To the editor:
I read with interest Stuart Allspach’s letter to the editor, “Look no futher than Maytag to see why income has fallen.” Really? I sincerely hope you’re speaking of upper management with your statement. After five years, it still amazes me that anyone would blame the laborers.
We had absolutely no control over sales, advertising, or business decisions. The entire closing of Maytag was a controlled failure and if you worked there, you could clearly see it. They wouldn’t advertise our products, fazed out our top sellers, and cut quality on everything. Many people (company and union) saw the writing on the wall, and there was nothing we could do about it.
Unless you were upper management, you had no control over business decisions. Was I always happy with everything that our Union had a part in? Absolutely not! However the Union never received anything that the company didn’t agree on.
Ever since the closing of Maytag this has been the age old arguement of “who’s to blame?”
You are totally right on your statement, “wages were to high.” Corporate greed, not the wages of the average American worker, Maytag or anywhere else. As for why has income dropped? Why don’t you look at the corporations (not small businesses) and I think you’ll find the answer.
Should you ever want to set down and have a cup of coffee, Mr. Allspach, I would love for you to explain to me how the wages of the employees closed Maytag.
Kathy Richardson
Newton