Friday, September 7, 2012

Donovan Sides Against His Own Consituents

Those of us in Milwaukee are used to City Councilman Bob Donovan regularly opening his mouth, mostly for the purpose of rearranging his feet. But sometime Donovan can come out with something that is so bizarre that no one, not even his most ardent supporters, can defend it.

Thursday was one of those days.

Donovan decided to use the Palermo strike to attack Mayor Tom Barrett, his favorite target. But Donovan's statement on the strike itself shows that he doesn't have a frickin' clue what he's talking about (emphasis mine):
While I certainly support the right of any group of workers to organize, I must state that the protest action at Palermo’s Pizza plant in the Menomonee Valley is concerning to me.

I believe the call by protest leaders for a nationwide boycott of Palermo’s is the wrong way to go – it will only result in hurting the company, its workers (many who reside in my district and the very people the protest leaders are claiming they’re trying to help-!), and the city as a whole. I’m disappointed that the leaders decided to call for the boycott, but I’m also disappointed (again) in our mayor.

[...]

At a time when Palermo’s has employed many hundreds of workers – from all over the city (including many challenged neighborhoods) – the City of Milwaukee must be more supportive of Palermo’s, doing what is appropriate to help bring closure to this impasse.

Again, I bear no ill will toward the protesters and I support their right to organize. I just think this national boycott call is going way overboard, and I call on the mayor to get off his couch, live up to his claim that we are truly “open for business,” and get involved to help settle this thing.
Now, if Donovan had bothered to go a bit further than the local squawk radio channel to get his information, he'd have had the critical thinking skills necessary to know that the workers are already being hurt by Palermo's. Or he would have unless he approves of workers losing fingers because of the lack of safety equipment; workers losing their jobs because they can't work after losing their finger;, and workers standing in water while working with electronics as good working conditions.

Or maybe if Palermo's paid a sustainable wage, those challenged neighborhoods might be substantially less challenged. Then again, maybe not. Especially not when you have a councilman who cuts shady deals for himself and turns his district into a little police state.

Companies are rather used to workers wanting to be treated with respect and dignity, so it is doubtful that this would be a turnoff for one. What they don't necessarily care for are alderman who are openly hostile to minorities and children.

Donovan also might find it easier to influence people if he was not having a temper tantrum every other day as well.

But as I pointed out above, Donovan doesn't really give a damn about Palermo's or the workers. All he cares about is trying to discredit his mayor.

6 comments:

  1. Is this guy a Republican, what did they elect him for?

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    1. He got reelected this time because he was running against a young idealistic carpetbagger. "Going to bring jobs to the district" was a laughable comment, since an alderman is really pretty powerless to do that. It showed me he was too young to take on a the realism of the 8th district. And in the end, Donovan has done a lot to improve the safety of the 8th district, and I felt I would be better off with him representing me. You would have to live here to understand. He has warts, many warts, but he was clearly the better choice in 2012.

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  2. I doesn't sound like these are very sanitary conditions and why would you want to eat pizza from a place that blood might be the sauce of the day? What's the chance they actually close the line and recall contaminated product. I will never eat one of their pizzas again.

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    1. They won't shut down. They will hire scabs.

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  3. Capper and all who read this blog:

    I would like a complete list of the Palermo Pizza lines tossed up here, if you could.

    The obvious Palermo branded Pizza is easy to avoid when the label is clear.

    What we need help with finding is the "private label" brands.

    Where are they? What names are they under? The "private label" brands have been hard to identify, and if we want to support workers, fellow humans, here in our backyard, WE MUST know, and we must make Palermo feel the pressure from the consumers.

    Otherwise, these already weak people will lose against the over powered wealthy people of this state and country.

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  4. Palermo Pizza is giving away free pizza (with purchase of other products) at various IGA stores across Wisconsin, right now!

    Watch the IGA brands, support Palermo workers!!!

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