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Back Letter to the Editor Rector’s ridiculous rant

Rector’s ridiculous rant

Friday, 27 Apr 2012 03:00am
LETTER TO THE EDITOR
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Editor’s note: Bill Gibson was the executive director of the Guam Employers Council from 1978 to 2008.

UNDER the headline "$200 billion lost due to low wages," the Guam Federation of Teachers recently posted this information on their website:

"Guam’s business community and their political lobbyists (Guam Hotel and Restaurant Association, Chamber of Commerce and the Employer’s Council) have spent millions since 1994 in order to keep wages as low as possible for Guam’s workers. Every time there has been an increase in the minimum wage proposed, their representatives in the Legislature have killed or delayed it."
FACT: The Hotel Association, the Chamber of Commerce and the Employers Council are all nonprofit organizations – they do not have "millions" to spend to influence legislation. Recent changes in minimum-wage laws have been made by the U.S. Congress.

"They also passed the anti-union 'Right to Work (for less)' bill, which essentially has kept wages low by making it extremely difficult for unions to organize the private sector."
FACT: The Hotel Association, the Chamber and the Employers Council did NOT pass the "employee choice" law. We worked for 10 years to get Guam's Right-to-Work law enacted. The law did NOT obstruct union organizing of employees at DZSP, Rome Research workers or the DODEA bus drivers. Those three employers are covered by federal laws that mandate wages and benefits. Unions boast about periodic increases in pay and benefits, but those increases are NOT negotiated by a union – they are automatic under the Contract Work Hours and Safety Standards Act, the Service Contract Act and the Davis-Bacon Act.

"So what has this endless war on workers cost our families? $189,628,192,000 since 1994 as a result of wages not keeping up with inflation. This could fund GovGuam for almost 400 years, it could have bought 100 million homes, doubled our public school budget, made everyone’s health care completely free, and so much more. Where did the money go? Into the profits of Guam’s big corporations and the uber rich."
FACT: Any 6th-grade math teacher could explain that $189 billion could not cover the GovGuam budget for 400 years, or double the school budget or pay for 100 million homes.
GFT's leadership lacks a fundamental understanding of the "laws of economic gravity," and I urge the union's members to get the books audited as soon as they elect a new president.

Bill Gibson,
North Carolina

Comments  

 
0 #3 Matt Rector 2012-04-27 11:37
Oh wait I missed some of his "Facts". DZSP, ROME research and DODEA bus drivers work on federal property so RTW doesn't apply (which is why they are organized, and why IBEW doesn't organize outside the fence. Next, the wage increased are a result of contract negotiations not Davis-Bacon. The Service contract act is what allows us to negotiate better wages. So I guess in this instance your "facts" are anything but.
 
 
0 #2 Matt Rector 2012-04-27 10:33
Ah Bill, how you play with the truth. If you noticed I stated that Guam's business community and their lobbyists spent millions... Everyone on Guam know how rich folk funnel money into campaigns by buying hundreds of fund raiser tickets for their employees etc.
As to the Fed minimum wage law you are right (thanks to the Dems) but what you failed to mention is our legislature had a minimum wage increase bill that would have taken effect a year sooner than the Feds that the above mentioned lobbyist testified against. In fact I remember the employers council (was it you?) stated something to the effect that poor folks shouldn't be allowed to have children because they couldn't afford them as opposed to forcing employers to pay decent wages. Which implies forced birth control or abortions for the poor.
BTW, I taught 6th grade math and obviously you weren't in my class. Maybe you should go back to school or at least buy a new calculator. GovGuams budget is approximately half a billion per year and hence 200Billion would cover it for 400years.
Lastly, with your slanderous acusations our books are and have been audited every year by Deloite and Touche as well as by the AFT my entire presidency and have always been clean. Maybe we should have audited the books of the employers council so we could have seen who funds this anti-working family organization you are so proud to have been a part of.
 
 
+4 #1 Mathew 2012-04-27 03:54
All the facts that you listed above appear to be correct, Bill Gibson. I want to point out, though, that the federal minimum wage law hike was consistently opposed by the GOP and by industry groups over the many years and this effort was headed by, among others, former GOP candidate for president and lobbyist extraordinaire, Herman Cain. Their arguments against such a hike were made up in false studies which did not account for control groups, as noted by an editorial in Bloomberg. They argue that is the smart thing to do, raising the minimum wage that is, besides the fact that more jobs created in the states will be lower-paying as the economy undergoes a structural change. Industries on Guam, on the other hand, can do two things to assist Gov Guam in meeting their shortfalls: End QCs' which provide income tax abatements and restore GRT payments for health insurance companies, hotels and banks. If these two items are not done, because it is politically untenable or otherwise, then wages have to rise (or fall) by linking it with the cost-of-living index in order to keep pace with inflation, as some states are proposing to do, through referendum this November. All polls show that this is a popular issue and will pass, even in traditionally red states, presumably bringing in new voters with the economic populist message.
 

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