Corporate Greed Kills Again

DATELINE: WADING THROUGH BANGLADESHI RUBBLE – Today the death toll from this disaster hit 551. Give that some perspective… This is now more than one-sixth of the total number of people killed in the collapse of the World Trade Center Towers, which were one hell of a lot more than six times taller than the building in Bangladesh. These are people who, despite knowing it was unsafe to be in there, were forced in by their employer, who, by all accounts was nothing more than a criminal thug. How is this not, in essence, a terrorist attack?

This is a building where, from the get-go, there were many concerns. The land that the building was constructed on was reportedly obtained through less than legal means. The contractors were bought off, as were any regulators in the city. The sole intent of this building was to house slave labor, used to create crap to sell to Canada and the United States… and we took the bait. Stories were illegally, and unsafely added to the building, but did anyone who contracted this company demand to see that it was safe for the employees? No, because that would imply they cared and might hold slimedog millionaire thug boss to a standard that could increase the cost of a pair of underwear by a fraction of a cent. But we… as citizens… know this is happening and we demand no better of the corporations, despite the age old rule that the customer is always right. Like the corporate big-wigs, though, it’s easier to pretend it’s all fine or it’s someone else’s problem, or that we really don’t have all the details and perhaps these people are thrilled to work for less than a dollar per 12-hour day. Let me ask you this one question, though; had that building been built on North American soil, what would have been the reaction? We are accomplices in 551 deaths. That number is expected to rise further.

To be fair, it’s hard for many of us to make ends meet now. The banks make record profits, the oil companies are making record profits, but collective bargaining is quashed when it works to represent the laborer, and wages do not go up. Yes, we are all looking for a way to stretch our dollars, but we have allowed corporations run amok, stomping on the lifeblood of society, not just here, but abroad. Funny thing, but those CEO’s and boards of directors aren’t in any need of a bargain.

The last month in Canada has seen a huge uprising against the banks, primarily the Royal Bank of Canada, for bringing in what are essentially illegal Temporary Foreign Workers, using their Canadian staff to train them, then firing the Canadian staff and shipping the TFWs, and many more jobs, out of the country. It exploits a huge loophole, deliberately created by the Harper Conservative Government here, to line the pockets of corporations even more, because those jobs, once outsourced, are in crap buildings, with thug bosses, no benefits, slave conditions and clear consciences because the corporation isn’t ‘responsible’ for what happens there. They aren’t technically ‘our’ workers, so we can exploit them all we want, and the bank gets richer. It’s despicable, on every count. We have known it was going on, but we have done nothing because what can one or two people accomplish against corporate giants who control our money and our laws.

Now, because of the disaster in Bangladesh, those companies who have used this factory for making clothes, who have ‘toured’ it and ‘inspected’ it, who have met with the thug who runs the place with a god damned gun handy to keep people in line, are now running scared. Sadly, they won’t be legally responsible, but they sure as hell should be. Not only did they take jobs away from people right here, they contributed to the abuse and enslavement of thousands of others, in lands where they are absolutely desperate for any crumb the fat cats can toss their way, and who have no choice but to endure the abuse. This is the equivalent of Blood Diamonds in every way.

So, now Target, and Loblaws, and WalMart et al, cannot just wash their hands of this. They said they inspected and it all looked fine. Well, perhaps when they ‘inspect’, they might want to actually take off the fucking blinders and LOOK at what is around them. People who are wearing tatters at work, who are starved and dirty and emaciated, just might not be getting a fair shake from their employer, who works at your behest. Perhaps you should look at how long they work every day, how crammed they are in their work… talk to some, look at the lash marks they have for not working fast enough, check to see if that child you were told is 16 isn’t really 10, like he looks.

The reaction will be to pull out of Bangladesh. We all know that’s what will happen, and they will find some other country to exploit, leaving even more damage in their wake. We SHOULD be giving work to some of these people – but at fair wages in a safe workplace. Why are the standards there any different than what they are here? How in the name of all that is fucking holy can that be justified? Is there absolutely no moral compunction in any corporate head or politician anymore? What has happened to us, as a society, that we aren’t satisfied screwing over our own citizens that we have to go to other countries to do it as well, to make money. We see the gang wars, the drug wars, the thugs trying to gain control – corporations are absolutely no different, other than for the cut of their suits.

If workers make money, they spend money. That is how a capitalist society is to work. It is not meant to wipe out the lower classes, the working class, the middle class – it is meant to provide a comfortable, safe existence for all who live there. Man, have we missed that boat. How are we not guilty of a terrorist attack on foreign soil? I can’t see how the people of Bangladesh can see it any other way.

