Employmentweb_low

employment relations and health inequalities: a conceptual and empirical overvieW
growing power and resources but also to their pervasive
influence on key economic decisions that have serious
consequences in the production of health, disease, and death
(Wiist, 2006) (see Case study 5).
Of the world's 150 largest economic entities, 95 are corporations.
The revenues of Wal-Mart, BP, Exxon Mobil, and royal Dutch/Shell
Group all rank above the GDP of countries such as Indonesia, Saudi
arabia, norway or South africa (WB, 2005). Multinational
corporations manufacture many of the goods and services we
consume and they contract or subcontract millions of jobs, many of
which have a negative impact on employees' health. This is because
corporate behaviour and decisions may directly or indirectly promote
disease in various ways: through advertising aimed at creating new
customers, through public relations in order to foster a positive
image of their products or activities, through litigation intended to
delay, weaken, or overturn laws and regulations, through sponsored
research which supports their points of view, or even using illegal
strategies to advance their objectives.
In addition to those corporate decisions which relate to a single
company, large companies can shape unhealthy employment
relations through campaign contributions. Campaign contributions
and lobbying for legislation both favour private corporate economic
interests (Freudenberg, 2005). In 2002, for example, the drug
industry in the United States contributed about $22 million to
republican Party representatives and almost $8 million to
Democrats. In the European Union (EU), the intense political
lobbying of employers concerning legislation on chemical products
(rEaCH, or registration, Evaluation and authorisation of Chemicals)
is much of the reason why the European Commission significantly
watered down chemical regulation reform. Many other examples
may be found in poor countries (see Case study 6).
Both corporations and governments often hinder the
development of trade unions in an attempt to shape working
conditions so that they widen profit margins, and in turn fund their
lobbying activities. They may also limit involvement in work
organisation and occupational health and safety matters (Hogstedt,
Wegman, & Kjellstrom, 2007). The result is a workplace environment
in which individual, rather than collective concerns and actions, are
very often emphasised. as an illustration of these complex
interrelations, we highlight the case of China (see Case study 7) and
the impact of two large corporations: the largest retail company in
the world (see Case study 8) and a growing global company (see
Case study 9).
"Before i was injured, i had health care
through medicaid. wal-mart refused to pay
my worker compensation benefits from my
injury, and then medicaid dropped me
because the injury happened at work. now i
have no insurance coverage at all; i cannot
get it through wal-mart or anywhere else.
wal-mart has ignored my bills and my
pain. […] i have accumulated tens of
thousands of dollars in debt from medical
bills, lost my apartment, my credit is
ruined and i live in pain every day."
source: WakeupWalmart.com. Rosetta
Brown, employee at Sam's Club, a Division of
Wal-Mart. Cicero, Illinois
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