{"id":19764,"date":"2018-10-01T23:49:24","date_gmt":"2018-10-02T03:49:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/uusj.net\/wp1\/?p=19764"},"modified":"2022-07-13T15:26:32","modified_gmt":"2022-07-13T19:26:32","slug":"patricia-malarkey-on-talking-back-to-corporations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/uusj.net\/wp1\/patricia-malarkey-on-talking-back-to-corporations\/","title":{"rendered":"Patricia Malarkey on Talking Back to Corporations"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Pat Malarkey, of Virginia, Bull Run UUs Star King School for the Ministry Graduate<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The summer of 2018 was rough.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Hurricane Florence<\/b> 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.<\/p>\n

I pray for the Carolinas.<\/p>\n

This summertime takes me back to the address I gave at graduation from Starr King School for the Ministry<\/b> in May of 2015. \u00a0With 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.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cCorporations are people, my friend!\u201d<\/p>\n

These words were spoken by Mitt Romney<\/b> 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.<\/p>\n

If only he hadn\u2019t said it quite that way, so soon after the Citizen\u2019s United Supreme Court<\/b> decision in February of 2010. \u00a0If only he hadn\u2019t been so snarky in his reply to the peanut gallery. \u00a0Mitt Romney was on to something.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

What is a corporation?<\/p>\n

Demos.org<\/b><\/a> defines it as, \u201c\u2026a legal structure that enables individuals to contribute and pool resources, capital, and labor in order to generate a profit.\u201d<\/p>\n

Labor is people. \u00a0People work for corporations. \u00a0During my entire time at Starr King, I worked for a corporation.<\/p>\n

Five days a week \u2013 and thank the labor movement that it\u2019s 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 \u2013 be conducive to our health and our wealth. \u00a0We willingly surrender our rights for the ability to put a roof over our heads and food in our stomachs.<\/p>\n

\u201cPink slips\u201d have been arriving with frightening frequency since the early 1980\u2019s, when I began my career in Corporate America. \u00a0I\u2019ve received three of them in just over thirty years on the job (as of today, it\u2019s five). Getting laid off is hard on self-esteem and confidence, not to mention the bank account! \u00a0In his book, The Disposable American (2006)<\/i>, Louis Uchitelle<\/b><\/a> says that laid off workers may never again achieve the level of income and benefits they had pre-layoff.<\/p>\n

Here in the first decades of the 21st century, the deck is stacked against the American worker. \u00a0Our productivity has increased but our inflation-adjusted wages have decreased or remained flat. CEO\u2019s used to make about 40 times what their lowest paid employee made; now, they make hundreds of times more.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

What is a worker to do?<\/p>\n

I believe there are several things we can do. \u00a0At the very least, we can be there for each other.<\/p>\n

We can:<\/p>\n