Dear Gordo

A RESPONSE TO GORD NIXON, CEO ROYAL BANK OF CANADA -- So your kitchen has gotten a bit hot? That’s a damned shame. Too bad some of the $100,000,000.00 (ballparked based on published figures) you have personally made in the last five years didn’t allow for a cooling system in such situations. Obviously you were overpaid in relation to conscience or ethics.

I love how you refer to this situation as a ‘debate’. It is absolutely clear you have not yet learned that you are attempting to defend the indefensible. Instead you choose to insult us, treat us like we are totally ignorant of the games that you play, yet deny. You apparently have been taking some coaching from that uber-spin-meister Zabeen Hirji.
For starters, there is no evidence that you ARE in compliance with the regulations. Show us that proof. You said you have no foreign workers there. Then you said there was one. We have seen interviews with people who are working with many, and we have seen news interviews with people who actually are/were foreign workers employed in Royal Banks... so who the hell are we supposed to be believe? You? Lemme think... if anyone has reason to skew the details and split hairs, it would be you, so quite honestly you have absolutely zero credibility at this point in time.

‘Despite our best efforts, we don’t meet everyone’s expectations...’ Well, that might be true in all situations, but here is why this is the first of many insulting, obnoxious statement in your pitiful attempt to justify what you are doing – you are making NO attempt to meet anyone’s expectations other than your arrogant elitist Board of Directors... and of course tending to your own personal needs. You are making NO effort to meet the expectations of your employees, your customers, your communities or your country’s economy, but you know that.

You should have been more helpful to those being outsourced? Seriously? You actually said this? Shame on you! Here is what you are not getting; you should not be outsourcing any of the damned jobs that Canadians can do. Who the hell are you helping by doing this? Actually, that’s a rhetorical question. We already know (see previous paragraph).

Reviewing supplier arrangements? We are talking about PEOPLE here, Drill-head; not a god damned stapler or paperclip. This is probably the biggest offense, and this alone explains a whole lot of why this is happening. Unless you are one of the ‘beautiful people’ – aka so rich that loonies fall out your ass – you are not really a ‘people’ at all. When did it become okay to list employees as nothing more than furniture? This dehumanizing makes it possible to have people train their replacements, to have jobs go overseas leaving loyal employees with nothing and forcing many into early, unplanned retirement. This is what aids your ilk in getting a good night’s sleep – you don’t need to worry about how ‘supplies’ are treated in India, or how foreign workers here are treated, or who is being exploited just to line your pockets with another thirty pieces of silver.

Your call centers are located in Canada? Well, whoop-de-frigging-do. For how long? Why don’t you address that issue? What departments are next to be shipped away? How do I know that my account information is secure now that it has been spread over several continents? When I got my financing, why wasn’t I told that it would be handled and all the information would be maintained in a third world country where blackmail, exploitation and criminal elements, including within the governments and certainly within those corporate entities, abound? How can you guarantee that my money and my personal information there is safe? Trying to gain brownie points by telling us of ONE aspect of your business that is still in Canada is pitiful, and again, insulting as all holy hell. As for your new initiative for young people? Well, that might have been nice to have presented before you sent the jobs away. Why train them if you are planning, three years into their employment, to make them nothing more than a redundant supply? My god, Mr. Nixon, you really are a piece of work, and I do not mean that in the good sense.

You employ over 57,000 people in Canada. Well, thank you for that. How many are contracted out in other countries? How many have been let go because there weren’t jobs for them in the latest round of ‘transitions’ and how many had no choice but to take early retirement? (and don’t you DARE say or even imply, like Ms Hirji did, that they all wanted that. Don’t you dare try to spin that like she did, because, Sir, that will remove even the slightest hope that you are not a complete and total douche) Why do you cherry pick the numbers you want to share with us? If you were honest, if you really gave the furry crack of a rat’s butt, you would acknowledge the number of people contracted through iGATE and every other ‘supplier’ (there – I closed that loophole for you – the buck now stops with you*) over the last ten years. You would acknowledge the number of TFW’s brought in during the same time – both by RBC and by every other supplier. You would acknowledge the amount of money that was made just by this practice alone and perhaps you might even feel a twinge of shame at ruining so many Canadian lives with absolute indifference.

As for your community record, well... you can shove that too. The only community record that exists at this moment is the amount of profit you made, personally and as a bank, and the number of people who paid for it with their employment, their homes, their savings, their livelihoods and their health. There is a huge human toll for what you do, that far outweighs your value.

