| Morton Williams Defends Cuts |
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| Posted 02/27/2004 |
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"Morton Williams Defends Cuts" (Feb 26th,
p.10) would leave a skewed impression on
readers who have not been following this story
since last Fall. In this article, Morton
Sloan, co-owner of the Morton Williams chain,
characterizes salaries of former UFM employees
as "outrageous" and "unreasonable" and the
only other commentator interviewed, Marc
Kirschner, agrees. This might be true when
speaking of salaries for entry level people,
but many of the people in this case had 10,
20, 30, even 40 or more years of loyal service
at UFM. When you work in the same place year
after year and perform well, your boss gives
you annual raises. These can add up as the
decades go by; there's nothing outrageous or
unreasonable about it. Suppose, for example,
you were hired at $10,000 per year and
received a 5% raise in each of 40 years. Now
you're making $70,400.00. Throw in a few
promotions and it's that much higher. What's
wrong with that? Somebody who puts in decades
of loyal service is doing exactly what they
are supposed to do in this country to get
ahead and make a better life for their
children.
Regarding "industry standards"... See:
http://www.columbia.edu/~fdc/ufm/table.html Read the collective bargaining agreements listed there or any others you can find, and compare with the one covering Morton Williams employees. The article quotes Kirschner, "[the employees] used to have a sweetheart deal, now they have a standard deal." They didn't have a sweetheart deal, they had longevity. Is the current deal really standard? The typical wage for a cashier at MW is $7.00 per hour; some make less. Right across the street at Columbia, UAW Local 2110 was able to negotiate $15-17 for the same work. At Shop-Rite, a nationwide chain, the minimum for full-time workers, cashiers included, is $10 thanks to the UFCW. The Morton Williams contract with RWDSU Local 338 allows the employer to pay any wages it wishes, with no minimum except those set by the state and federal governments. $7.00 an hour is $13,650.00 per year. That might be OK for, say, a high school student living at home with a part-time job flipping burgers after school. But for a single adult -- let alone a working parent -- it's beneath the NY State Dept of Labor Poverty Level. It's not a living wage. For that matter, neither is $8.00 or $9.00 an hour, for a single person, or $12.00 for a single parent of one, or $15.00 for a single parent of two! If we, as a society, expect people to do certain kinds of work, we have to pay them enough money to live. Morton Williams is only one of many businesses in the area that fails to pay a living wage, and perhaps should not be singled out for attention in Spectator, except that it has taken over the store where Columbians have shopped for decades and formed personal attachments, and because Columbia itself owns the property. As landlord of this retail space -- and many others! -- Columbia should exercise greater influence upon its commercial tenants to treat their workers with same consideration as Columbia itself does. I, for one, do not relish the transformation of our once culturally and economically diverse and vibrant part of Manhattan into a high-priced enclave for (mostly white) yuppies, where (mostly Hispanic and Black) sub-poverty wage earners serve well-off Columbia students, faculty, and staff in upscale shops and bistros.
Frank da Cruz |