bathroom. The bathrooms are kept locked, and opened only two hours per shift. Everyone works by piece rate, repeating the same sewing operation 1,200 to 1,500 times a day. Many of the supervisors will humiliate the women by yelling and scream for them to work faster. Wal-Mart does not want the U.S. buying public to know that its dominant way of doing business in developing countries, and how its famous low prices are the product of human misery.

On Wal-Mart's web site they have this written "Wal-Mart's policies and practices are designed to ensure an environment that is equitable and inclusive. To that end, we solicit feedback from all of our Associates, annually, regarding their opinions of their work...