February 19, 2018

By Bill Hohlfeld

Anyone who has been listening to “the Buzz” lately, or reading Joe Maniscalco’s articles or my editorials, knows where Labor

Press stands on the issue of striking Spectrum workers. If you don’t have Spectrum now, don’t order it. Don’t fall into the “give me something for only $29.95 per month” trap. Long term, it’s not a good deal.

And, if you are subscribing to Spectrum services, go to your telephone right now, call them and cancel. When they ask you why you are leaving, tell them it’s because you refuse to do business with union-busting companies. Tell them you stand in solidarity with your union brothers and sisters in the IBEW. Tell them you’re tired of big corporations running roughshod over the American worker and that they shouldn’t expect to see any more of your money any time soon.

Tom Rutledge, president and CEO of Spectrum, raked in $98 million last year. Let’s take a second to break that down and see how ridiculous that really is. For starters, it’s close to $19 million a week. It’s over $47,000 per hour. Nobody, and I repeat, nobody deserves that kind of money. Yes, that’s a value judgement, and I stand by it. I am sick to death of those who burn candles at the shrine of crony capitalism not being able to recognize it for what it is – greed and theft. It’s greed to take that much in excess of what you need, and it’s theft when you do it by robbing the people who work for you of their pensions and their health care.

The other day we put Mr. Rutledge on our wall of shame. He belongs there. But, he’s not the only one. Let’s put names to the other thieves that are getting rich by screwing American workers. Here are some of them at the top of the pile: JohnÂ Bickham, president and chief operating officer, ChristopherÂ L.Â Winfrey, chief financial officer, DavidÂ G.Â Ellen, senior executive vice president, TomÂ Adams, executive vice president, field operations, JamesÂ Blackley executive vice president, engineering and information technology, MikeÂ Bair, executive vice president, Spectrum Network. The list goes on and on. You can look them all up on the Spectrum website. That’s what I did.

It’s a great exercise. Stop using your computer to buy shoes and watch stupid cat videos, and start using it to benefit yourself. Just because these folks have managed to pervert the law so that they can hide behind a corporate veil, doesn’t mean they aren’t real. These are real men and women that are making the decision to ruin other people’s lives so they can get richer. E-mail these people. Snail mail them. Tell them how much you hate what their company is doing. Tell them you are on to them and you aren’t going to be quiet anymore. You might also think of telling your senator and representative in the house that you’d like some support on this. As a matter of fact, while you are at it, check to see if any of their campaign contributions come from Spectrum.

Working people need not be victims. We are the ones who build this nation, operate it, and maintain it, yet often times get the smallest share of its wealth in return. That’s not right. Don’t let anyone tell you that it is, or that it has to stay that way. It can change. Use your wallet, your technology and your voice to change it.