There is a commercial for a local bank playing in my hometown of Rockford, Illinois. A nice old man is sitting at a beautiful desk discussing his bank and why he has chosen to remain loyal to the city. He talks about his belief in community involvement, the value of “the family” and why Rockford is basically just such a super place in which to live and work. It creates a warm and inspiring idea of small-town responsibility. Even the bank’s website boasts a banner reading “Don’t you wish your banker grew up in the same town that you did?” Sure! I love my town. I love people who live here and grew up here. We are, after-all, the home of Cheap Trick. Anything that inspires community pride is fine by me.
Then I learned a little more about some of the labor practices of this bank. Alpine Bank only hires tellers on a part time basis. This may seem like an insignificant detail but when examined more closely it is the beginning of the end for workers nationwide. Part time work may appeal to many. There are students, stay-at-home parents, people seeking a job in addition to their full-time work and people who simply don’t need or want to work full-time. The catch, however, is that Alpine Bank requires “part-time” tellers to be available to work 37.5 hours a week. The bank also requires that tellers be available to be scheduled during all banking hours.
37.5 hours of work may seem like a blessing to the unemployed. With a reported 15.7% unemployment rate, Rockford, Illinois ranks 10th in highest unemployment among major metropolitan areas. (Dept of Labor) 37.5 hours of work would seem a Godsend to someone trying to save their home or feed a family. What this bank does not realize… what local politicians and tea partiers and conservatives and Thomas Jefferson- quoting protesters all do not realize is that 37.5 hours with no flexibility at the bank will not save this or any other community from breaking off into the abyss of poverty. 37.5 hours at $9.00 an hour (the starting wage) will not save the family home, will not fix the family car, will not feed the family and will not better the family’s neighborhood or community.
The 37.5 hour job, designed to offer no health insurance coverage and employee benefits while extracting the maximum amount of availability and work out of its employees, has become common practice. It is a corporate cost-saving method designed to prey on desperate workers who have exhausted their unemployment benefits and resources. Corporations have determined this to be an “employers market”. As workers seek to stay afloat they continue to raise the cost of life rafts.
This is not just happening with the jobs traditionally held by entry-level workers. Rockford is a city known for its rich history in manufacturing. One of the biggest employers here is the Chrysler Auto-Manufacturing Plant. Chrysler employs over 2300 people in the Rockford area. After repeatedly having to close and reopen, reorganize and borrow, Chrysler is going strong with a first shift and now a permanent second shift. Unlike the bank, many employees at Chrysler are enjoying the occasional 40 hour work week and their union positions even offer them great, though now reduced, benefits. The factory is even hiring at a competitive wage.
It seems like great news! There is work! We are building cars! Recovery is imminent! The mayor claims “Development! Jobs! Progress!”. The media runs a story about employment opportunities and all is right in our world. What people don’t hear is that these jobs are called “temporary” positions. Because they are “temporary” the workers receive no benefits: no health insurance, no holiday pay, no sick days, no vacation time… nothing. Come work at the Chrysler factory making jeeps, but don’t take a day off if you are sick because you will lose your job. Don’t request time off in advance to take your children to the doctor, because you will lose your job. Don’t run into traffic on the way to work. If you are late, you will lose your job. Don’t injure yourself on the job. You can’t afford to fight them and you don’t want to risk losing your job.
Chrysler has found the answer to the empoyee-relations problem that has troubled American corporations for decades now. That answer is the word “temporary”. If a company places the word “temporary” before worker they cover themselves from any and all hiring and firing liability. Afterall, the employee should have expected to be terminated. They were “temporary”.
How long is “temporary”? Temporary seems to now be as long as corporations need it to be. At the Chrysler Automotive plant temporary means two weeks- two weeks plus four years. A number of employees have been working at the plant, as temporary workers, for four consecutive years now. They have no insurance. They have no 401k. They enjoy no tuition reimbursement or employee assistance program. They have no sick days. They are penalized when they are too ill to come in to work. Many are terminated after three occurences of calling in sick or being tardy for work. This Monday, when the plant closes to observe Labor day- one of the many scheduled shut-down holidays, the temporary workers (all UAW members) will not make a full weeks pay. Paid holidays are reserved for permanent workers.
