January 18, 2006
The Rest Of The Story
Yesterday on WTTW's "Chicago Tonight", there was a segment that focused on "how Latinos are becoming a driving force in philanthropic causes". No problem there, but the report included a few minutes about what a swell motherfucker Arthur Velasquez (CEO of Azteca Foods) was.
Velasquez, who landed on a recent "who's who" list of Chicago food industry leaders and is described as being "known widely in Chicago for his philanthropy", has had problems in recent years with extending his high-profile generosity to his employees. In 2002 Azteca workers, sick of their useless company union and pissed as hell about a proposed 700 percent increase in their health care costs coupled with an insulting 10 cent per hour raise over three years, voted to join Local 1159 of the United Electrical Workers, went out on strike and organized a boycott campaign. The company naturally "engaged in acts of surveillance, threatened to permanently replace the workers, ignores OSHA regulations and refuses bilingual translations", with Velasquez (the darling of last night's broadcast) being quoted as saying, "I'm dealing with people who are trying to destroy me and my company.....my patience has run out".
Poor bastard, he must have been under such stress with those greedy Mexicans (mostly women) walking off the job, thinking that they're worth more than a dime to slave away making his tortillas all day. Where the fuck do those uppity twats get off, anyway?
Unfortunately, I'm having difficulty finding out what the outcome of all this was, if any. All of the articles that come up are from no later than 2003. Maybe the research team at Bughouse Square has an inside track. We all need to know if the evil union ever got to see more than two nickels squeeze out of old Art's tight ass.
Velasquez, who landed on a recent "who's who" list of Chicago food industry leaders and is described as being "known widely in Chicago for his philanthropy", has had problems in recent years with extending his high-profile generosity to his employees. In 2002 Azteca workers, sick of their useless company union and pissed as hell about a proposed 700 percent increase in their health care costs coupled with an insulting 10 cent per hour raise over three years, voted to join Local 1159 of the United Electrical Workers, went out on strike and organized a boycott campaign. The company naturally "engaged in acts of surveillance, threatened to permanently replace the workers, ignores OSHA regulations and refuses bilingual translations", with Velasquez (the darling of last night's broadcast) being quoted as saying, "I'm dealing with people who are trying to destroy me and my company.....my patience has run out".
Poor bastard, he must have been under such stress with those greedy Mexicans (mostly women) walking off the job, thinking that they're worth more than a dime to slave away making his tortillas all day. Where the fuck do those uppity twats get off, anyway?
Unfortunately, I'm having difficulty finding out what the outcome of all this was, if any. All of the articles that come up are from no later than 2003. Maybe the research team at Bughouse Square has an inside track. We all need to know if the evil union ever got to see more than two nickels squeeze out of old Art's tight ass.
