Bill Gates: nice charity work, shame about the business practices [View all]

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http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/jan/29/bill-gates-charity-work-business-practices


Microsoft founder and philanthropist Bill Gates addresses delegates during the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos. Photograph: Pascal Lauener/Reuters

Here's a riddle to kick us off: what do an American sanitation company and the annual Richard Dimbleby lecture have in common? The answer, surprisingly, is Bill Gates. Not just a dab hand at revolutionary technology; Gates also happens to be the principal shareholder in Republic Services – the second-largest waste management company in America. He has also been chosen to deliver the 2013 Richard Dimbleby lecture, thanks to his status as "one of the world's most generous philanthropists".

Gates will use the lecture as an opportunity to share his vision of a polio-free world, and how he is planning to use his wealth and influence to eradicate this debilitating disease once and for all.

Given that polio is primarily transmitted via the gruesome faecal-oral method, one might assume that Gates is committed to excellent standards of sanitation in every corner of the globe. One might also assume, therefore, that Gates also ensures the waste management company he has invested in, Republic Services makes excellent sanitation the only priority of its operation – more important than making profits.

Alas, if you did make these assumptions about Bill Gates, you would be wrong. For as he jets off around the world to promote polio vaccinations and "environmentally friendly toilet seats", Republic Services is locking out its workers as part of an industrial dispute, a practice which may jeopardise the sanitation of American communities. According to the Teamsters union, which represents the employees of Republic Services, workers have been subject to lockouts for protesting against the destruction of already modest pensions, unpaid overtime, and illegally abandoning contracts agreed upon with the union. In 2012, Republic Services' practice of locking out protesting workers led to stoppages in at least 13 American cities. Teamsters has called on Gates to use his wealth and influence – that same wealth and influence he's planning to use to eradicate polio – to put an end to this dispute. So far Bill Gates has not responded.