John Brummett exposed the root of the problem with Tim Griffin in an editorial last Friday, accurately depicting the Congressional candidate as “a Rovian operator who knows and espouses the right-wing boilerplate.” There’s that. And the related fact that he was embroiled in a Bush II-era political scandal. If that’s not enough to turn voters away, there’s also the little issue of his political philosophy. At the Political Animals luncheon last week in Little Rock, Griffin said that being a low-labor-cost state is an advantage that Arkansas should keep. Brummett made the assumption that “low labor costs” is a euphemism for low wages. Griffin disagreed, and, it turns out, he’s right. Labor costs do include much more than wages. They represent the total value of a workers compensation and benefits.
Labor costs include more than just the hourly wages and salaries paid to a company’s employees. The cost of labor also includes employee benefits packages. Health insurance, disability insurance, PTO (paid time off) and 401-K plans all fall under the umbrella of labor costs.
And there’s workers compensation insurance, the premiums for which stay lower either if not so many of your workers get hurt or you don’t get hit with big payouts when they do get hurt.
Griffin is saying it helps Arkansas economically that employers invest less in their workers here than they do in some other places. He is saying we need to keep this situation intact. [Opposing candidate Joyce] Elliott presumably believes we should aspire to have our people assigned greater value, and perhaps she will talk about that when she addresses this same Political Animals Club on Thursday. Griffin probably would be better off to couch this Arkansas advantage in a general cost of living.”
It’s one thing (not necessarily the right thing) to be anti-Obama, Arkansas. It’s quite another to support out of spite a candidate that wants to keep the real value of the people that make the economy run (the workers) artificially low in order for business to profit.
In the wake of the ACORN scandals, it has been a difficult time for community organizers across the nation to raise funds, take action, and promote social justice. A new organization, Arkansas Community Organizations, was founded in December, 2009, to address these issues. This Saturday, the group is holding an open house.
For Immediate Release Contact: Neil Sealy
Thursday, June 17, 2010 501-346-9617
Arkansas Community Organizations To Hold Open House This Saturday
Little Rock — Arkansas Community Organizations will hold an open house this coming Saturday, June 14 at 2101 S. Main Street in Little Rock from Noon to 3:00 PM. A program with speakers will begin at 12:30 PM.
Arkansas Community Organizations was established in December 2009 to organize low-income and working Arkansans to win changes that improve the health, income and opportunities for people in the state’s underserved communities and to give ordinary Arkansans a voice in major policy decisions in both government and private business. The new organization has worked on health care reform, environmental justice, financial reform and neighborhood issues over the last six months. The organization has also been active in helping people obtain affordable home mortgages and providing financial literacy classes to community residents.
The open house gives the community an opportunity to meet members and leaders of the new organization and to meet the organization’s supporters from other constituencies.
In spite of the recent hoopla over job exportation, the fact of the matter is that so-called free trade was supported by both sides of the proverbial aisle, and came to full fruition during the Clinton years. Unless a candidate specifically says s/he would do something about job exportation, s/he probably won’t. What’s more, “doing something” about the problem is bigger than any one candidate or even one party, thanks to the international treaties that are involved. Bill Halter points fingers at Lincoln for voting for free trade agreeements, but doesn’t make it explicitly clear that he opposes these agreements. (If I’m missing something, please chime in. My view is that Halter’s views on Labor put him a far better position than Lincoln on this issue to begin with).
The latest news on this front, coming hard on the heels of heavy rhetoric and a racist commercial from Americans for Job Security, is an upcoming Whirlpool plant closure in Indiana. The AFL-CIO has started a petition drive urging Whirlpool to “keep it made in America.” (The group should target retailers with the same message). You may sign the petition here. The move by Whirlpool, recipients of $19.3 million in stimulus funds last year, will involve 1100 jobs in Indiana.
David Brooks, New York Times commentator, thinks American-style capitalism is great. That’s not surprising. What is astounding is his reasoning. He doesn’t think American capitalism is great because of its reputed wealth-generating benefits. He thinks it’s great because it “leads to more exciting lives.” Europeans, he argues, have so much job security that their work, and hence their lives, lack a sense of excitement.
If lack of job security equals excitement, Americans are certainly leading scintillating lives. Imagine how dull it would be to work fewer hours in a job you were fairly certain would exist ten years from now. Your life would almost certainly be excruciatingly boring, and what use would that extra free time be to you, anyway, as you while away a lackluster existence? Those of you who are out of work should consider yourselves fortunate. James Bond himself would envy the thrill of your lifestyle. Nothing stimulates joie de vivre like wondering where your next meal will come from.
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