Recently, I mentioned Seymour Hersh's observation that, while most people count sheep to fall asleep, Henry Kissinger, who orchestrated the massive secret, illegal bombings of Cambodia, must count burned and maimed Cambodian babies. Which makes me wonder: has Amancio Ortega picked up a version of the Kissinger habit, counting overworked Cambodian slaves who have made him the fourth richest person in the world?
Ortega, according to Forbes, is worth $64 billion, ranking him just behind Warren Buffet. The source of his fortune:
World's richest retailer Ortega added $7 billion to his fortune this past year, expanding the gap between him and number four, Warren Buffett. He is up a total of $26.5 billion in the past two years. Though he stepped down as chairman of Inditex (best known for its Zara brand) in 2011, he still owns nearly 60% of its shares. He also has a growing real estate portfolio, estimated to be worth nearly $5 billion, much of it acquired at bargain prices during the financial downturn. He is reportedly planning to list his property holdings in a real estate investment trust. Among his properties: the iconic Torre Picasso, a 43-story skyscraper in Madrid (Google is a tenant). In the past year, he's bought four new buildings in Madrid, New York and London for around $830 million, taking the number of buildings he owns to 26.
Behind that number though lurks a grim and despicable reality: Ortega rings up those huge profits because of the sweat of thousands of Cambodian garment workers who are paid a minimum wage of $100 a month--let me repeat, ONE HUNDRED DOLLARS PER MONTH--and work in long hours in horrendous conditions, suffering a whole raft of health emergencies from malnutrition to inhaling chemical fumes.
Workers United, which has its earlier roots in the Amalgamated Textile Workers Union and the International Ladies' Garment Workers Union, (before going through a merger and a split, and now existing as an affiliate of SEIU) is engaged in a global campaign in support of the Cambodian workers. A report:
In December 2013, tens of thousands of Cambodian workers struck for higher wages, shutting down the industry that is the mainstay of the Cambodian economy. In early January, after ten days of mass demonstrations, the military suppressed the strike, firing live ammunition into crowds of demonstrating workers, killing five and injuring many more. Twenty-three activists were arrested and spent five months in prison before being released with suspended sentences of up to two and a half years. In the past weeks, six union leaders have been ordered to court to face charges of incitement to violence in the strike.
Yesterday, Cambodian workers took to the streets and across the globe, union supporters took to the streets with a very simple demand:
Raise the minimum wage to $177 a month.
Just saying those words "$177 a month" is jaw-dropping when you think of how little that really is--compared to Amancio Ortega's immense wealth.
Take your calculator out. If just 10,000 workers got that raise, over a year, that would cost Ortega $9,240,000...which is a rounding error in his bank account, the money he probably spends for flower arrangements in a given year.
And people marched:
In Cambodia:
Geneva:
Brussels:
Melbourne:
San Francisco:
New York (where yours truly marched along with the protesters):
It's pretty simple: Ortega's wealth is built on a sea of misery. He has picked up where Kissinger left off, bludgeoning Cambodians. Though he wages war in a different way then Kissinger did, you don't have to drop bombs on people to make life intolerable. It can be done with the stroke of a pen.
People are fighting back, though.