Workers aren’t livestock

In my 50-plus years of being a Journal Sentinel reader, I have never felt as insulted and incensed as I was when I read Tim Still’s business commentary.

I have long held the belief that the most valuable asset of any business is its people. I have also long held, to myself for the most part, the feeling that many businesses do not subscribe to this theory and that the larger said business is, the less likely it is to regard employees as people rather than objects.

To quote Still, “Unless Wisconsin replenishes its workforce breeding stock within 10 years or so ..... ”. I am not “workforce breeding stock” (“Filling ‘body gap’ a big challenge,” Jan. 8)

The people who work with me on the shop floor are not “workforce breeding stock.” The people who practice skilled trades and manual labor across this state are not “workforce breeding stock.” We are not livestock to be moved around and bred whenever and wherever it suits Mr. Still.

We are the backbone of business. We do the hard, dirty, thankless jobs without which Still’s management skills would be unneeded. Referring to us as “workforce breeding stock” reveals how he feels about the people who work for him and business as a whole.

It is beyond insulting to us. We are people. Still and the Republicans have made Wisconsin one of the most antilabor states in the country, and now he complains about the lack of skilled labor available to fatten his bank accounts.

He made his bed, now he must lie in it.

Timothy Rehse Racine