Using Federal Procurement Policies as a Means to Crack Down on Labor Violations - Coursework Example

Using federal procurement policies as a means to crack down on labor violations MEMORANDUM Re: using federal procurement policies as a means to crackdown on labor violations Over the years, state legislators across the country have been coming up with a series of initiatives aimed at improving labor standards, strengthening unions, and improving workplace protections for both union and non-union workers. This policy agenda highlight its legislative commitment to making low- and middle-wage workers, both union and non-union, to earn a decent wage. There are some legislatures in the past two years who have been passing laws to undermine labor laws regulations and standards, a State passed laws stripping workers of overtime rights, repealing or restricting rights to sick leave, undermining workplace safety protections, and making it harder to sue one’s employer for race or sex discrimination. The push to erode labor standards, undercut wages, and undermine unions should therefore be countered by policymakers pursuing a well guided economic agenda working together with the major corporate lobbies. What is more worrying is that those legislative laws were supported by major corporate lobbies such as the Chamber of Commerce, National Federation of Independent Business, and National Association of Manufacturers—and by corporate-funded lobbying organizations such as the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), Americans for Tax Reform, and Americans for Prosperity—in order to draw the clearest possible picture of the legislative and economic policy agenda of the country’s most powerful economic actors. To make the most clear-eyed decisions in charting future policy directions, it is critical to understand how the various parts of these organizations’ agenda fit together, and where they ultimately lead. Action forcing event What necessitated the action is the lack of proper laws in place to curb the activities of irresponsible employers who often win contracts and at the same time they have failed to abide by labor laws. The legislators as mentioned above have been coming up with legislation in the recent past that are retrogressive in nature and seek to strip workers of their decent work environment. The factory management has also failed to play a critical role by not ensuring that the workers are informed of their current working condition and violations that can be meted on them by irresponsible management. They should agree to take actions and the real owners should also ensure that they are accountable. Sometimes the laws and regulations are put in place but there are no time frames that managers are required to stick to and this have to be provided for in the new policy addressing that. The factories should be given strict time to ensure that they harmonies employees working conditions and report on that to the ministries or government agencies put in place. Thorough inspection should also be carried out and auditing and certificates issued thereafter. There should also be reviews on the policies that are being implemented both at the public and public sectors. There has not been bringing together of all stakeholders in this sector leading to others not cooperating and an agenda or policy to be implemented suffers from delay in other sections bringing down the whole effort to sanitize work place. A lack of coordinated action that fail to bring together both the public administration and, workers representatives and employers will ensure that there will be no delay and there will be no excuse to derail the progress, it is therefore prudent to eliminate inaction as an option. Also in setting up action forcing events people should be induced to take actions or make commitments. Those who therefore happen to make commitments should be restricted to timetables. There should therefore be regular meetings to review the progress and any lag or delay is questioned. Increased psychological pressure should continually be applied to factory management and any other stakeholders attached with labor relation issues. The pressure however should not be too severe as to push the stakeholders involved into the opposition. Constant pressure especially should be applied on the public administration section to ensure that before they award any contract they should thoroughly check auditing and other citification for factories looking for contracts. Defining the problem In many countries both developed and none developed the processes procedures and structures of public administration are very much nonexistent or if they exist they are overregulated or simply inconsistent with coherence. Sometimes there are no competent human resources to enforce them or more often there are no incentives or motivations which in many cases insufficient. The source of problem is emanating mainly through corruption and general lack of accountability in public offices and anti-corruption crusaders are often ignored. The corruption is mainly in the procurement department. This corruption is leading to awards of tenders to factories that violate labor laws. Even with proof of this violations money exchange hands leading to unlawful award of this tenders. The corruption and lack of integrity in public administration side lead to award of untimely and cost-ineffective contracts to scrupulous contractors, suppliers and service providers for the provision of goods, works and services will not go in any way to support both national and public services operations, as well as local government. This