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BRIDGETON

    At a time when revenue is hard to come by, with cities and municipalities scrambling to attract any source of income, the City of Bridgeton has chosen to thumb its nose at a large block of union organizations and union members that have made Bridgeton their home.  You would think especially in these hard times that a city would want to nurture the residents as their prosperity or lack of it is directly tied to that of the city on many levels. In late 2009, the mayor of Bridgeton, Conrad Bowers had influenced enough aldermen to award the electrical contract for the new government center to Crown, a non union electrical contractor. They were awarded this contract over a competitive bid by Bell Electric, a union contractor.

   The many union organizations located in Bridgeton pay at least $210,000 a year in taxes. There are at least 500 union members residing in Bridgeton. 50 of them electricians and maybe 6 work for Bell. An astute politician would understand the ripple effect of this in the community. Union members have health and retirement benefits. They also make a decent wage. What this means to Bridgeton is a thriving, tax paying healthcare industry. With their disposable income, union members buy and maintain homes, thereby preserving property values. They also spend generously on local business, church, church functions, and athletic organizations which all comes back as revenue for Bridgeton.

    The Bridgeton City Council meetings leading up to the vote were overwhelmed with concerned citizens and union members when they found out about the vote. One meeting had to be canceled for lack of space for the crowds. Councilwoman Linda Eaker, who voted to award Crown the contract, said that she had been inundated with calls and said she would not be intimidated. If such a swell of concern would prompt that many people to contact her is more intimidation than it is the will of the people, we must consider what could have been so powerful that she voted for Crown.

    Given the reasons stated and the overwhelming public response for the local contractor, we can only speculate why it was so important for Mayor Bowers to give Crown the contract.  Are there ties to Crown that the public is unaware of? Has Crown performed work for him? Maybe it was just a very bad decision by someone who means well. Only Conrad Bowers can answer this.

    Perhaps the City of Bridgeton is doing so well that the union contribution to the Bridgeton community is nothing. Obviously they are doing so well that they can offer tax increment financing to multi-billion dollar corporate giant Wal-mart. Yes, you've got it right. Now Mayor Bowers has officially insulted the rest of the community. Small business, grocery stores that pay decent wages and benefits plus the mom and pops that have been faithful, tax paying, employing, benefit providing commercial citizens for years. What will Mayor Bowers get the city of Bridgeton for this huge handout to a corporation that clearly doesn't need it? It will certainly provide low wage jobs with no benefits to replace those who are laid off from the businesses that will certainly close their doors. Those who do not close will be forced to pay lower wages to keep up. What do lower wages and boarded up storefronts do for a city?!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    For whatever the reason, the entire community is under assault by Conrad Bowers and a few, let's just call them, misguided council members. North County Labor Club is committed to working with its members, community organizations and local businesses to get candidates elected that will work in the interest of the people who voted for them and the community they reside in.