There are a handful of bosses, sports stars, Hollywood glitterati and other golden ones whose take-home pay simply makes us dizzy.
Then there are the leaders of Chicago-based Local 710 of the Brotherhood of Teamsters. They did so well financially last year that we wonder what working stiffs must be thinking: admiration, fury, self-doubt about where they went wrong?
Three of the local’s leaders last year collectively received more than $835,000 in union pay.
No other Teamsters local had such highly paid leaders, says Teamsters for a Democratic Union, a small dissident group in Detroit that has published these figures for the last 20 years, often much to the chagrin of long-term Teamsters leaders.
As secretary-treasurer for Local 710 and as an official with Chicago Joint Council 25, Frank Wsol got $310,919 last year. As the local’s president, James Ramirez, who is now retired, got $349,757, making him the highest paid Teamsters official in the nation. And Patrick W. Flynn got $175,427 as vice president. Flynn is now the local’s president.
In comparison, Ron Carey, president of the 1.4 million-member union got $150,000 last year.
But Wsol sees nothing wrong with his salary, nor does he like Teamsters for a Democratic Union pointing fingers at him. “This is what my members pay,” he grumbles. “I don’t steal one penny of that. They tell me, `We don’t care what you are earning, ’cause you are earning it.’ “
Ken Paff, leader of the Teamsters dissident group, doubts, however, that local 710’s members, many of whom work for United Parcel Service, really want to hand out such high salaries. “I would be very happy to have a referendum vote on these salaries,” he says. “We’ll see if they really vote them such salaries.”
Diagnosing problems: The nurses say they are heaping mad and not about to give up. They say care at the hospital is not what it used to be and the reason is an endless chase to cut costs and boost profits.
This refrain could come from anywhere, with managed health care stirring an uproar nationally. But it is being heard in Fargo, N.D., and that is drawing some attention as well as curiosity.
Behind the complaints are 480 registered nurses, who joined the Nurses United of Fargo/Minnesota Nursing Association two years ago.
If they win a contract, they would become the first union nurses group in North Dakota to do so. But since the nurses voted for a union, talks between them and Dakota Heartland Health System have been stymied. The 1,300-worker operation is a 2-year-old partnership between the Dakota Medical Foundation, a non-profit group, and Houston-based Paracelsus, an investor-owned company.
The nurses’ complaints do not go far with John Korsmo, an official with Fargo hospital. He accuses the union of bigger ambitions, such as gathering new members in North Dakota and Wisconsin.
That is why, he says, it has waged a costly campaign and hired consultant Ray Rogers, who played a role in the union dispute with A.E. Staley Manufacturing Co. in Decatur, Ill.
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But Julie Boe, president of the Fargo nurses group, says that the union’s publicity campaign is not a charade to gain public support.
Elf alert: Before anyone starts hyperventilating about not having enough help for the holidays, we offer this seasonal reminder: It may be too late. Take a pill.
They should have started planning a while ago. This may be the best economy since Ben Hur spotted a new two-wheeler. But it is not too late to plan for 1998 and follow in the footsteps of Lands’ End Inc., a direct merchandising firm in Dodgeville, Wis.
From Oct. 1. to Dec. 31, the firm needs 2,600 seasonal workers. To get them, Lands’ End offers prizes for employees who refer new employees, sends buses to local colleges to pick up students who lack transportation, and offers group health-care insurance coverage to returning seasonal workers. For the first time, it is hiring seasonal workers from a local cheese processing firm. They are usually let go in the winter months.
It typically doesn’t boost its wages during the holidays. Rather it relies on what company officials describe as competitive wages and frills and benefits to bring in workers.
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You can reach Stephen Franklin at [email protected]