Dear editor,
Despite catering to business and development, Wausau ranks between 293 and 383 for worker income {depending on zip code).
Our poverty rate is 18.2 percent, while the state’s sits at 11.8 percent. And it’s much worse for working people of color (49.8 percent African-American, 55 percent Hispanic). Even worse for children, almost double vs. the state average. Correlated to this is the dismantling of unions in Wausau, dropping from 1/5 to less than 1/10 workers between ’06 and ’17. So while nationally the top 1 percent has gained $21 trillion in wealth while the bottom 50 percent has lost $900 billion since ’89, how can we still be misled to think that prioritizing business profits over people is a winning strategy for working people? Especially if one is a worker of color.
These mayoral candidates need to develop a program to put working people, especially those of color, as their priority over wasting money on sleazy developers. Show us your plan for the working people of this city. Your tinkle-down approach has only impoverished and weakened our workers positions while making the rich richer and Wausau an increasingly uninviting place for a diverse workforce.
Thank you.
Bruce Grau of Wausau
Editor’s note: The views of our readers and guest columnists are independent of this newspaper and do not necessarily reflect the views of Wausau Pilot and Review. To submit a letter, email us at [email protected].
