Indianapolis Looks Like Chump; Bitter Workers Going Home
Cities
and states do it all the time, but it's really the private sector's
responsibility: whether it's giving away hotels and water to get a
car factory, or building a new sports stadium, or building a heavy
maintenance facility for United, our rulers should not play
"investors" -- the risks are too great.
Of course, there is no reason a business wouldn't take
a sweetheart deal, funded with taxpayer money -- business leaders
are good at finding low-cost money. The goals are not the same, in
the public sector and the private sector; when they try to merge,
somebody (and it's usually the taxpayer) loses.
So it is with the Indianapolis 1.7 million square foot
heavy-maintenance facility, that United said would employ 7500.
"Create 7500 jobs," was the mantra, and the city and state rulers
bought it, literally. Well, they got to nearly 3000, five years or
so ago...
Marilyn Adams, in a USA Today piece, noted that,
"Indianapolis and Indiana shouldered most of the $540 million
project cost." Reality set in, though, and she writes, "Now, with
United parent UAL in bankruptcy court and the nation at war, city
and state officials in Indianapolis are learning how high a price
communities can pay when big companies they woo run aground. United
has announced it is closing the center for a few months to cut
costs, but the closure could well be permanent."
Part
of the controversy is in the hands of the IAM, who have a vote
coming up on April 29. If the vote doesn't go United's way, the
airline will ask the Court to abrogate the labor contract -- and
all United's heavy maintenance could be relocated to its largest
heavy-maintenance facility, in San Francisco. [That would mean the
Oakland (CA) facility, with its 600+ workers, would also close
--ed.]
Indianapolis reckons United owes it about $100,000,000, or about
$13,300 per "job." That includes the jobs that had workers, and the
greater portion -- the "jobs" that existed only until the Indy
politicians forked over the Indianapolis taxpayers' earnings...
United was the biggest friend Denver's Mayor Peña ever
had, too: whenever his Denver International project ran short of
cash, United chipped in... only now, United won't be paying what it
promised. [That's OK for Peña, who soon cashed in his
political chips to become President Clinton's first Transportation
Secretary; he later went on to head Energy --ed.]
Chicago, United's longtime host, is also owed a bundle, and is
home to many thousand United employees.