The summer of 2018 was rough.
It began with several difficult transitions and then, in August, I was told that my position was being eliminated – the second time in two years I faced unemployment.
I found another job with my employer quickly, so I thought I’d celebrate with a long weekend at the beach to relax, read and write.
Hurricane Florence veered south, so I am sitting in the Rehoboth Beach, Delaware sand as I write this. No one can tell if a particular weather event is the result of global warming, but Florence’s fury is said to be typical of what we must come to expect. The surf here is rough, and red flags are up warning of riptides.
I pray for the Carolinas.
This summertime takes me back to the address I gave at graduation from Starr King School for the Ministry in May of 2015. With midterm elections only a month away, and the confirmation of business-above-all-else Judge Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court all but a given, I think it is a message worth dusting off.
“Corporations are people, my friend!”
These words were spoken by Mitt Romney at the Iowa State Fair on August 11, 2011, as he campaigned for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination, in response to hecklers who were calling for an increase in corporate taxes.
If only he hadn’t said it quite that way, so soon after the Citizen’s United Supreme Court decision in February of 2010. If only he hadn’t been so snarky in his reply to the peanut gallery. Mitt Romney was on to something.
What is a corporation?
Demos.org defines it as, “…a legal structure that enables individuals to contribute and pool resources, capital, and labor in order to generate a profit.”
Labor is people. People work for corporations. During my entire time at Starr King, I worked for a corporation.
Five days a week – and thank the labor movement that it’s only five! – we denizens of cube farms, factories, mines, hospitals and retail establishments, check our constitutional rights at the door and work in a corporate environment that may – or may not – be conducive to our health and our wealth. We willingly surrender our rights for the ability to put a roof over our heads and food in our stomachs.
“Pink slips” have been arriving with frightening frequency since the early 1980’s, when I began my career in Corporate America. I’ve received three of them in just over thirty years on the job (as of today, it’s five). Getting laid off is hard on self-esteem and confidence, not to mention the bank account! In his book, The Disposable American (2006), Louis Uchitelle says that laid off workers may never again achieve the level of income and benefits they had pre-layoff.
Here in the first decades of the 21st century, the deck is stacked against the American worker. Our productivity has increased but our inflation-adjusted wages have decreased or remained flat. CEO’s used to make about 40 times what their lowest paid employee made; now, they make hundreds of times more.
What is a worker to do?
I believe there are several things we can do. At the very least, we can be there for each other.
We can:
- Boycott companies that have policies negating the inherent worth and dignity of their employees and / or who are killing our planet. Let these companies know why you are not buying their products or applying for their openings.
- Provide comfort and compassion when someone you know is targeted by a workplace bully or is a victim of discrimination or harassment.
- Encourage someone whose job is getting them down to take a little time to nourish their spirit.
- See if you can introduce a modicum of democracy in the decision-making process where you work.
- Like it or not, the economy is now global. Make an effort to get to know your coworkers – especially those who came here from other countries. Knowledge and understanding are powerful!
Corporations are, indeed, people, but not in the Citizens United sense. We are all in this together, people!
Keep the Faith!
Pat Malarkey
Bull Run UUs member
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Pat Malarkey is a 2015 graduate of Starr King School for the Ministry’s Master of Arts in Social Change (MASC) degree program. She has been working in Corporate America for over 30 years and is called to help ameliorate the suffering that occurs in Corporate America’s workplace. She currently works for a Government Sponsored Entity (GSE) as an Operations Change Management Senior. During seminary, she was a Senior Data Analyst with a mortgage data provider. She has also been an Applications Manager and Senior Programmer / Analyst at a union-owned insurance company. She speaks fluent SAS, COBOL and Assembler and enjoys clicking buttons to see what they do.
Pat lives in Centreville, Virginia, with her Norwegian Forest Cat, Han Solo.
Note: UUs passed a Statement of Conscience at the 2013 General Assembly, entitled “Amend the Constitution: Corporations are not Persons and Money is not Speech.” It can be found at https://www.uua.org/action/statements/amend-constitution-corporations-are-not-persons-and-money-not-speech