Donna Dymally
My friend Donna Dymally was performing community service to work off a traffic ticket fine at Goodwill Industries International Inc.’s store in the Park La Brea area, Los Angeles 90036. Required to sign a waiver of liability for any injuries she might suffer to begin with, here is what she has recently had to endure:
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On Monday, April 30, 2013, at approximately 1:57PM, I was doing community service at the Goodwill located at 817 S. La Brea, Los Angeles CA 90036. I was assisting an employee, Jennifer Sajia with moving a clothes rack when she accidentally ran over my right big toe with a clothes rack that was completely filled with garments.
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I was informed by manager, Kelly White that I could call 911 but I would be responsible for all charges. Since I suffered a stroke last year, I have been unable to work and I am waiting on my disability payments to be approved, I could not afford to incur this additional debt. My daughter who works down the street came and picked me up shortly after.
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I asked the acting manager, Kelly White if I could have a copy of the incident report for my record. She had me fill it out and I also gave her a hand written attachment of what occurred (which I wrote in duplicate) She informed me that Goodwill’s corporate office told her not to provide me with a copy. Kelly White did inform me that I could speak with corporate and gave me the phone number to call.
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Upon immediately leaving the premises at approximately 2:08PM, I called corporate and talked with Goodwill representative Minerva (323) 223-1211. She told me corporate should respond to my call within 24 hours and that did not occur until today (May 2, 2013).
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A male called me and failed to identify himself from the Goodwill corporate office. He refused to provide me with any record of the injury incident, refused to provide me with anything identifying how many hours of community service work I was credited with (so I cannot even determine if I have completed my assignment or not), and told me I would have to subpoena anything. He hung up without even giving me his name or title.
Here is my letter to the President of Goodwill, Jim Gibbons, which I sent before the guy called from their corporate office:
Jim Gibbons, President, Goodwill Industries International, 15810 Indianola Drive, Rockville MD 20855
Dear President Gibbons:
The California League of Latin American Citizens (CALLAC), an affiliate of the National League of Latin American Citizens (NLLAC), has received a request for assistance from Donna Dymally who has been performing community service in lieu of a traffic ticket fine at one of your facilities in Los Angeles. She was injured in the course and scope of her volunteer job and indicates that this may impact her ability to complete her community service.
Goodwill, nice in principle; in application: bullshit
Ms. Dymally is fully cognizant that she signed a waiver of rights concerning potential injuries during her volunteer duties. She does however need confirmation of the incident to provide to the Los Angeles Superior Court in the event that this adversely affects her legally. She indicates that in spite of being assured by her supervisor from Goodwill that the corporate office would respond to her within 24 hours and that the corporate office had directed that she not be provided with a copy of the incident report, that corporate has not returned her telephone call. Following is her narrative:
On Monday, April 30, 2013, at approximately 1:57PM, While doing community service at the Goodwill located at 817 S. LaBrea, Los Angeles CA 90036. I was assisting an employee, Jennifer Sajia with moving a clothes rack when she accidentally ran over my right big toe with a clothes rack that was completely filled with garments.
I was informed by manager, Kelly White that I could call 911
but I would be responsible for all charges. Since I suffered a stroke last year, I have been unable to work and I am waiting on my disability, I could not afford to incur this additional debt. My daughter who works down the street came and picked me up shortly after.
I asked the acting manager, Kelly White if I could have a copy of the incident report for my record. She had me fill it out and I also gave her a hand written attachment of what occurred (which I wrote in duplicate) She informed me that corporate told her not to provide me with a copy. Kelly White did inform me that I could speak with corporate and gave me the phone number to call.
Upon immediately leaving the premises at approxmately 2:08PM, I called corporate and talked with Goodwill representative Minerva (323) 223-1211. She told me corporate should respond to my call within 24 hours and that has not occurred to date.
Witnesses include:
Miya Dymally [phone number]
Jennifer Sajia – Goodwill employee
Evelyn Alvarez – Goodwill employee
Kelly White - Acting manager
Nina - Goodwill customer [phone number]
Local Goodwill (323) 931-3239
We would appreciate it if you would direct your personal attention to this matter to insure that Ms. Dymally receives proper and appropriate documentation of this matter to document for the court that she may not be able to timely complete her community service requirement.
Respectfully Yours, Jan B. Tucker, State Director, CALLAC
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Okay, Goodwill shouldn’t have pissed me off by shafting one of my friends. Over the years, I’ve heard other horror stories about how they exploit their workers but these were always anecdotal and second or third hand. Now I know the story from the horse’s mouth. So, the first thing I do is check the IRS Form 990 for 2012 for Goodwill Industries International, Inc. Guess what: the 990T they filed for 2012 claims that their business is “real estate rental.” So I get confused. I started with Goodwill Industries International because that’s the entity which operates the Goodwill Industries website.
Turns out that Goodwill is locally incorporated all over the place as separate entities. There’s Goodwill Industries of Southern California whose Form 990 for the period ending December 31, 2011 shows that it’s gross revenue was $145,296,438.00. The compensation of Douglas H. Barr, listed as President and CEO, was $1,075,614.00 plus an additional $113,119.00. The total compensation of Officers and Directors of the company was listed as $3,763,936.00 compared with other salaries and wages, i.e., the rank and file workers: $33,676,900.00.
Do you think it’s right that the poverty pimps at the top are so highly paid as a percentage of total wages? I don’t.
A man who worked for Goodwill in Oregon and tried to unionize his store didn’t think so either. Here’s an excerpt from a blog he wrote about his efforts (see the full story at http://amongstthemeek.blogspot.com/2011/09/my-letter-of-resignation-to-goodwill.html):
I haven’t posted on here for a while now. There has been a reason for that. I have been trying to unionize my workplace, Goodwill Industries of the Columbia Willamette which is located in Portland Oregon and the surrounding areas. It will actually be my former workplace as of this morning. My decision to resign has been a long time coming. I had been one of the employees from the beginning to try to get GICW employees to join a union since last fall. That fall I approached another employee about it, Doug M., and the next day we had an anti-union meeting with two of the higher ups in the company. Obviously you just can’t trust some people. You’ll read about the higher ups later.
So, what can I say: fuck Goodwill and fuck the horse they rode in on. Unionize Goodwill. Boycott Goodwill. Take action.
What am I going to do? I’m going to seek action in the legislature to:
- Outlaw companies benefiting from community service, i.e., slave labor imposed by the courts on the poor, from making them sign waivers of liability for workplace injuries
- Require that community service workers and other volunteers have a right to review records kept about them on the same basis as employees under Section 1198.5 and Section 432 of the California Labor Code
- Require that tax exempt non-profit corporations agree to union-neutrality and neutral card-check rules to enable their employees to form and join unions without management opposition or interference
If you want to help, call, write or email your Assembly member and State Senator and tell them you want these reforms enacted into law.
