Palermo’s Pizza Doesn’t Deliver—On Jobs

http://www.aflcio.org/Blog/Organizing-Bargaining/Palermo-s-Pizza-Doesn-t-Deliver-On-Jobs

10/16/2012

Mike Hall

Palermo’s Pizza, where workers have been on strike since June 1 protesting unfair labor practices, has received some $26 million in local, state and federal funds since 2005. The majority of funds were earmarked for job creation and economic development. But a new report from the AFL-CIO Center for Strategic Research finds little evidence Palermo's has kept its word.



Released today in Milwaukee, “Too Much Pork in the Pepperoni Pizza?” finds that because of the lack of transparency and accountability on the part of Wisconsin Economic Development Corp. (WEDC), which administered much of Palermo’s corporate welfare, “We can’t know whether Palermo’s has kept its promise.”

The WEDC disclosure report on Palermo’s was so heavily redacted it was impossible to know if the company met its job creation benchmarks, what the new jobs were that Palermo’s claimed tax credits for and if those jobs met the full-time, permanent wage specifications the company committed to.

It is impossible to glean from this report how many new jobs Palermo Villa created in 2011; for how many jobs the company is claiming a tax credit; how many of the employees listed truly were new hires and therefore qualified for tax credits; and how many of these jobs meet the full-time, permanent status or wage requirements stipulated in the company’s agreement with the WEDC.

The $26 million in public subsidies includes $12 million in construction loans and $14 million in public bonds.

FULL story at link.