School kids aren’t the only bullies

As one of my Facebook friends noted, October wins the prize for “Awareness” month; among a long list of causes is bullying. Public service announcements, news broadcasts and school events all encouraged us to protect our children from bullying and teach them it is unacceptable behavior. Many programs added it only takes one or two dissenting voices to stop bullies in their tracks.

Fast forward to the election and events following, and I’m hearing an adult voice in my head sneer, “Do as I say, not as I do!”

In case you missed it, prior to the election, a number of corporate CEO’s threatened to lay off employees or cut hours if the president was re-elected. Such intimidation is bullying. And as an aside, such behavior is exactly why unions were formed.

But I digress. Now that President Obama has been re-elected, these same CEO’s are pledging to carry out their threats in public temper tantrums that demonstrate they have zero compassion for employees and customers – the very people who allow them to make a living.

Let’s start with Murray Energy CEO Robert Murray, whose company mines coal. As this Washington Post article outlines http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/after-obama-re-election-ceo-reads-prayer-to-staff-announces-layoffs/2012/11/09/e9bca204-2a63-11e2-bab2-eda299503684_story.html, he blames his decision to lay off employees in Ohio and Utah on voters’ decisive re-election of President Obama. However, as the article also notes, Murray’s business faces fierce competition from other energy suppliers, and his business practices have led to environmental disasters and charges of coercing employees to support Republicans.

Murray also cloaked his decision to fire employees in religion, reading a prayer before discharging them. In it, he slams the U.S. as a “country of redistribution” and selectively quotes scripture to support his action, a practice known as proof-texting. This allows Murray, and many others, to ignore Biblical calls for economic justice, from Moses through the prophets to Jesus and beyond. In fact, Jewish law in Leviticus 25 specifically calls for the return of wealth to the poor every 50 years via a festival termed the Jubilee.

But Murray isn’t the only CEO throwing a tantrum. Papa John’s pizza CEO John Schnatter previously railed against the Affordable Care Act and worked as a supporter and fundraiser for Romney.

This week, Schnatter announced ACA’s requirement for him to insure employees working more than 30 hours per week will require a 10-14 cent increase per pizza. Either that or he’ll be forced to cut employees or their hours, a practice already widely used by retail and service corporations to pad their profits.

Yet Caleb Melby at Forbes Magazine http://blogs.forbes.com/calebmelby/ crunched the numbers and concluded Papa John’s math is off. “So how much would prices go up, under these 50/50 conditions, if they were to fairly reflect the increased cost of doing business onset by Obamacare? Roughly 3.4 to 4.6 cents a pie.”

Melby lays out the entire picture by examining Papa John’s profits, dividends to shareholders, and Schnatter’s salary for the last few years. It left me wondering if Schnatter’s actions are simply an excuse to increase his profits by scapegoating Obamacare -- a business plan cloaked in politics.

So I ask, “How much is enough?” Does corporate America really need the profit margins they’ve been demanding to keep doors open and people working?

And how much intimidation and twisting of figures will citizens take before demanding facts and fairness? I don’t know about you, but I’ve had enough.