Poor Working Conditions for Students
I have never worked for Southwestern Company. However, I have purchased their product and, more importantly, have had numerous contacts with their sales people over the past couple of years. It appears to me that their marketing and sales process is, at best, exploitive against their sales people. It is purely my opinion that what Southwestern does should be unlawful in US. Where I live, their sales people are foreign students who have risked much to come to the US to work for Southwestern. The students must find their own lodging and face horrible working conditions. Extreme heat and exposure to elements, unbelievable performance pressure, insufficient sales support, and no supply of sales tools, were just a few of the obstacles sales reps faced. The two foreign sales reps I met were equipped with substandard bicycles and huge sales territories. This was a very poor combination. The poor foreign students were “encouraged” to work even days when their health conditions said otherwise. I don’t know how much money the students were making, but I doubt seriously, based on their extremely long work weeks and other factors I observed, that they even earned minimum wage. I presume that the employees are classified as “contract laborers” to circumvent US employment regulations relating to minimum wage and overtime wages.
Received: July 6, 2008