Riddle me this while you’re doing your plate spinning routine: When you have sent every possible job oversees, when you have trimmed your need for Canadian ‘supplies’ as much as possible with either exploited workers in other countries or machines here, and every other big company has done likewise, who the hell is left to support the economy? How do you and your greedy shareholders make money then? Who buys the crap they bring in, or takes out a mortgage or puts purchases on their credit card so you can charge us absolutely unjustifiable interest rates? Who is going to need a car loan because no one will be able to afford a damned car? Who is going to be buying all that gas and oil that is going to keep us filthy rich? What about the countless small businesses, the backbone of every community, who are being totally screwed over by this practice, as they close their businesses because no one can afford to support them? It is well past time that you, and corporate Canada, woke the hell up and realized that you are cutting off your noses to spite your faces. You, with the government’s more than willing help, have made it impossible for Canadians to find work, to get work that comes with benefits (because it saves you so much to have only part-time help) and have crippled as many unions as possible, again reinforcing the fact that employees – PEOPLE – no longer enter into the equation at all. RBC might not be doing all of this themselves, but they certainly support... no, they lead a culture that does, and that is more than evident by the revelations of the last week. As you work to widen the gap between the haves and the have-nots, you are destroying your own future, and that of your children, just like you are destroying ours.

On Monday, I was prepared to say that you were a whipping boy for the whole issue of outsourcing, and admittedly for the gross incompetence and unmitigated greed of the government of the day, but your response has earned you special wrath in my world. I see people suffering, losing homes, working three part-time jobs to make ends meet in this current economy. I see them unable to afford food, clothing or anything else – hard to take while RBC executives bomb around on private planes to shop in the US with their wives. I really don’t care if that seems unfair to you, that everyone else is doing it, that the government created a loophole large enough to drive a rig through. YOU made the choice to exploit that loophole and your employees, and in the process have definitely earned the distrust and disgust of the people. YOU are the one who is national, who has received taxpayer backing, who we trust implicitly with our money and our savings, our hopes and dreams and plans. Yes, every other corporation needs to be taken to task for doing this, but YOU, as a bank, make an intimate personal bond with your customers, a promise, a pact to protect us, our money, and our hopes for tomorrow, and YOU, sir, betrayed all of that. This is not as simple as a cell-phone plan or who provides my television cable service. This is personal and your insincere, pandering, insulting half-contrition only makes it worse.

You do, however, have something to give thanks about. You are not an elected government official. The fact that you have been allowed to do this, unchecked and with impunity for years now, means that the Harper government has been complicit, and for this reason, there should be calls and there are definite grounds, for the Governor General to dissolve our current parliament and demand an election. You should be glad that you won’t be put through that sort of scrutiny (you should be, but you won’t).

*Pun intended

FINANCIALLY RAVENOUS AND MORALLY BANKRUPT

DATELINE: FINANCIALLY RAVENOUS AND MORALLY BANKRUPT– Today, I am ashamed – for Canada. I am ashamed of a government that touts itself as transparent (unless you consider that robocalls thing, and the contempt of parliament thing, and the... oh, hell, we don't have time for all the things) and caring about the people, when really all it is concerned about is back-room deals and bankable dollars. Yes, once more, he sells out Canadians and Canadian ideals for the sake of the almighty dollar.

You see, the Harper government has been running around to all these third-world countries, cooking up deals and brokering agreements to ‘grow the economy’. I am not sure who exactly is supposed to be experiencing this growth, but what the hell. It’s what Stephen Harper says, and he wouldn’t lie to us, would he? (other than that robocalls thing, and the contempt of parliament thing...) From this backroom bullshit emerges another lovely tidbit – the Temporary Foreign Workers Program (which ironically enough has links on the Canadian Government website, but no page at the end of that link tonight. If you can't stand the heat, shut the kitchen down?). This bill allows companies to import workers from other countries to fill jobs in Canada. I mean, it’s not like we have a job shortage or people living here looking for work, right?

Enter the Royal Bank of Canada – that esteemed bastion of Canadian society since the dawn of time, at least by Canadian standards. Thanks to Harper and his need to pander to large corporations who want cheap slave labour, the bank has found yet another way to play the game. RBC brought in employees from India on the TFW program. They then had the unmitigated gall to ask their current staff to help train the new guys. Once that training was complete, the trainers (aka loyal Canadian RBC employees) were given the boot. Oh, wait... hang on... RBC didn’t do THAT! They instead hired iGate to do that, an American subsidiary of an Indian company that excels in outsourcing jobs to India. That one degree of separation, apparently, is all it takes to make this okay, at least according to RBC spokespeople. I mean, we're talking suppliers here; not people, right?

