The cry for help came just before eight on Wednesday night, as I was leaving for the day, or night. Both, I guess.
“Hey,” was all I heard as I passed Wilson’s office.
I stepped inside. The air was thick with desperation. Wilson was at his desk, staring at papers spread out in front of him. He looked pained, like whatever it was he was working on was absolute torture.
“There’s no one else here to impress, you can go home now,” I said.
He looked at me and shook his head. He was weary, his eyes watery and bloodshot.
“I’ve got to finish this speech for Rollins. He’s giving it tomorrow morning,” he said.
“What’s the big deal? It’s what you do, speechwriter for the CEO,” I said.
“This one is different. He’s gone nuts over this Warren stuff. He wants to make a statement.”
“Warren, the guy who runs the cafeteria? What’d he do, run out of spinach wraps or something?”
“No Warren, the woman. The senator from Massachusetts. She wants companies to pay attention to their employees.”
“Hah, hah, hah, oh, that’s rich,” I said, slapping my thigh in laughter. “What’s next, a forty hour work week? Maybe an end to cubicles? Yes, tear down those walls.”
“I’m serious,” he said. “Didn’t you read her piece in The Journal?”
“No, I mean who reads anymore?”
“She’s got some proposed legislation,” he said, searching for something in the papers on his desk, “The Accountable Capitalism Act. Says companies are too focused on getting shareholders rich.”
“Ah, duh,” I said. “Kind of how Rollins and all his CEO buddies keep their jobs. Goose the stock price and everyone’s happy. Or at least they are.”
“Yeah, well, she’s not happy, I’ll tell you that. She’s proposing all kinds of things. The big guys, like us, companies with more than $1 billion in annual revenue, we’d have to obtain a federal charter,” he said.
“To do what?”
“To be required to consider the interest of not only stockholders, but employees and other parties. She says workers aren’t getting what they’ve earned,” he said.
I sat down and looked at Wilson. I felt for the man. “I can see why Rollins is mad,” I said.
“He’s more than mad, he’s irate. He’s giving a speech before some business council. And he’s calling for her to be fired,” Wilson said.
“He wants Senator Warren fired?” I asked.
“Yes.”
“Uh, that would probably be up to the people of Massachusetts,” I said.
“No kidding,” Wilson said. “But that’s where Rollins is at with this. Last time I saw him like this was when his doc changed his meds. Threw him all out of whack. That’s what this has done.”
“It’s messed with his equilibrium,” I said.
“Get this,” Wilson said. “Rollins is going up to the plant outside of Boston next week. He says he’s going to order everyone working there to vote against Senator Warren the next time she runs. Says if they don’t, he’ll fire them.”
I looked at the papers laid out in front of him. “That the speech?” I asked.
“Let’s be clear. It’s his speech,” he said. “Rollins wrote it and gave it to me. Told me to clean it up, but he doesn’t want it changed.”
“So, what’s the problem?”
Wilson sat back, looked at me like I had just asked the dumbest question of the day.
“The problem?” he asked. “The problem is he wrote it.”
He gathered up the papers and slid them across the desk to me. “Here, read it out loud, like you’re delivering it and see if you sense something wrong.”
I sat up a little straighter, cleared my throat and started. “Good morning. It is truly an honor–”
“No, no, skip that crap, just go down to the third paragraph where he talks about the need to maintain the status quo.”
I skimmed down the page until I saw the phrase, and started reading aloud. “What exactly is wrong with maintaining the status quo? I say, don’t we already give workers more than enough? A place to go every day, challenging, and at times mind-numbing work, and a paycheck. A roof over their heads to protect against the summer heat, the winter cold and the rain, wind and snow. An employee parking lot so they don’t have to park on the street. Bathrooms.”
I looked up and said, “I see your point.”
“It gets better, or worse,” he said. “Keep going.”
“This is just the first step that will lead the United States into the clutches of communism. If we empower workers, who will decide on the rules? Will the heads of America’s great corporations need to have their every move approved? I for one am not comfortable operating with anyone telling me what to do, or looking over my shoulder.”
I tossed the papers on Wilson’s desk. “He can’t give this speech,” I said.
“Easier said than done. He’s very proud of it. He says it’s time someone took a stand.”
He pushed the papers back toward me. “Take a look at the last paragraph,” he said.
I went to the last few lines and read it out load, picturing our CEO giving the speech.
“Putting employees before profits will get us nowhere, and get us there fast. If we’re going to be forced to listen to the little guy, who then will hear the cry of the big guy?”
I tossed the paper back on the desk and got up. “I find it hard to believe,” I said.
“That he wants to give this speech?”
“No, that employees somewhere get bathrooms,” I said, and walked out.