Why don’t the temporary workers of Chrysler or Alpine Bank or any number of other companies here in Rockford simply use their employement to better themselves? Why don’t they attempt to grow with their companies or perhaps earn a college degree? Some of them do, but many cannot. Remember the bank’s requirement that employees offer unlimited schedule flexibility during banking hours? There go morning classes at a state college. So much for night classes at a community college. The Chrysler employees are often given a few days notice before they are required to work an entirely different shift. This leaves little or no room for workers to lead a life with consistency or dependability.
Even if they could work out the schedule issues many workers struggle with the financial burden of attending school. Considering that low-income people in Rockford spend 80% of their income on housing it is of little doubt that they may have trouble coming up with the money a few classes at a community college could cost, let alone the substantial (and rising) cost of a university. Financial aid can be difficult for established adults to obtain, as the governement application asks for income and dependant information, but does not account for housing and debt. Student loans could possibly pay for themselves but many people who have been out of work have poor credit and steadily accumulating bills. The obstacles to an education seem insurmountable.
This is all to the corporate interest. If workers cannot improve themselves they cannot possibly expect more from their employers. If a job market remains flooded with desperation the worth of the worker is lessened. People become cheap commodities: replaceable, disposable and worthless. As we lose our employeable value we begin to feel that we have no value at all. The father losing his home has suicidal thoughts. The single mother unable to feed or clothe her children begins to seek refuge with abusive men. The daughter who once wanted to be a teacher sees no future and wonders about a life of prositution. Our neihborhoods become ghost towns, haunted by remnants of the working class- overgrown lawns are moats guarding empty castles. The American dream is made unattainable and hopelessness spreads like an epidemic.
The disturbing issue here is not necessarily that corporations are taking advantage of the economic crisis. While their manipulation and disregard of long-established labor laws is deplorable, the true crime is the wool they have managed to pull over our eyes. They run commercials about their desire to see the city thrive. They tout their active presence within the community. Surely they are aware that the very workers they employ are members of the community their sacharrin sweet promises are meant to better. They brag about improving the city and remaining faithful to those who helped them become established and yet, when tested on this vow, they fail. The employees at the bank cannot possibly improve their lives, let alone the lives of those around them if they are not making a dignified wage. The new assembly workers at Chrysler cannot and may not possibly ever be able to afford one of the cars they build.
Instead of improving conditions around them, these companies have created a socio-economic environment that entirely haults class progression. The worker, so desperate for mere subsistance, accepts degradation and depreciation. Children are then raised in unstable environments: no consistency or prospect for the future. The option of schooling diminishes as family funds are less available. The potential consequence is a city with generations of poverty. The people with opportunity continue to pass their traditions down to their children while those without will do the same.
These companies are parasites. They come to our towns and they put up exciting signs “now hiring!”. They enjoy tiffs or reduced tax rates. We welcome them with open arms. Jobs! Jobs! We want to work and we are hopeful that they will help us to dig ourselves out of this hole. In the end, we are disappointed. We become a wasteland of discarded and disfigured factory workers- arthritis being the only pension we take with us. We are short-term bank tellers and job-hopping cashiers. We are a tired and spent host. Still, they continue to bleed us dry. They profit on our backs. They breaks our backs, all the while turning theirs toward us.
This labor day Americans have got to reflect on the fact that there are brave individuals who have given their lives to prevent practices that we now willingly accept. When the bank asks us “wouldn’t it be nice to bank with people who grew up in the same town as you” we should hold them accountable. Wouldn’t it be great if the bank who employs the people I grew up with gave a damn about their employees? Wouldn’t it be nice if the bank full of people who grew up in the same town as me gave a damn about that town?
