During the past couple of decades, we have all too often learned of a business moving out of Wisconsin or threatening to do so because they are faced with a serious loss or possible bankruptcy due to high labor costs.
We are also informed that in addition to high labor costs, the taxes are much too high for a good business climate. Therefore the affected business intends to move their operation to some other state, usually a state like Kentucky, Tennessee or Arkansas.
Apparently the tax rate in those or similar states have much lower rates for business? It is also apparent that workers in those states are willing to work for far less, because there is little or no influence from unions. I can only gather from that form of logic that the living costs must be far less there as well.
Expanding on this premise, we must assume that the services including natural gas, electricity, water and sewer utilities are far less costly. In addition, it is fair to presume that gasoline is less expensive by a considerable amount, automobiles sell for less, groceries are cheaper, and of course, the climate is more conducive to worker efficiency and any transportation costs throughout the United States are more business friendly.
If this is the case, why isn’t Wisconsin a barren wilderness?
We all are aware that Wisconsin is a vibrant and thriving state. A state that requires any business to support good ecological practices, a state where labor is respected and entitled to fair wages, a state that has hundreds of small and large businesses doing diversified work and meeting the needs of its people during bad as well as good times.
The businesses do this by making constant improvements in their product, thereby creating a demand for a superior product. Some states are less inclined to enforce regulations pertaining to pollution and will no doubt suffer problems caused by this neglect.
To those who pressure the state and local government for special tax consideration and who threaten the union work force with plant closing, there can be only one answer; Move your business to Mexico and beyond or to China, where workers are forced to work for pennies and live in abject poverty, where pollution and unsanitary conditions are everywhere. There is one condition that will not change, despite the low labor costs there, the lack of taxes, or the ability to pollute without penalty, the product they sell will remain at the same price to consumers as before their move. Sometimes it seems to increase to accommodate the CEO’s bonus I presume,
Since the retail price is not reduced, it becomes apparent that labor costs and taxes were not a factor. One can only conclude that exploitation of the public and the work force has no ceiling.
Resolving the problems is necessary to arrive at solutions that will be beneficial to the company, the union workers, and to the general public. I hasten to add that there is no doubt that without union organization, most American workers would be working at much lower wages.
It’s true, the trait for having a voracious greed for more money is alive and kicking among all of us. We simply need to learn how to curb this appetite, and to extend consideration toward each other.
Erling Landsverk
King