I would like to suggest that Gov. Paul LePage replace the murals in the Department of Labor with those giving the “business” point of view.

May I suggest one of the Ludlow Mine strike in 1914, with the National Guard shooting women and children, or the Columbine Mine massacre by the local militia in 1927. Perhaps the 1937 GM Strike in Flint with the police beating and shooting laborers?

Can’t happen today? How about the steelworkers strike in Berkeley, in which police recently beat and shoved striking workers?

LePage must know it is labor that creates businesses, and it is labor that allows businesses to grow.

First, an entrepreneur (Mickey Marden) has an original idea and the labor to put it all together, then additional labor (Paul LePage among others) is hired to implement and enlarge the original idea.

Businesses create jobs because they need labor to function and grow. Jobs are not gifts from the employer to the employee. They should be employment (contracts) agreements between equals. Employers have something to offer (wages and benefits), and employees have something to give (knowledge, skills and labor).

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Today it is often “take it or leave it.” Do employers negotiate wages and benefits with your clerks and stockers, or were they offered a wage and told to take it or leave it?

I agree that profit is not a bad word, but something is out of balance when CEOs receive a base salary (excluding stock options, bonuses and other perks) on average of $11.4 million or 250 times the median household income.

Charles Robertson

Palermo


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