It takes very little effort on my part to conjure up the entire range of emotions--complete with sickening stomach drop--that I felt the day that Chip was laid off. The harder part, in truth, is not feeling that same queasiness multiple times a day. Months on, it's not that much easier.
That's why I was, like Matt Singer, infuriated to see that executives from Smurfit-Stone Container Corp. have been approved to take some $47 million in bonuses this year, even as they made the decision to close two mills, one of them in Missoula. Four-hundred-seventeen people who had good, high-paying jobs will be out of work in Missoula, as of December 31st. The average annual salary was about $70,000, according to the Missoulian article.
I realize that $47 million wouldn't--couldn't--have saved the plants for more than a year or so. And of course the company has to think about future profitability so that more people aren't thrown out of work. But it still gravels my ass to think about highers-up getting richer--how much do you suppose their stock rose today after they announced those layoffs?--for ruining people's lives. Because, make no mistake, lives will be ruined in Missoula. I'm not just being dramatic. Jobs that pay well in Missoula are few and far between, and I would guess that very few of those 417 people will find anything close to a $70,000-per-year wage. Shit, in Missoula they'll be lucky to get half that.
Not to mention that finding a job--any goddamn job--right now? Sucks. Balls. And that means a lot of families will have to leave the area. Kids will have to leave their schools. Homes will have to be sold or will be foreclosed on. Parents may have to split the family to make ends meet. Family values. Yeah, right.
Maybe with the $47 million those executives could buy some humanity. Unfortunately, I don't think you can get that at Wal*Mart.