Rick Brown's blog

The point is, ladies and gentleman, is that greed---for lack of a better word---is good.

---Gordon Gecco, in the film "Wall Street"

Danaher's President and CEO: H. Lawrence Culp, Jr.
Total Compensation for last year: $57,533,344.00
Source: Washington Post

Average hourly wage of a worker at Danaher Tool in Springfield: $14.00

The Republican newspaper's headline, "Bailout bill upsets unions" (The Republican, June 4) more appropriately should have read, "Bailout bill eliminates unions."

The bill suspends Massachusetts General Law, Chapter 150E, which allows public employees the right to form unions and bargain collectively, while maintaining Section 9A, which prohibits public employees from striking. Thus, it will no longer be legal for a public sector worker in Springfield to be represented by a union. Historically, the first step a dictator takes is the elimination of labor unions.

Springfield needs a bailout bill, but not at the cost of freedom to form, join or assist one's union. American working men and women have died on foreign soil all across the world to protect our rights and freedom. Let's not allow Gov. W. Mitt Romney to legislate away the civil rights and freedom of city and school workers. This is Springfield, not Stalingrad.

The last three years we have seen Mr. Bush and his henchmen wreak havoc on our world. Jobs have disappeared by the millions. It has become so desperate for manufacturing that the Bush administration wants to classify McDonald’s as a manufacturer. Next he’ll want to call ketchup a vegetable for school lunches.