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Friday, May 30, 2008
Kudos to Crowley, but will Corporate Dems vote for workers or for W&S?
Posted by Justin Jeffre
Western & Southern is looking for more corporate welfare again. These welfare Kings have funded the campaigns of our “public servants” on council and expect a good return on their investments. But organized labor also invests in politicians and they represent actual people. Though there’s been a Dem majority in this city, they always back corporate profits over the people. Where will they stand now?
Locally, Corporate Democrats have led the charge to slash the health and human services budget while always finding a majority to pass out sweet heart deals and special treatment to their corporate paymasters. When Convergys asked for a handout of $52 million dollars (or more), our public servants decided that we should be there for them in their time of need (or was it greed?).
But when local janitors hit the streets, Convergys refused to meet with community leaders time and time again and the Corporate Democrats were nowhere to be found. David Crowley was the only one to show up at one of their events and even he couldn’t make the four block march to the Convergys stock holders meeting—but at least he was there when no other public servant was.
More recently (one year ago today in fact), local Corporate Democrats imposed a regressive jail tax to build a new jail (it turns out we didn’t really need it after all). They teamed up with their GOP buddies (partners in crime?), and with their corporate paymasters they launched a million dollar pro-jail propaganda campaign which failed.
Now the local Democratic Party has yet another chance to take a stand for working families and since several of them are term limited they have a chance to show their true colors. Will they stand with the working people they represent or will they once again remain silent and continue to be complicit in the transfer of public funds to private wealth?
Dr. King once said, “In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.” He also said, “Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.”
But is the Democratic Party really a friend to working people and does their plight matter enough for the rest of council to follow Crowley’s good example? Corporate Democrats like Clinton and Kerry pushed NAFTA the job killing trade agreement (and Obama won’t repeal it), they refuse to even discuss repealing the Taft-Hartley anti-union law— and though a majority of Americans and physicians support a single payer health care system, they say no. Instead they continue pushing a scandalous-pay or die-health care system.
The Democratic Party says no to a national living wage and locally they don’t use their majority to back workers when giving multi-million dollar handouts to their corporate buddies. They also say no to ending the bipartisan war and bloated military budget despite a majority of Americans opposing it.
Dr. King also said, “One of the greatest casualties of the war in Vietnam is the Great Society… shot down on the battlefield of Vietnam.”
Couldn’t they same by said of the bipartisan quagmire in Iraq?
Big business gets two parties, well, three in Cincinnati (thanks to our corrupt pay to play campaign finance system and corporate control of the media) and all we ever get is to foot the bills. Why should we look out for big corporations if they’re not willing to look out for working families in our community?
(I’m always amazed that so many labor leaders and progressives are foolish enough to throw their support behind the Corporate Democratic Party that has consistently sold them out again and again instead of building a real alternative or running their own candidates.)
It’s time for ‘We the people’ and those that are supposed to represent us to stop keeping quiet and start making more noise. We must demand that our tax dollars stop subsidizing poverty wages. Western & Southern has gotten enough corporate welfare. If the rest of City Council is going to remain silent, make sure you tell your public servants what you think about this!
City Council, we want to know where you stand now. So what say you?
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31 May 2008 at 04:08 pm | #
Kudos to Crowley for what? Attempting politburo-style central economic planning?
Convergys was a crappy deal, but economically it does payback faster than Fountain Square.
31 May 2008 at 06:59 pm | #
If you click on the link there’s a story about how Crowley said he won’t vote for a multi-million dollar handout for Western & Southern unless they sit down with the organized janitors and negotiate a fair deal. If Council is going to give away our tax dollars they can at least make sure that the freeloading corporations that are getting special treatment treat janitors fairly.
Convergys was a crappy deal. What economic payback has there really been from it? I agree the Fountain Square deal is probably worse.
01 Jun 2008 at 12:10 pm | #
corporations represent actual people (owners and shareholders) as well.
01 Jun 2008 at 05:16 pm | #
leaders85, do these owners and CEOs live in our city and aren’t they already making good wages? Why should our city subsidize poverty wages? Wouldn’t it be better for our city to only subsidize wages that people can live on if city council insists on subsidizing big business?
