The Chicago Sun-Times is one of the top two newspapers in Illinois, the other being the Chicago Tribune. Sun-Times reporters and other employees are considering going out on strike, and for good reason: Management wants the employees to pay for the privilege of working there. The employees should tell management, "NO!"
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Employees of the Sun-Times are in negotiations with management over how much of a pay raise should be given to those who fulfill one of the most important roles in a democracy: the creation of a daily newspaper. According to a published report, employees have asked for a reasonable, nominal raise as their reward for doing their part to keep America free: 6% the first year and 5% in each of the second and third years, for a total of a 16% raise over the three years of a new contract. Management has responded with a proposal that employees get no raise at all in the first and third years of a four-year contract, and an insulting 1% raise during the second and fourth years of the contract.
Factoring in the increase that occurs every year in the cost of living, the buying power of employees' salaries would be far less in four years than it is today. That means that employees are being asked, in effect, to pay for the privilege of continuing to work for the Sun-Times.
While I have been a subscriber to the Sun-Times for years, I wouldn't want to read a newspaper if I knew that the employees were being severely mistreated. Buying a copy of the Sun-Times under those circumstances would be like buying a fur coat even while knowing how severely those cute little animals are abused during their short lives on fur farms.
If Sun-Times management doesn't sign a labor contract that offers employees a fair raise, I will cancel my subscription to the newspaper. I will encourage all other subscribers to do the same and I will encourage advertisers to pull their advertising until the employees get a fair deal. That way, screwing the employees will end up costing management far more than if they had chosen to pay their employees fairly.
Where are Mayor Daley, Governor Ryan, Senator Durbin, the members of the Chicago City Council and the candidates for public office on this issue? Certainly, they shouldn't be telling Sun-Times management what amount constitutes a proper pay raise for employees. However, there's nothing wrong with them speaking out in favor of giving working people a fair deal, particularly when the workers involved are engaged in protecting our democracy. A zero percent raise in two of the next three years is not a fair deal, and our political leaders should join me in saying so.
I'm proud to speak up in support of a fair deal for Chicago Sun-Times employees, but then again, I'm a liberal. We liberals and Democrats are America's champions for caring about the oppressed in our society. Conservatives and Republicans, on the other hand, look for every opportunity they can find to screw the working person in the belief that doing so will increase profits. The way to stop management from screwing workers in that way is to make sure that it is more expensive for them to not pay its employees fairly than it would be to pay them properly in the first place. I say: Don't get mad at management for trying to screw their employees. Get even with them by cutting off your financial support.
Aren't you glad that you are a liberal like me?
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