“If only WalMart had a union, the poor guy would have lived”

Posted by Marc Hodak on November 30, 2008 under Revealed preference | Be the First to Comment

It was only a matter of time before a union official found a way to politicize the unfortunate death of WalMart employee, Jdimytai Damour, who was trampled in a Long Island store. According to the SEIU, UFCWU and assorted other XYZUs, there is not an ill in the world that would not be cured if only WalMart were unionized.

In this case, the chain of logic apparently goes like this:
– WalMart uses something close to slave labor to keep prices low (ergo, the customer throngs)
– Part of their low-cost structure includes skimping on various security measures
– A decent union would not have allowed them to skimp on these measures
– Thus, the crowd would have been more orderly, and the man would not have been trampled

This final conclusion is merely insinuated in this story, not spelled out in a manner that might require at least an iota of evidence.

It’s kind of disgusting that anyone would use a tragedy like this for political positioning, but that’s the job of members of the TIOU (Traffickers In Outrage Union). This meta-union includes politicians, organized labor leaders, and the mainstream media. Their unofficial motto: “There outta be a law!” (because, clearly, letting a free people do what they want with their own property isn’t working perfectly).

The UFCWU official in this instance asked:

“Where were the safety barriers? Where was security? How did store management not see dangerous numbers of customers barreling down on the store in such an unsafe manner?

WalMart answered that they had:

added internal security, brought in outside security, erected barricades and worked with Nassau County police in anticipation of heavy crowds.

The video of the stampede supports both WalMart’s contention, and the unusual nature of this event:

Minutes later, police trying to give Damour first aid were jostled by customers still running into the store, authorities said.

Members of the TIOU are especially good in portraying themselves as more concerned about your stakeholders than you are. If it weren’t for the law, you would poison your customers, torture your workers, and pollute your communities. There is not an ounce of shame in proclaiming these things as your stores are thronged by customers and job applicants, and as communities offer all manner of enticements to lure you.

A reasonable verdict of WalMart’s safety strategy would look at their rate of worker injuries given the number of stores they have, including the 2500+ stores that didn’t have any damage to their front doors, versus that of other retailers. Of course, such a perspective would make it extremely difficult to summon the kind of outrage that would warrant inflicting a union on all those stores on the questionable premise that a union would have prevented this kind of incident.

For my part, I’m going to keep taking my chances at WalMart based on the same commercial motives that animate the TOIU.