Democracy Gone Astray

Democracy, being a human construct, needs to be thought of as directionality rather than an object. As such, to understand it requires not so much a description of existing structures and/or other related phenomena but a declaration of intentionality.
This blog aims at creating labeled lists of published infringements of such intentionality, of points in time where democracy strays from its intended directionality. In addition to outright infringements, this blog also collects important contemporary information and/or discussions that impact our socio-political landscape.

All the posts here were published in the electronic media – main-stream as well as fringe, and maintain links to the original texts.

[NOTE: Due to changes I haven't caught on time in the blogging software, all of the 'Original Article' links were nullified between September 11, 2012 and December 11, 2012. My apologies.]

Tuesday, June 21, 2011

Dukes v. Wal-Mart and the Limits of Legal Change

The Supreme Court yesterday unanimously slapped down the largest civil rights class action suit in history—on a dry technicality. Justices agreed that Dukes v. Wal-Mart, the ten-year-old sex discrimination lawsuit, should not proceed as a class action because the lower courts had not followed proper procedure in certifying it. While the Court’s decision is discouraging, no one should imagine that it represents an end to the fight for justice at Wal-Mart.

Dukes represents an effort to redress a massive pattern of inequity at the nation’s largest private employer. Women were paid less than men in just about every position at the company, and promoted into management at far lower rates, despite higher performance evaluations than their male colleagues. No position was too minor to be exempt from male privilege—there were very few male cashiers, for instance, but those few were paid better than female cashiers. Departments were segregated, with women selling baby clothes and men selling electronics, and the predominantly male departments paid better. (Plaintiff Cleo Page was told that customers would feel more “comfortable” buying sports equipment from a man.) Lower courts had ruled that Dukes should proceed as a class action, and even Wal-Mart’s own lawyers had urged the company to settle, but the company was determined to keep fighting all the way to the Supreme Court—and obviously, had the resources to do so.

The Supreme Court ruling is a big victory for Wal-Mart, for large corporations everywhere hoping not to be sued, and, not least, for right-wing ideologues who hate to see the free market gummed up with disputes over fairness and social justice.

It’s a devastating defeat for the women who have spent years of their lives trying to change Wal-Mart through this lawsuit. Women like Betty Dukes, the lead plaintiff, a pastor in her Pittsburg, California church who has been telling her “David and Goliath” story to her congregation for years, hoping to inspire them to stand up to injustice in their own lives. Women who were given such astounding explanations for the inequality right before their eyes: Kathleen Macdonald, a clerk in Aiken, South Carolina, found out that her male co-workers were paid better—it was no secret, she says, “They bragged about it!”—and when she asked why, was told by her supervisor that “God made Adam first.” He did feel that some men take this prerogative to “an extreme—when they beat their women.”

The decision is also a defeat for workers and consumers everywhere who might have a beef with a large corporation—as it certainly sends the message that this sort of fight is getting tougher and tougher to win. It’s particularly dispiriting as a measure of our shared values: conservatives like Scalia were expected to back Wal-Mart, but even the supposed “liberals” on the court ultimately decided that business interests should trump the rights of workers.

Full Article
Source: The Nation 

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