The City We Dream Of

The following is my column for the London Free Press on the day of the massive Electro Motive rally in London.It’s been almost 50 years, but Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I have a dream” speech has endured as one of the great seminal moments in U.S. history and consequently provided global inspiration. What few recall is King’s peerless oration was placed at a key moment in a larger campaign called the “March for Jobs and Freedom.”In those pivotal days, for the black person it was just as much about jobs as liberty. King spoke not only of his children being judged by the “content of their character,” but also that the black man and the white man could work side by side in productivity.For many seeking work in America and Canada, that dream became a reality. The middle-class mushroomed and abiding social and cultural tensions were eased as the wealth generated worked its way through a significant portion of both populations. Homes were purchased, families were abundantly fed and young students headed off to universities and colleges in record numbers. It was a time when citizens were tolerant of taxes if they led to public good such as health care and pensions.And it was an era when businesses and corporations made their own progressive mark on places like London. This city’s prosperous past owes much to a business mindset that donated to research and charities, launched foundations, improved the city’s innovation to attain global reach and rewarded its employees by permitting the establishment of unions, adequate benefit plans and the support of dedicated employees attempting to improve the quality of life in their home town.Remember that? We should, because the corporate community spent decades building much of what was good in this place. Today we are going to get a reminder of just how close we are to losing most of it.Thousands will gather at Victoria Park Saturday to show support for most of 500 Electro-Motive workers who have been recently asked by owner Caterpillar Inc. to take a 50% wage cut. It was such a draconian opening gambit it garnered support for the workers far beyond just its union roots.Our world has changed dramatically.Gone are the days when many thought the recent economic downturn was just a serious recession. It is now a passing of a way of life and community prosperity.Many London firms are bucking that trend, attempting to make money and provide employment in this city, yet find the odds increasingly stacked against them..We found ourselves in the position of relying on huge international companies in an effort to get them to settle here, knowing that, even if successful, they could pick up and leave in the future just as easily.Such an unknown future has caused London to repeatedly overlook the innovation and enterprise being generated by local firms which, though smaller in scope, invest in their community, reward their employees and donate more to charities and institutions than we might imagine. But talk to most of them and they’ll tell you they are tired of playing second fiddle.When we lose workers, we lose not only our dreams, but also our ability to pay for them. The blacks of the southern U.S. had a dream of acquiring jobs, just like many of our young people do now. For the rest of us it’s a dream about keeping meaningful work with employers as dedicated to us and their communities as to the bottom line.Saturday’s rally is about the Electro-Motive workers but it’s also about London citizens and their willingness to fight for their children and their institutions.It’s about the city we want, not the one we have been commanded to accept. It’s about dreams, not decline.