An Ikea factory in Virginia is being accused of racial discrimination and trying to stop a unionization drive. Workers say that they are punished for not working overtime and that raises have been eliminated. The issues at the plant are making headlines in Sweden, where union leaders say that the company's code of conduct gives employees the right to organize and that overtime is voluntary. African-American workers in the plant have filed discrimination charges against the factory, saying that they are passed up for promotions and given the worst shifts. The company says that it does not know what is going on in the factory, but that those sorts of things were not acceptable.
See "Ikea's US factory churns out unhappy workers", Nathaniel Popper, Kansas City Star, April 11, 2011