Business Ethics Seminar
Comments for McWane case
The PBS Frontline documentary, "A Dangerous Business", was a real eye-opener for me. I was shocked about McWane’s philosophy on work ethics, where maximizing productivity was top priority. Its treatment of the employees was unbelievably inhumane. Workers were not allowed to even leave their posts for bathroom breaks. They either had to hold it in or relieve themselves at their spots. They sometimes worked up to sixteen hours per day because of the push for longer hours to keep the machines running. Little to no health and safety standards were implemented to ensure the employees’ well being. Profits, as a driving force, led to many accidents, several deaths, and hundreds of OSHA violations within a seven-year period. To keep productivity high, McWane ignores OSHA’s regulations and insists workers repair machines while they are running. These practices keep McWane workers at constant risk of injury to which they often become a victim. Dangers associated with McWane factory jobs are well known yet people continue to accept jobs there. Tying closely to the concept of hedonic wages- as long as there are enough workers willing to accept poor safety conditions the company need not change them. This notion derives from the political economists view of oppression. Management relies on the fact that people desperate for jobs will always exist, and exploit workers by not complying with OSHA’s safety conditions. When government was able to intervene, the corporation’s practices changed. Unfortunately, the only felony that McWane was ever found guilty of was an environmental felony, stemming from improper waste disposal, which resulted in a $500,000 fine. Meanwhile, all deaths resulting from safety violations were deemed “accidents,” and are therefore only misdemeanors. At the time, the maximum penalty facing a company for safety violations was a mere $7,000. Such inadequate intervention shows how a strong...