Mega Companies Conspire Against Employees

As every one's attention is directed towards the alleged misdeeds of Wall Street,a newly revealed scandal is brewing at major corporations in the Hi-Tech and Oil sectors. Companies including Google, Microsoft,Exxon/Mobil, Royal Dutch Shell and BP (British Petroleum) have been colluding with each other to fix the salaries of white collar workers,managers and executives. In the Hi Tech sector they have been accused of agreeing not to higher each other's employees. In the April 26 issue of the Wall Street Journal,it was revealed that the FTC (Federal Trade Commission) has been investigating the Oil Companies for two years.In fact there have even been out of court settlements with a number of employees. The problem with settlements is that the true facts never reach the light of day. Sure, those that bring suit are compensated, but what about the employees who haven't brought suit?Perhaps, the courts should open those agreements to the public, so we can see what these corporate miscreants have been up to.

And, is this behavior limited to Hi-Tech and Oil? What about our friends in Banking,Wall Street,Transportation (Auto Industry,Airlines et al),Big Pharma, Hospitals,and Retail to name a few. I suggest that this is the result of years of lax enforcement under prior administrations and a general Anti-Worker sentiment among large corporations. To this day, even after billions in bail-outs GM and Chrysler blame their problems on the workers and their unions and the wage and benefit agreements that they made with them.In fact, the some companies are still looking for more wage and benefit rollbacks from their employees.

We have plenty of laws against collusion such as the venerable Sherman Anti-Trust act and prohibitions against interlocking corporate directorates. It is time to take these companies to task,in the light of day. Let's make them live up to their lofty claims such as, "Do No Evil,and "Our employees are our most important asset."