DEMOCRACY VS. PLUTOCRACY Written by Paul Collins, Jr

“Do You Have the Will?” was the theme of this year’s Business Agents’ Conference. Obviously, the union workers in Wisconsin were very much on our mind at that time, and I believe we all know that Wisconsin workers had and continue to have a strong will in facing the attacks on them!

The “Occupy Wall Street” people also have the will. They realize our country has become a plutocracy, a government controlled by the rich through corporations, also known as the 1%. It’s time to wake up the remaining 99% and get them to realize that we have been robbed. The 1% has robbed us of our jobs, our pensions, and our tax dollars.

Corporations such as WorldCom and Enron, to name a couple of culprits, have bilked our pensions out of millions of dollars. Where were the regulators—you know, the part of government that supposedly watches out for the best interests of society?


 When a hungry person steals a loaf of bread and is caught, the consequence is arrest and jail. If a CEO steals your pension money and is caught, he or she is given the opportunity to build up a legal case from the comfort of home, all the while looking for loopholes to keep the stolen money.  Once done, the CEO can decide to surrender  to authorities.


 I find it funny that the people of the “Occupy Wall Street” movement are arrested for a host of ridiculous reasons and thrown in jail, while the police escorted the real thieves to safe havens. It’s also ironic that we support overseas protestors fighting for their right to live in a democracy, but not here.


The last big con was the government’s bailout of the banks and Wall Street. Here again, where were our regulators? This time the solution was to take our hard-earned tax dollars and bail them out. The banks then turned around and foreclosedon home after home, putting those same taxpayers who helped bail them out on the street. The media’s catchphrase out on the street. The media’s catchphrase was “Too big to fail.” Maybe the American middle class catchphrase should be something like “Too poor to survive."


 Here’s what I believe to be the main part of our nation’s problem: FREE TRADE AGREEMENTS. Once again, another one of those catchy phrases that the corporate media used to sell us a poison pill. Millions of jobs stripped from our country in the name of profit. How come our politicians voted it in if the majority of Americans were against Free Trade Agreements?


 Can we expect repeats of what happened several years ago when United Technologies CEO George David decided to close a Carrier plant in Syracuse, New York, and sent 3,000 SMWIA jobs to China. The Syracuse plant was one of the most productive plants in the United States. When asked why they wanted to close the plant, the folks at United Technologies simply stated that they could make even more profit.

 President Obama seemed to be on the right track by saying he wanted to create jobs here at home. So what does he do? He appoints General Electric CEO, Jeff Immelt, to the President’s Council on Jobs and Competitiveness to keep jobs in the United States. Jeff Immelt, known as the “Overseas Job Czar,” lopped off thousands of U.S. jobs since becoming CEO. GE is now much more reliant on foreign workers than it was when he began his tenure. We don’t need a jobs czar. We need the President to stand up to the 1%, the corporations and the banks, and tell them to invest in America’s workers now.

 The 1% also has a strong lock on the media. If you’re from my generation, most of what we believed in came from the media, from news reports, newspapers, and magazines. You could rely on respected journalists and commentators like Edward R. Murrow and Walter Cronkite for objective reporting. Now, personalities dominate the scene, in the traditional media and especially on the Internet. In both, journalists operate too often in attack mode, rather than taking an objective approach to the issues or subjects involved. It’s the rich corporations who strongly influence the direction of the media as well as the government.


It’s simple. There is no free press, and without free press there is no freedom of speech. Americans today find themselves at a crossroad, a choice between a government run behind the scenes by the wealthy or a government based on the principles of a democracy. I believe most of us prefer a democracy over a plutocracy.

However, those of us who prefer a democracy, who speak out against the plutocracy, are asked if we believe in our country. The media spins it so that any person or group that speaks out against corporate America is “off the wall” or “unpatriotic.” We really don’t have a clear message. The most recent example of this is the protestors that “Occupy Wall Street.”  They are showing and will continue to show THEY HAVE THE WILL.

Until the rich corporations and banks show that they believe in our democracy by using some of the dollars they acquired from us to help create millions of jobs, the voice of the protestors will not be silent.We have to be with them on the streets, in the media, and in every way that demonstrates the power of a true democracy for the common good.

 Now it’s your turn. DO YOU HAVE THE WILL?

 We live in a consumer-driven society. If we have the will to not buy products from anti-worker corporations, then the anti-worker corporations cannot survive.

     You can show you have the will if the next time you’re in a store and you can’t find a product “Made in the USA,” you try to find out why. Call or write the corporate office and when you’re sick of their bogus answers, ask to speak to the CEO and ask him what does he have against the American worker?

     Do you have the will? It is time to get involved by calling all your politicians and asking them to revoke Free Trade Agreements. If they don’t have the will, you should show them that you have the will to vote them out of office!

     Do you have the will to call or write your political representatives in Washington, including the President and the Speaker? If so, demand that anti-worker (anti-American in my opinion) corporations like GE and United Technologies doing business in our country should not be allowed to export any jobs overseas. If it’s paid for by US, it should be made by US! I will continue to fight until the day they pry my union card from my cold dead hand. America’s only true democracy is a union, and you are fortunate enough to belong to one. Help me restore  democracy in our nation and for future generations of sheet metal workers.


Thank you for the privilege to serve you.

Paul Collins Jr.
4th General Vice President
President and Business Manager,
Local 137
New York, NY, and New Jersey


“Until the rich corporations and banks show that they believe in our democracy by using some of the dollars they acquired from us to help create millions of jobs, the voice of the protestors will not be silent.”