contract is often awarded with disregard to principles and procedures established in the public procurement rules. There are no contract administration that will see to it that right structures are in place to oversee and evaluate contractors, and other service providers’ performance in carrying out of their contractual activities, and to also ensure that timely action are in place to remedy any mater or urgency that arise within contractual duty. Historical Background Labor violation has been in US since time immemorial it is not an issue that started yesterday. Studies have proven that the violations have been in existence from the early 18th century; only that they were not given much attention as they are today. Notably, the American workplace laws that existed at that time were not efficient enough to protect the American workers or control the violations as they prevailed at large. Before the 19th century, workers would work for overtime without pay or be paid less than the hours that they worked since salaries in most American companies is determined on an hour-rate basis. According Friedman, the labor laws that existed at this time favored the employers more in terms of profit making at the expense of the employees. The 20th century brought forth the need to change these laws to capture the needs of the employees. In 2008, a study branded Broken Laws; Unprotected Workers was conducted in New York City, Los Angeles and Chicago to determine the extent of labor violations in the country (Friedman, 1994; 176). By use of demanding research methods, it was found that indeed work place violations were very rampant, more so in the low wage market. This brought out the realization that there is need to address such issues to make work places more bearable for the struggling American citizen. Literature review In the current century especially the start of 21st century, Americas workplace laws are failing to protect the countrys workers. In a number of worker places right from domestic work to hotels, factories, and home healthcare, workers are enduring minimum wage and dangerous working condition, unpaid overtime, discrimination, and other related violations. They have little recourse because of their need for work, especially during the recession. Until now, however, advocates and policy makers lacked representative and reliable data on the magnitude of the problem, the workers who are most affected, and the industries that are the biggest culprits. Labor violation in United States is a reality that has affected the lives of many and it has rendered lives of many helpless. Workers are exploited on a day to day basis by their employers and they lack prober basis to look for judicial redress. Labor violations are mostly caused by lack of proper and firm laws put in place to counter the vice. The standards for wages and overtime pay which is drastically affecting both private and public employment. The employer has been found that most of them do not cover their employees. However, Employers need pay covered employees who are not otherwise exempt at least the federal minimum wage and overtime pay of one-and-one-half-times the regular rate of pay. Time should also be restricted reasonably for children under age 16 can and children under 18 should be forbidden employment that are deemed dangerous. In search for the real issues behind labor violations in my paper I looked at various cases of labor violations that have been decided in the courts. The views of major stakeholders were also sought and industry and factory managers were interviewed. Workers are also interviewed and the grievances were recorded for later analysis. Workers who have retired plus those who left their jobs due to injustice meted on them also had their say. Critical analysis of the United States laws was looked at. The laws that were in place long before the enactment of new laws were the center of focus for analysis and the records of labor laws violations before and after the enacted of new laws were also looked at for analysis. The drastic steps should be taken to force factories and both government and non governmental agencies are complying with labor laws. Corruption should be dealt with in the public administration side so as to ensure that all government agencies and suppliers are abiding by labor laws regulations. LABOR VIOLATION STAKEHOLDERS In the past decades, there have been people have really shifted their minds from being desperate for jobs, which made them to discriminating job positions to jobs that have efficient working environments and non-discriminating of human rights. The issue on labor discrimination has some political landscape surrounding it. Thus, some stakeholders and stakeholder organizations either challenge or support it. This paper therefore looks at the various stakeholders and their impact on labor discrimination. The first stakeholder organization is the Fair Trade USA pilots. This organization is mainly concerned with the creations of fair systems of trade that would benefit the farm workers and ensure that they get fair remuneration. It conducts research on the various aspects related to farm workers to ensure that they get satisfaction from their work efforts (Fair Trade, 2010). It is clear that this organization has concerns on the interests of farmers and thus, it supports the labor laws. The National Mediation Board (NMB) is also an organization built to address the issues that affect human capital. However, this organization has some political issues surrounding it and thus, it does not support the labor laws. The first issue in this organization is that all the