Letters to the business editor
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If manufacturers want high-quality, skilled labor, then they should be prepared to pay for it. (" Kennametal CEO: Manufacturing Jobs Available, But Skills Rare ," Jan. 9.)
My husband is an experienced machinist. He was laid off from a local mill, making $17.50 an hour. For two solid years he looked for a manufacturing job that would pay comparable to what he was making, and all he could find were jobs that paid barely above minimum wage. He made more collecting unemployment than these jobs paid. Where is the incentive to look for a job? He would be "working himself poor" if he did.
Why should anybody have to put their lives on the line for $7.50 an hour? And on top of that, you actually want them to "care" and take pride in their job?
Just remember that if you want quality workers, you have to pay for them. Don't expect high-end work from your employees when you're barely paying them for a trip to the dollar store. Money talks on all levels.
MAUREEN KOWALSKI
Brighton Heights
I was intrigued by the Balancing Act column " Work-Life Conflicts Must Be Resolved In 2012 ," Jan. 15.
Cindy Krischer Goodman states that organizations like WorldatWork's Alliance for Work-Life Progress, the Families and Work Institute and the Corporate Voices for Working Families are pushing corporate best practices to make workers productive yet enjoy life and family time at home. Not once did she acknowledge that unions have been fighting for this forever.
It is not corporations that gave us the 40-hour work week, safe working places, health care, a living wage, sick pay, seniority, paid vacations, etc. It was the banding together of men and women from all walks of life to join a union and take pride in their work and their lives.
Business today is in a race to achieve the greatest profit with the lowest payroll possible. I have heard talk that unions are the ruin of our economy. What nonsense. Wall Street greed, fighting two wars and at the same time lowering taxes is why we are in such a mess.
WILLIAM D. MOUTZ SR.
Verona
Unions are important. Union advocacy is essential to the workers of the world, to families, to leveling the divide between 1 percent and 99 percent.
I know and love many International Alliance of Theatrical and Stage Employees Local 3 stagehands. But they should not work outdoors on Cultural Trust events -- First Night, Arts Festival, etc. -- lest those events get priced out of the market. (" Union Circumvented For First Night ," Dec. 29.) IATSE rates inside theaters have gone so high many local companies can no longer afford performances there.
The Cultural Trust does more than produce theater; its mission is broader. It took over these outdoor events with an understanding of preservation.
The way to accomplish what IATSE wants is not by force, by impugning current workers, pricing everything out of our market, hounding government officials. Pittsburgh cannot afford all outdoor events to go to Local 3, and that is what will happen once they expand their jurisdiction outdoors.
AUDREY N. GLICKMA Greenfield
I think Stephen Colbert would have a great time with the story " Nobody's Home/A Federal Initiative That Aimed To Help Owner-Occupants Take Advantage Of Foreclosed Homes Fails For One Aspinwall Property ," Jan. 15.
Taking Paul Buncher's intent to live in the house at face value, why didn't he simply return the house to Freddie Mac when that was not going to happen?
What he did is take a house that was affordably priced for a middle- to lower-middle-income family and turn it over to people who have priced for the folks who are doing OK right now.
It seems to me that the officials in charge need to reconsider this entire scenario. I guess you can't blame Mr. Buncher, but you can blame "us" for letting it happen.
SANDRA FINLEY
Greensburg
The year-end series " Coal's Power " noted that the black rock is not going anywhere. I wish that were literally true. Given the warnings we are receiving from everyone from the National Academy of Sciences to Pope Benedict XVI on the threats posed by climate change and ocean acidification, it is clear we need to get off of coal and oil as fast as possible.
On Dec. 14, Democratic Senators Sheldon Whitehouse, R.I., and Al Franken, Minn., delivered a comprehensive colloquy from the Senate floor on the climate and oceans crisis. They also demonstrated the necessities and advantages of pursuing the clean-energy industries of the future. The clean-energy competition is a race we dare not lose, not just for economic reasons, but for reasons of climate and ocean security.
Whether you already accept the science or are skeptical, it's worth the time to view the video on YouTube. It's a great summary of the overall situation we find ourselves in and illustrates why it's time we stop cheerleading for an industry that is undermining the very civilization it purports to serve.
TIM KELLY
Sewickley
First Published January 21, 2012 12:00 am
