Over the weekend, multiple Friendly’s locations closed. Included among these was the Oswego location. It was a staple in the community, but more importantly, everyone that was employed there lost their jobs.
With the loss of these jobs, Mayor Billy Barlow offered 25 jobs paying $11.40 per hour for any former employees of the Oswego Friendly’s. These positions will last from May to October, as long as the employees can prove they worked at the Friendly’s before April 1.
This move from Barlow might be a political ploy to look better, but who cares? The people who worked at Friendly’s have bills to pay and families to feed. Political stunt or not, providing people the ability to continue to make a living while they search for new jobs is something that anyone with that kind of power should do.
Some major businesses, upon firing employees, will offer to continue to provide pay and benefits for a few months. In exchange, the employees would volunteer in the area, whether it be for a daycare, parks and recreation or in a library. Any company that can afford to do this should.
When people get fired, whether it be for bad behavior or simple budget cuts, they should have the ability to get a new job. Obviously, if someone steals from a jewelry store, they should not be rehired in a store that sells jewelry. A thief will steal if they desire, but part of the cycle of becoming a criminal stems from an inability to pay bills. If someone gets laid off, they need extra time to find a new job. If they cannot find one and, in turn, cannot pay their bills, chances are they may feel pressured to act dramatically to ensure they are able to keep their houses or feed their families.
Essentially, if someone, namely a politician, does something good, it does not matter if it is for attention. If Barlow only wanted to look good by providing jobs to those who need them when Friendly’s could not, then he succeeded. He appears to be a respectable man who cares about his community enough to create jobs to those who need them. Whether it was a political stunt or not is hardly the point.
Photo by Maria Pericozzi | The Oswegonian
