Industrial production in the United States grew by leaps and bounds after the Civil War in the 1860s. Chicago was one of those major industrial centers where factory hands labored a six day work week, Monday through Saturday, putting in a bit over 60 hours weekly.

Like most times throughout U.S. history, bosses nurtured immigration to keep wages low and complaints in check. Thousands of Chicago’s immigrants in those days hailed from Germany and Bohemia, responsive to unionization thanks to their backgrounds in anarchy and socialism from their home countries — some had read the recent writings of Marx and Engels, for instance.

Part Two

The bigger picture

NorthSteppe/Stickney is only the most egregious of the offending organizations among its peers. Almost as large and faulty is HomeTeam Properties, which has purchased property on false grounds (including the house next door to ours). It also claims in printed booklets that list all its properties that it is OSU Student Housing. As with NorthSteppe, it is not. Owner-occupiers receive these fraudulent mailings in our boxes addressed to “OSU student.” Simple record checking would prevent that. My direct inquiries to HomeTeam never result in an answer or an apology. OSU appears unwilling to protect its own interests.

Not only are HomeTeam houses typically in disrepair, they also refuse to provide sufficient trash and recycle containers or instruct their tenants on the law or their responsibilities. For example, the house beside ours—formerly home to a faculty family of five— has eight single residents. HomeTeam provides one trash and one recycle bin. My wife and I, a family of two, have the same number. (A small landlord across the street does not even arrange for a recycle bin.)

Google recently announced its new post-pandemic work policy, requiring employees work in the office for at least three days a week. A survey of over 1,000 Google employees showed that two-thirds feel unhappy with being forced to be in the office three days a week, and many intend to leave.

In the Thursday, April 28 Columbus Dispatch, an article reported that Mayor Ginther’s office had lobbied the Citizens Commission on Elected Officials Compensation to boost the pay of whomever would become mayor in 2026 by 14% in addition to cost-of-living adjustments (COLAs). Joe Motil, former Columbus City Council candidate and longtime community advocate who has begun circulating petitions to run for Mayor in 2023  states that, “Mayor Ginther apparently believes that record-breaking monetary compensation justifies the central purpose of serving as a public servant. And the fact that Ginther’s office would use pressure to influence the commission’s recommendations is an unethical abuse of power. Instead of Ginther and his office spending valuable time lobbying his hand-picked members of the compensation commission for a possible raise, they should be lobbying officials of Intel and the Columbus Partnership to invest in our affordable housing crisis.”

Friday, April 29, 2022, 11:30 AM
The Great Lakes Water Quality Board (WQB) of the International Joint Commission (IJC) is hosting a public webinar to provide information and answer questions about the board's recent report: Decommissioning of Nuclear Power Facilities in the Great Lakes Basin.  On the webinar, Great Lakes Water Quality Board members will provide an overview of the report's findings and recommendations. There will be Q&A for the panelists to answer participants' questions.  More information and registration here.