Axes of Difference: Class *LA Times Article Review* (Week 8)

This week, I will be reviewing a couple of articles from the local section of the LA Times website.

Below are the links to the said articles:

1. Unahppy Wal-Mart Workers Protest

2. Wal-Mart Protesters Arrested

Have you been inside a Wal-Mart or better yet a Super Wal-Mart? Those stores have everything, from fresh fruits and vegetables to electronics and furniture. You name it and you can practically guarantee that Wal-Mart will have it for you to buy. You use Wal-Mart as a store, not as a place of employment but for many others, this is their job. On the bright side they employ the weak, the old, and sometimes the unstable because they cannot find a job elsewhere. They give jobs to people who can't find them and this shines a good light on them.

But a bigger darker light overshadows that light. It has been reported that these workers do not have benefits that they would obtain from working anywhere else and on top of that, they are forced to work long hard hours at minimum wage ($8.81). I can't even begin to imagine their hours this week preparing up to the big event called Black Friday. Some employees were even belittled by their managers when they attempt to speak out about this  atrocity and their horrible labor practices.

This leads us to the two articles from the LA Times about unhappy workers protesting on Black Friday. Employees of Wal-Mart attempted a peaceful protest outside of the Wal-Mart on Lakewood in Paramount. Some were even arrested after refusing orders from police officers to disperse. Of course, the president of Wal-Mart would deny such a protest and even claim that only 50 people of the group of protesters were even Wal-Mart employees and say that this is the biggest Black Friday Wal-Mart has ever seen (Dont believe that because there was nothing good on their ads, trust me I looked.)

This is related to the axes of the difference talked about in class; more specifically, this is the class category of  axis.

In the class lecture, the professor talked about the factories as a site of an actual work site where surplus value is produced and seperation of class is reinforced, reproduced and continued on. These factories are oppresive and remind the workers that they are essentially different from the owners of the factories. I believe factories is not usable in this case but the Wal-Mart can been seen as a factory of its own. It's labor (not technically producing products but its service to sell products) produces a surplus of money that goes mainly to the owners of the store and the higher uppers. These workers at Wal-Mart turn into machine and are seen as different from the owners of the store. Their work habits are ignored by managers and not made optimally for the employees but for the employers who gain most of the surplus.

This leads to the social difference in class and hence the protest that happened outside of the Paramount Wwal-Mart. And even the president of Wal-Mart denies the protest having any affect on the company (because they're making so much and it was such a small protest in terms of all the employees of Wal-Mart) and does not even attempt to comfort the concerns of his fellow employees.

It is depressing to see social differences still have an effect in today's world but its expected in a capitalistic economy.