senior members have reached the retirement age. This means that the organization does not protect the interests of the young who are unemployed and could fill the management positions when given the chance. This organization is also weak in its procurement procedures and thus does not obey the existing labor laws. It should therefore be changed for it to meet the labor laws (Smith & Erez, 2011). The stakeholders at Gap Inc. have really put in place relevant policies that protect the labor laws. The stakeholders of the organization play various roles, which include helping the management in seeing the future, facilitation of trust and the improvement of the image of the company. These responsibilities given to the stakeholders gives them the power to ensure that the organization adheres to the labor laws making it attractive to job seekers and ensuring that there is fair employee remuneration all the time (GAO, 2013). The study on the organization was conducted by GAO organizations of stakeholders to ensure that Gap implements policies that embrace the labor laws. Another organization with stakeholders who are concerned with the labor laws is the Nike Inc. In the past, the organization had labor discriminating practices such as excessive overtime, inability of workers to associate, forced labor and the employment of the people who are considered minors. The stakeholders in this organization considered some policies used in determining the labor violations and came up with the efficient strategies that safeguard the interests of workers to enable it escape chances of suit (Locke, 2013). The four key policy alternatives are Issue of oversee procurement should be looked at Domestic suppliers should be ensured that they follow the law There should be consistency in law with regard to in-sourcing All factories that supply government should be identified Criteria to judge alternatives It should be ensured that workers have a right to negotiate legally binding agreements for themselves and that supply chain workers should be able to live a quality life. Before domestic supplies are paid the government should ensure that they are thoroughly scrutinized to ensure that they comply with labor laws. In-sourcing service that is linked with governmental functions should be looked at. All overseas government contractors should also be known and checked for compliance with labor laws. Government through public administration should ensure that audit and other certificates are thoroughly checked. Evaluating alternatives based on criteria The federal law should address the issue of overseas procurement. Products like apparel and others should to the US government be off limit should the factories and in the supply chain fails to stick to applicable laws and regulations and international accepted labor standards. Among this standards are right for workers to organize for themselves unions and ability to negotiate legally binding agreements and in any way refuse work that endanger their lives. The federal government should also ensure that the supply chain workers have better remuneration so that their living standards together with those of their families are uplifted. This federal procurement law should ensure that the code of conduct adopted by the private industries is not just procurement labor standards that are not binding in fact it now become part of contractual commitment suppliers to the government and because of that should become enforceable and legally binding. It should also be ensured that domestic suppliers follow the law. It is true that most of the apparels are bought from the domestic market but that does not mean that the local production is legal and conducive. This was evident by the report released by senator tom Harkin in 2013 together with center for American progress that reveal on rampant wage and worker safety violations in U.S. government contractors facilities that are found inside the country. That directly implies that government should seriously monitor domestic contractors and ensure that they comply with labor laws before being paid. The federal law should also make sure that every worker that work in the production of government products work under lawful conditions. In in-sourcing of service, the united state government should ensure that there is consistency in law and should actively look into opportunities for in-sourcing service that are linked with governmental functions or consider those that private contractors poorly carry out. The other thing that should be done by the government is to not contract out services that are being carried out by federal employees. The factories that supply government should also be identified. There has been a trend whereby there are overseas US government contractors that are unknown to the public. If these continue without being known leading to failure of oversight by the government then nothing, if any will change. Therefore the government should take a bold step to ensure that all bidders should disclose all the details about their operation including names and addresses of all the factories that are likely to be sub-contracted. All this details should be received before any contract is awarded. It should be also the responsibility of contractors and sub contractors to disclose the working conditions in those factories. The US government should ensure that all inspection and audit reports are received for further scrutiny. These factories management should also share the same with their workers to ensure that workers get conversant with their workplace conditions including dangers and labor related violations