02 Jun 2008 at 10:40 am | #
From Justin Jeffre..........
Why should our city subsidize poverty wages? Wouldn’t it be better for our city to only subsidize wages that people can live on if city council insists on subsidizing big business?
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WESTERN AND SOUTHERN janitors are not paid poverty wages. True, W & S may not be a high paying company, a person who devotes a career to W & W will have a nice retirement package. Benefits are excellent.
After 30 years of service to Western and Southern and having reached age of 55 an employee is eligible for retirement. Retirement includes health benefits (W & S is self insured) as well as a monthly pension.
For each year you work past age of 55, your pension increases.
So, a fellow works for Western and Soutern from age 22 to age 65. He, with Social Security and his W & S pension will do quite well in retirement.
JUSTIN: Are the janitors accross the street at Proctor and Gmable unionized?
I think not. Any complaints from Councilman Crowley on that?
02 Jun 2008 at 04:45 pm | #
white male, Western & Southern doesn’t pay a living wage. The city shouldn’t give W&S another handout if they won’t treat their workers fairly and the janitors shouldn’t have to work a lifetime making poverty wages.
You’ll have to ask Crowley what his complaints are and who they are with. I do know the janitors did have an issue with P&G before.
03 Jun 2008 at 08:44 am | #
I only objected to the fact that you insinuated that corporations did not represent people.
I would do away with all government wage subsidies if i could. The government has no more business subsidizing the janitors wage than they do the CEO. That is not a role of government
03 Jun 2008 at 02:08 pm | #
felt16, corporations are very undemocratic institutions. They represent the interest of the few over the many and are top down structures. To compare corporations and unions as if they equally represent people is dead wrong. Corporations will use slave labor if possible to maximize profits for the people at the very top. Corporations have no loyalty to any community.
Unions work to keep those people from being treated as slaves and give them the right to safe working conditions and a fair wage. Unions-while not always perfect-do represent the working people in a community and therefore are more loyal to communities and generally more democratic.
I believe that the role of governmnets is to protect people from being abused by the fictitious entities government created to serve man, but have now become our masters. You say that neither corporations nor janitors should be subsidized, but you seem to only get your feathers ruffled when we talk about voting against the corporate interest.
I didn’t say that governmnet should subsidize the janitors. I said that since council always gives corporations welfare and big handouts they could at least make the janitors being treated fairly a condition of that hand out. I don’t believe in corporate welfare. I believe in living wages for workers.
03 Jun 2008 at 03:19 pm | #
Justin Jeffre says:
02 Jun 2008 at 04:45 pm
white male, Western & Southern doesn’t pay a living wage
and
I believe in living wages for workers.
Justin, do you know what a janitor at Western and Southern earns at entry and upward? I have always known that W & S is not a high paying company, but I would not think of them as paying poverty wages. Maybe you know something I don’t. If so, please share it with me.
Do you think a entry level janitor with a high school education should start at the same salary as an entry level underwriter with a Bachelor’s degree?
Move ahead some 25 years. The underwriter went to night school and earned a master’s degree as well as having completed numerous in-house courses. The underwriter is now in management whereas the janitor did not continue his education but maintained a good steady work record. The janitor with 25 years probably has a decent salary, probably 5 weeks of vaction, and is looking forward to a good retirement. Most probably, the janitor is in some type of supervisory position after 25 years. I think the salary has something to do with the skills that you bring to the table. Don’t you, Justin?
03 Jun 2008 at 09:18 pm | #
"corporations are very undemocratic institutions. They represent the interest of the few over the many and are top down structures.”
You do realize that 501(c)3s and (c)4s (like the NAACP Cincinnati) are non-profit corporations?
04 Jun 2008 at 04:09 pm | #
Regarding Westerna and Southern wages - Would JJ want to see a pay scale such as this:
Entry level underwritter - Bachelor’s Degree - $40k
Actuary - Master’s Degree - $64k
Entry level janitor - hgih school diploma - $39.5k