Reliable Plating Works Update

Just wanted to share the email I sent Reliable tonight in response to the comments their president made in the JS Online article.

Dear Mr. Jaime Maliszewski:

I am a full time working mother, and I was deeply saddened by your comments in today's JS Online article about the Milwaukee Sick Pay Law.  I admit, I did not know too much about your company, so I did a little research.  I read about your grandfather starting the company that your father worked at, and which you and your brothers followed suit.  And I also read about the tough times RPW, along with so many other businesses, has had to go through in this recession.  I do not pretend to know your situation or the situation of your workers.  But I do know my situation and that of my family.  And when you made comments against the Sick Pay Law, I was angered.  You see, as a working member of the middle class, I too have suffered from the recession.  I have seen more and more of the benefits I received as a worker taken away or reduced.  I, like so many others, am paying more for health care.  My husband and I saw the money we had worked so hard for disappear from our retirement accounts when the market crashed.  And we have given up on our dreams of sending our kids to college.  Both my husband and I are facing layoffs from our jobs.  To me, giving workers paid sick time is a small concession a business can make for its employees.  It's disheartening to see in Milwaukee CEO's of companies like Harley-Davidson and Sensient Technologies making millions of dollars while my employer is talking of cutting my pay and eliminating my sick time.  I do not work in Milwaukee, but I would hope that instead of banning together to fight the Sick Pay Law, companies like yours would ban together with workers to try to improve Wisconsin worker's conditions across the state.  I will end this letter with a quote from your brother Jeff on your website:

"Superior quality doesn't just mean happier customers and higher profits.  It means the satisfaction of a job well done and a company that fulfills its promise of excellence."  How about being a leader in our state and fulfilling a promise of excellent treatment of workers- or at the very least supporting workers in their struggle to support their families by having paid sick time- a very small concession in my opinion for the hard work we do for our employers.  It is a matter of mutual respect.

Sincerely, 

Jane