so that they can take an effective measure to protect themselves. Recommendations The main cause of labor violations should also be looked at because sometimes it goes far beyond factories. The people required to comply with the law should not only be the factories s but there are other major stakeholders that should also comply. It should also be brought to the attention that the root cause of labor violations can be traced to order schedules and prices and other requirements put in place by the buyers. When prices are very law it imply that factories might lack required resources essential for maintaining safe conditions. Sometimes, emergency orders, often causes unprecedented excessive overtime for workers and also leads to unauthorized subcontracting to factories that operate illegally. The government should put to task contractors to set up responsible purchasing practices as a matter of human rights due diligence. Irresponsible purchasing practices will enable contractors to violate labor laws. Implications For this to be achieved there should be drastic alteration of laws that must be passed through the congress and it requires serious lobbying, because e it is an issue that cut across parties. If parties take strong party line positions it might become impossible to pass such relevant laws. Legal experts should also be key contributors to these laws because it will be subject to their interpretations. Another legal implication arises whereby the laws become inconsistent with other laws already in place. Executive Summary Public administration plays a crucial role in the overall running of the government. A well structured and effective public administration is an implication that government is functional. Because of its critical role it should be therefore the same public administration that should ensure that policies that gather for the need of both employees and workers are gathered for. Individuals also need to be well informed that they can take actions against the union or employer in case of the violations of their labor laws. They can also take action against them in case of labor practices that infringe on the rights of employees including issuing threats against those who join unions. To begin it one has to file the charge at the office of the NLRB. NLRB should however take these charges seriously and take an immediate action to investigate the allegations so that justice is served on time as delay defeats equity. They should take a step further to settle the matter or pursue complaint. As has been evident the governments the government always issue multi millions in contracts to organizations that constantly violate labor laws and therefore there should be stricter measures. It has been found out that companies that are penalized for the violations of labor laws are on federal contracts. The government is too often paying companies that do not pay their workers subjecting them to unsafe working condition. Federal law should regularly be stricter in requiring government contract officers to check on companies’ compliance with federal law before awarding a contract. Agencies with federal government should also black list some companies in relation to labor laws violations. However the government agencies often lack information’s needed to check for these violations. A federal database that is supposed to keep track of contractor violations are at times missing due to misconduct within the public administration or is inconsistent. The stakeholders that are also associated with labor laws should play major role. The stakeholders in this case wish to change the systems used in employing and addressing the issues that affect the people with disability. They have suggested the things incorporations for the systems to change effectively. The first thing to change is the elimination of the disincentives in the federal programs. These disincentives have been detrimental to the people with disabilities and in turn, it violates the law on inclusion of all regardless of race, state of ability or ethnicity. The other thing that needs attention is the collaboration and synchronization of the federal programs (ODEP, 2010). The stakeholders in this department have the aim of improving the efficiency of labor laws meaning that they support the labor laws. References Fair Trade. (2010). Fair Trade Standards. Retrieved from http://fairtradeusa.org/certification/standards GAO. (2013, December 3). Strengthening planning and controls could better facilitate rail and air labor relations. Retrieved from http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-14-5 Locke, R. M. (2013). The Promise and limits of private power: Promoting labor standards in a global economy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ODEP. (2010). Disability employment policy resources by topic. Disability Listening Tour, Retrieved from http://www.dol.gov/odep/dltour/six-partners-listening.htm Smith, N. C., & Erez, L. (2011). Whats at stake? stakeholder engagement strategy as the key to sustainable growth. The Business School for the World, Retrieved from http://www.insead.edu/facultyresearch/research/doc.cfm?did=47212 Wal-Mart shows pattern of labor violations, discrimination By Sanhita SinhaRoy, June 23, 2004. Fresh labor violations in Chinese factory producing the “cheap” iPhone China Labor Watch, September 5, 2013. Top of Form Fink, L. (2011). Workers across the Americas: The transnational turn in labor history. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Bottom of Form Friedman, S. (1994). Restoring the promise of American labor law. Ithaca, NY: ILR Press. Read More