Indianapolis Looks Like Chump; Bitter Workers Going Home

Cities and states do it all the time, but it's really the private sector's responsibility: whether it's giving away hotels and water to get a car factory, or building a new sports stadium, or building a heavy maintenance facility for United, our rulers should not play "investors" -- the risks are too great.

Of course, there is no reason a business wouldn't take a sweetheart deal, funded with taxpayer money -- business leaders are good at finding low-cost money. The goals are not the same, in the public sector and the private sector; when they try to merge, somebody (and it's usually the taxpayer) loses.

So it is with the Indianapolis 1.7 million square foot heavy-maintenance facility, that United said would employ 7500. "Create 7500 jobs," was the mantra, and the city and state rulers bought it, literally. Well, they got to nearly 3000, five years or so ago...

Marilyn Adams, in a USA Today piece, noted that, "Indianapolis and Indiana shouldered most of the $540 million project cost." Reality set in, though, and she writes, "Now, with United parent UAL in bankruptcy court and the nation at war, city and state officials in Indianapolis are learning how high a price communities can pay when big companies they woo run aground. United has announced it is closing the center for a few months to cut costs, but the closure could well be permanent."

Part of the controversy is in the hands of the IAM, who have a vote coming up on April 29. If the vote doesn't go United's way, the airline will ask the Court to abrogate the labor contract -- and all United's heavy maintenance could be relocated to its largest heavy-maintenance facility, in San Francisco. [That would mean the Oakland (CA) facility, with its 600+ workers, would also close --ed.]

Indianapolis reckons United owes it about $100,000,000, or about $13,300 per "job." That includes the jobs that had workers, and the greater portion -- the "jobs" that existed only until the Indy politicians forked over the Indianapolis taxpayers' earnings...

United was the biggest friend Denver's Mayor Peña ever had, too: whenever his Denver International project ran short of cash, United chipped in... only now, United won't be paying what it promised. [That's OK for Peña, who soon cashed in his political chips to become President Clinton's first Transportation Secretary; he later went on to head Energy --ed.]

Chicago, United's longtime host, is also owed a bundle, and is home to many thousand United employees.

FMI: www.ual.com; www.indianapolis.org