Issue of the Week: Picking Unnecessary Fights

Jul. 18, 2012

midnight

Issue of the Week: Picking Unnecessary Fights Last week Milwaukee County Executive Chris Abele wrote an opinion piece in the Journal Sentinel about a labor dispute between a long-established Milwaukee company, Palermo's Pizza, and its employees, weighing in heavily on the side of management and against labor. Abele's action was especially strange because he freely admits in the beginning of his piece that he does not know the facts about the dispute, adding that he knows the owner of Palermo's and considers him a friend. The owner may very well be a good guy, but labor strikes are not casual actions and a situation typically has to get very raw, especially in a slow economy, before employees walk off the job. Like most labor-management disputes, this one is very complex. The employees and the company have been working on the issues leading up to this dispute since 2008. In the past several weeks, the daily paper reported on the complexities of this particular situation, including the involvement of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). Palermo's stipulated to the NLRB that it recently terminated 75 employees. It also hired 82 new employees. The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has been involved and working with the Department of Labor over proof of citizenship among some employees. On top of all that are complex bread-and-butter issues. There are always two sides to a story, but Abele admits that he got all of his firsthand information about the dispute from just one side: management. So why would Abele, as our county executive, get involved in a dispute between a private company and its employees when he freely admits he doesn't know the facts? Why would he, by his own admission, get only one side of the story and then refer to the allegations of the labor side as "questionable at best and outright lies at worst." Perhaps this is Abele's way of doing business. Whereas virtually all of our current and previous top government executives worked their way up and learned along the way, Abele didn't. Mayor Tom Barrett, former Gov. Tommy Thompson, former Mayors Marvin Pratt, John Norquist and Henry Maier and former County Executives Scott Walker and Tom Ament all started as state legislators, aldermen or county supervisors. In those positions they spent years listening, observing and learning before running for a top executive position. Abele didn't start that way, likely for two reasons. One, campaigning for lower-level positions requires a candidate to go "door to door" and talk to voters one on one. In that process the voter gets to meet and evaluate the candidate and the candidate learns about individuals from different cultures and circumstances. Abele, whose father co-founded the firm Boston Scientific, has not faced the same challenges as many everyday people, so the door-to-door approach would not have been appealing to him. Secondly, large amounts of money can allow candidates to skip the learning curve. A large campaign fund is not required to win a local legislative election, since you don't buy TV ads when your legislative district represents only about 3% or 4% of viewership. On the other hand, when you are running for a higher office, unfortunately it is mostly about big money. Whereas you can't usually buy a local legislative office, you can buy a major office with millions of dollars of TV ads. So this situation involving the labor dispute is somewhat indicative of how the county is currently being run. As we learned in the campaign, Abele comes to this position without much work or management experience and no political experience. It is a shame that, instead of trying to make up for these deficiencies by listening and learning, he too often approaches situations without a clear understanding of the facts. This type of approach results in poor decision-making that ends up hurting the county and its taxpayers. Heroes of the Week: Happy Endings Cat Shelter Volunteers Happy Endings (5349 W. Forest Home Ave.) is a no-kill cat shelter dedicated to rehabilitating and finding permanent homes for feral, stray, abused, neglected, unwanted or critically injured cats. Founded in 1994, the organization provides shelter and care for cats and kittens. Happy Endings' Darlene Rager said "some cats are quite shy and considered 'unadoptable' by other shelters, but our volunteers work with these cats daily to build a trust of people and offer a secure environment until they are ready to be adopted." Rager says she wholeheartedly believes that each shelter volunteer and donor is a hero for helping to turn these cats' lives around. This nonprofit sanctuary is run by volunteers and funded only by donations, merchandise sales and adoption fees. Happy Endings is seeking volunteers 13 years and older to help with cleaning crews (daily care of cats and kittens) and fundraisers. Fundraisers help to cover medical bills; upcoming events include the "Spares for Spays" bowling tournament in August and the shelter's annual auction in October. The shelter is also in need of donors to sponsor a specific cat or a kitty condo on a monthly basis, experienced foster homes for pregnant mothers and kittens, and non-clumping cat litter. There are also hopes of finding a larger location. Volunteer and foster applications are available online at www.HappyEndings.us. For more information, leave a message at 414-744-3287, email MediaRelations@HappyEndings.us or visit the shelter during open-house hours 6-9 p.m. Thursdays or 11 a.m.-4 p.m. Saturdays.

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Comments (4)

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And this article is about what?

Ya sure publiciz...

And this article is about what?

Ya sure publicizing this strike is not about testing the political will regarding private unions? We already know that public unions are hated... because for most taxpayers, especially ones with a car and do not ride the bus, their only knowledge of government workers is what they see at the DMV, courthouse, or Post Office. Public Unions "represent" the reality that most citizens themselves already are, trying to get the most pay for the minimum amount of work, except their own tactics don't look so nice when seen from the other side (wanna be served by someone like yourself?) School Teachers? These same private workers do not even go to parent-teacher conferences, much less visit the school when it is in session. So I stand by the DMV-like reference to high paid laziness that is "gospel" to the casual voter.

There are educated medical professionals working for the state hospitals and institutions, degreed and certified engineers working for our DOT. Trained and certified accountants and legal professionals working for our Dept of Revenue. These are not all bus drivers and construction workers leaning on shovels. Funny thing is, whereas most of these jobs are non-union when done in the private sector, even these educated public jobs were often represented by a union.

I've had some of these workers tell me about the incompetence among their co-workers, particularly if the Wisconsin drinking culture is a big part of those co-workers lives. Many of those state workers have also worked for or have on-going "management" contact with the private sector, they report that the same drinking culture and inefficiencies are present in the private sector at levels equaling the state.

Yet, they say that thanks to the "pension", aka compensation payable in the future, the state can get their tasks done cheaper with their own workers than if they had to contract it out to a for-profit private firm that needs full contractor pay today, plus profit mark-up, so they can set up their own future retirement that will be paid by the state taxpayer today.

Just because you see the young people at the registers hustle at McDonald's and Wal-Mart, doesn't mean they are all hustling in the back offices! Remember that most of those young hustlers are NOT going to stay there until they are old enough to be vested in a pension. They are the casual workers that not only are low-paid today, but also healthy enough to not be on expensive meds, and will not need to be paid in the future by funds socked away today. These kids and young adults only put up with it because they feel it is only temporary, they have been brain-washed to think that their future will arrive someday.

Anonymous more than 12 years ago

I think the workers at Palermo's were suckered int...

I think the workers at Palermo's were suckered into walking off the job in order to give some local do-gooders some free press. Now those workers regret what they did. Furthermore, some were humiliated by having to wear over sized sombreros during the strike and parade around like they are in a Mariachi band. Abele is sticking up for both management and labor, both of whom have been victims of dishonest agitators.

Anonymous more than 12 years ago

anoyance where do you get your fact from? Are your...

anoyance where do you get your fact from? Are your words fact or your hatefull words for your fellow Free thinking American brothers and sisters? 

Anonymous more than 12 years ago

go down to Palermos.  You will see people in ...

go down to Palermos.  You will see people in sombreros walking around.  WTF?  Why are they doing that?

Anonymous more than 12 years ago