It just never ends, does it?

Now, rich corporate CEO’s are all a-flutter over *gasp* paying workers a fair wage. In Gov. Doyle’s budget, a new provision requires companies that receive help from the state to pay their workers the prevailing wage.

J. Michael Mooney,  chairman of the MLG group, an investment and real estate developer, called the idea of a paying a decent wage to workers “economic suicide.” A quick look at MLG’s Real Estate Investment website shows they have a portfolio value of $330 million. They have a “presence” in four states: Wisconsin, Florida, Minnesota and Texas. The “Executive Board” of MLG is a bunch of rich white guys. I guess the diversity policy at MLG only applies to what label designer suit each white male board member wears. Excuse me if I don’t sympathize with this pompous Uncle Money Bags.  

“This would be a bad idea in good times,” Mooney also says. So when the economy is down, not the right time for fair pay. And when the economy is up isn’t good either. I’m still trying to figure out when would be a good time for Mr. Mooney to share some of his wealth with his workers…yeah not finding one. This guy and the corporatists at WMC will NEVER find time for fairness.

But I guess there’s a part of me that expects it from these top 2%-ers. Paying their workers a fair wage would mean less money in their pockets, and while it certainly is greedy, self-serving, and un-American,  it’s the standard of these flag-waving, chest-bumping robber barons. After all, this is the same crowd that cheered while President Bush cut taxes for the rich in a time of war! Guys like Mooney and WMC don’t want to pay their fair share to support the troops, and they don’t want to pay their fair share to the workers.  They never have, and if they had their way, they never would.
 
If you can’t pay a prevailing wage in Wisconsin to your employees then you shouldn’t be in business. There, I said it. Go. Leave. Get out already. Take WMC with you. Then finally the real people of Wisconsin might get a break from the never-ending crying and bitching and moaning from greedy businesses who don’t give a shit about workers. Workers are the ones who make you rich! We’re the ones who buy your goods. We’re the ones that labor endlessly, and whose efforts these corporatists so willingly exploit. It’s the workers who toil away for whatever scraps they can grab from the owners who hoard their wealth.

There are lots of companies out there who would gladly take help from the state AND pay their workers fairly. If Mooney doesn’t want help from the taxpayers, he can stick it. Don’t take the money then. That leaves more room for the kind of companies we want here in Wisconsin: profitable companies that care about community, the environment, and paying their workers fairly.