In Mexico (via Reddit):
The Mexican Supreme Court of Justice on Thursday ruled that Wal-Mart de Mexico may not pay employees in part with vouchers redeemable only at its stores. The court nullified the employment contract of a worker who challenged the voucher payments, finding that they violated Article 123 of the Mexican Constitution, which guarantees the right to “dignified and socially useful work.”
The sad part is, I could totally see conservatives justifying this kind of practice in the United States if they could get away with it. This is why regulations and “activist judges” are important.
This isn’t new news. The story is from 2008.
Yeah, people shouldn’t be free to enter into agreements as they see fit. That kind of free will would just end with people thinking they aren’t wards of the state.
An Idea that may have escaped your steel trap of a mind: what if the vouchers were worth several times what the going pay scale was, and the employee is selling them to friends and relatives for more than he would normally make?
Yeah, poor workers should just enter into agreements with their huge transnational employer with a record for screwing people over. Who needs legal/judicial recourse? What could go wrong?
I am just stunned that cartels have not blown up every Supreme Court member yet. Seriously,while this idea is not new (mining towns in America in the 1800 and 1900’s, railroads etc used a similar plan), this is a really fucked up twist on it. Lets see, lets reduce your already feeble wage, and make up for it with vouchers you have to spend here or on our sister companies. Talk about getting bent over, jesus. It surprises me not in the least that Wal Mart would attempt this though. I am glad Portland has resisted these bloodsuckers. Good job, Portland