Papa
John's and other employers are punishing their workers for Obama's win.
The sky is falling! The End Times are upon us! It's all over for
America! And it's all because of you working-class voters.
That's the wretched wail of a few corporate chieftains who claim
to be somewhere between flummoxed and furious that Barack Obama is getting
another four years in the White House. With his diabolical Affordable Care Act
and tax-the-rich attacks on us wealthy job creators, they moan, this president
is out to destroy American business.
How are these trembling titans of free enterprise responding? By
firing employees, thus sending a message to workers that voting for Democrats
is bad for them. "Elections have consequences," exclaimed one Las
Vegas boss, who asked for anonymity when he explained on a radio show why he fired 22 workers the day after Obama's re-election.
Then there's Papa John's, the billion-dollar-a-year fast food
giant. John Schnatter, the company's CEO and founding "papa," had
warned this summer that he'd jack-up the consumer price of the chain's pizza if
Obama won, because he wasn't going to eat the cost of assuring health coverage
for employees.
Post-election, however, Schnatter decided not to slap his
customers, but to smack Papa John's workers instead, by cutting their hours to
part-time so he doesn't have to pay for their health coverage. "That's
what you do," Schnatter snapped, "you pass on
costs."
Yeah, that's what bosses like you do — and what an exemplary way
for the millionaire boss to boost the productivity, loyalty, and morale of
those who do the actual work that make customers want to buy Papa John's pizza
— or not.
Jim Hightower is a radio
commentator, writer, and public speaker. He's also editor of the populist
newsletter, The Hightower Lowdown.
Distributed via OtherWords (OtherWords.org)
Distributed via OtherWords (OtherWords.org)