Owned By The World’s Largest ‘Charity’ Organization To Dodge Taxes, IKEA Thwarts Union

[cal04]

Owned By The World’s Largest ‘Charity’ Organization To Dodge Taxes, IKEA Thwarts Union Organizing
http://thinkprogress.org/2011/04/11/ikea-thwarts-unions/

Three years after an IKEA factory moved to the small blue collar town of Danville, VA, the international furniture giant has become the center of a union battle, racial discrimination complaints, and high turnover from disgruntled employees.

Workers at the Danville IKEA plant say they are forced to work at a frantic pace, participate in mandatory overtime — possibly facing disciplinary action for not showing up — and raises have been eliminated. Six African American employees have filed discrimination complaints, claiming that they were assigned to the least-wanted third shift and forced to work in the lowest-paying departments. Moreover, while making a profit of $2.2 billion in 2009 and a 7 percent sales increase in 2010, the hourly wage in the Virginia IKEA packing department was slashed from $9.75 to $8.00. Attempts at forming a union have also been thwarted by IKEA, as some of the 335 IKEA workers in Virginia signed cards expressing interest in forming a union with the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers. But, in response, IKEA hired the law firm Jackson Lewis — known for keeping unions out of companies — and workers were required to attend meetings where the management highly discouraged union membership.

A colossal difference exists between IKEA laborers in Sweden and Virginia:

Vacation Days Per Year Salary Per Hour
IKEA workers in Sweden 5 weeks off $19/hour
IKEA workers in America 4 days off selected by workers, 8 days selected by management $8/hour

(snip)
What’s more perplexing is that while busting unions and paying workers low wages, IKEA is owned by the world’s richest charity organization. The parent company of IKEA is the private Dutch-registered Ingka Holding, which, in turn, is owned by the tax-exempt, non-profit entity Stichting Ingka Foundation (SIF). With a mission dedicated to “innovation in the field of architectural and interior design,” the Economist valued SIF at $36 billion in 2006.

[pnwmom]

1. Thanks for the info. Costco, yay! IKEA -- boo! n/t

[mike_c]

2. out sourcing for cheap labor comes to the U.S....

Remember, Virginia is a "right to work for less" state.

[niyad]

3. won't ever be buying anything from icky.

[Dawson Leery]

4. Ingvar Feodor Kamprad : founder of IKEA.

He owns and runs the company, therefore he is to blame.

[madrchsod]

5. i sure am glad we got the card check passed before the republicans took the house!

just think what would have happened if obama had`t signed that bill.