The new employees on the FTW program, when their visas to work here run out in 2015, will then go back to India... and take the rest of the RBC IT jobs with them. They will train people in India to do the jobs, and the IT staff here? Well, let’s just say that, luckily for them, people have been brought in to ‘help them brush up their resumes’ and to help them discover their real, true, deep ‘skills and aspirations,’ at least according to RBC’s HR kingpin and uber spin-meister Zabeen Hirji. She also said that some ‘choose to retire early; of course, we support them through that.’ I guess that would be the over-50 group, who will have no choice because they are considered corporately too old to retrain. How nice of the bank to be so considerate of their employees.

Well, you ask, what could really be wrong with this? Why get all worked up about 40 employees? Today, it’s 40. For them, it is one hell of a big deal, because you might not have noticed, but there are not a lot of jobs out there. When they move the entire IT department to India, it will be one hell of a lot more than 40 jobs. More than that, though, is the fact that it is just plain wrong. When we have unemployed people in Canada, our whole economy suffers. Big companies, instead of supporting the Canadian economy and doing something for those wonderful huge damned tax breaks Harper has given them as incentives to create jobs, pocket more money, while employing people at greatly reduced cost. When people don’t work, they don’t buy houses, they don’t buy cars, they don’t take trips, they don’t build new homes, they don’t send their kids to university... No one can afford these things if they don’t have work. If we don’t have people purchasing items, small stores and manufacturers have to shut down, adding to the growing list of unemployed people. It's been already hard enough as the cost of living -- housing, vehicles, gas, food, clothing -- has gone up exponentially, while wages have been stale or on the decline for years. To find a full-time job is close to impossible now, because no employer wants to have to pay benefits at all, so they play the game, work the employee for as many hours as they possibly can without allowing them to be technically full-time, because, well, as you can see, the poor big corporations with their multi-million dollar executive bonuses simply cannot bear the burden of offering paid holidays or healthcare.

The other problem with this whole scenario is that RBC gets even richer off the backs of even more destitute people, while putting people here out of work. As they deal through iGate, they know damned well that no one will give a shit about the working conditions for the people in India. It isn't technically RBC's problem; remember that one degree of separation that allows them to justify all of this? We have laws here against slave labor for a reason. Over there, who cares. They will pay them chicken shit wages, no benefits, offer no safe place to work, take advantage of people who should not be taken advantage of, and now you have even more people being screwed by the bank. But those people welcome a job, you argue! True, they probably do, but how do you morally, ethically, humanely use that to justify the use of ‘slave labor’. I am sure that children in sweathouses are thankful to be there too, because it’s a roof and perhaps some scraps of food at the end of the day; who cares if they have to work 16 hour days at the age of 10 in order to get that scrap, as long as the product rolls out and the money rolls in.

Yes, we should be helping people globally. Helping! Not knowingly, wilfully taking advantage of them while also happily screwing the people who have been loyal to you for years. I am fully aware that other companies do it, that other banks do it, that it’s the ‘in thing’ to do, but it is playing with fire on a national economic level, and it is morally reprehensible. If we don’t stand up now and say this has to stop, at what point do we?

Yes, Zabeen Hirji should be fired. She should be on the top of the list (but not the only name on the list) if for no other reason than that insultingly laughable excuse of an interview she gave to CBC. Thank you, CBC, for calling her on the crappola she was spinning. That she would think we would shrug and say ‘oh, okay then’ is truly unbelievable. The problem with shit-canning her arse is that she will still get at least a 7-digit bonus – I can guarantee you that no one who has their job outsourced will receive even a fragment of that sort of bonus, although God knows they probably have put the time and the passion worthy of it into their jobs. Of course, those employees won't be adding those big bucks to the Conservative party coffers come election time, will they -- at least not like bank executives will be.

Even if you don’t have accounts at RBC, you should be paying attention to this, before your job is also outsourced. This is not just a blip that will disappear or correct itself in a day or two. This is part of a pattern that will, in short order, kill the North American economy, something that is fragile enough already. It is time to contact your local politicians, your federal politicians, Stephen Harper’s office, the Royal Bank and anyone else who is doing this through the gaping loopholes conveniently placed in the TFW Program, and say ‘Enough!’ Someone has to start standing up for what is right. Why not us? Why not now?