A Jeanne Site
A Jeanne Site
Western Social Science Meetings
California State University, Dominguez Hills
University of Wisconsin, Parkside
Latest update: April 18, 2000
Faculty on the Site.
On Wed, 29 Mar 2000, Travis Fraser wrote:Why do we keep hearing about companies downsizing in our "bullish" economy? Everything is going great, people are buying the products, which increases the demand. So why are people losing their jobs? When the economy is strong and businesses are doing well, companies want to take full advantage of their stockholders (thesis). They downsize their corporation to give a small kickback to their investors, in return, drives up the stock prices because often comes high dividends. What they pay out in dividends the company makes way more profit from firing people, than keeping a stagnant stock price. Often times, they only get rid of people for a short while, then they can repeat the process.
How do they get away with this? Well, if more people are making money, who cares about the guy that lost his job. With Clinton creating all these jobs, there's got to be one for the guy that lost his because of downsizing.
Sorry, Travis. I somehow missed this. Nag me if that happens. I can usually get these up overnight. I'll add my comments later. Rushed now.jeanne
Just heard from Travis. Sent e-mail almost as it was. Travis is having fun with this, to judge by the UWP - Woo! Come share with him, one and all. jeanne
On Monday, April 3, Travis Fraser wrote:Professor Takata and I had our lines mixed up here and this is what she originally intended for me to do. So, basically, I'm going to write up some case study thingers and send them to you. Now I'm nowhere near Cliff and what he's doing probably. I'm still willing to help him out if he needs any.Attached is the first case study thinger.
Case Study I:
The summer of 1999, I was working for ECM Motors, in the Elkhorn Industrial Park. They make small motors for vacuums and remote control cars and such. I had worked there for over a month as temporary help, and the temp agency said it was going to be a full-time position, that was going to last all summer. That was fine with me. I liked the people I was working with, even though, the work was very boring.After that month was up though, ECM wanted me to sign the papers to become a part of their union. This is to protect their employees, which I liked. I was just temporary help at reduced pay and with no benefits. Me being there was hurting the union because the company was getting something for less. There was a cost for entering the union though, $45. I was not about to part with that money to work there another month and a half.
I was released shortly thereafter. It was not that I screwed up, it was just their policy to hire-in those temps to build a stronger union. Stronger union sounds really silly when I listen to my father talk. He says there is no such thing.
Travis Fraser
UWP. WOO!
What a great perspective for us to include in our downsizing piece. What happens to the young worker? Are the older workers taking that perspective into account? Why would Travis' dad say there is no such thing as a strong union? Any other parents reflect that idea to you?
The media often exagerate when it comes to company downsizing. The majority of the time they play it up to be bad for a company to increase their profits and cut overhead. Why do we never hear of the media sources downsizing? (find article where downsizing comes into play) The media has to downsize sometimes, too. Do they never fire anyone or groups of people? "condemnation of the condemners"
Good, Travis. That gives me something to work with. I think it might be a good idea for you and Cliff to take adversarial sides, that means you each take the opposite perspective, and then answer each other's questions, as we would in the courtroom. I like your idea of checking downsizing in the media.Yours is a conservative perspective that takes the approach that it is a reasonable (rational choice kind of reasonable) action for a corporation to "increase their profits and cut overhead." Since most of the media corporations (The Los Angeles Times was just sold.) have been swallowed up by huge media conglomerates, downsizing may not be reported because (1) it is masked in the merger, and (2) employees are unlikely to carp at the downsizing introduced by their own employer. Perhaps you should look at the merger activities in communication conglomerates. Just before I left for New Orleans, the Los Angeles Times reported holdings in terms that should make sense for us.
Cliff Parks has taken the opposite (adversarial) approach. He views the loss of job opportunities and the failure of any governmental or societal pressure to replace job opportunities as criminal. I'll be including one of his points in my file on The Violent Social World of Black Men: the ecological effects of job unavailability on the lower and working class male, without a strong educational background.
I would like to see you take the corporation's position, that the corporate mission is to make profit, not to provide a net for those unequipped to compete in today's market, and that a corporation is ill-equipped to make up for social and educational problems that we have inherited from past generations. If you'd like to find academic support for this argument, I suggest you look at any of James Q. Wilson's work.
Good start, Travis. jeanne