Welfare warriors give tour of local businesses profiting from welfare changes

Off Our Backs, Jul 2001 by Gowans, Pat

welfare warriors give tour of local businesses profiting from welfare changes

Editors, writers, artists, activists, photographers, videographers, students, elders, youth, mothers, babies and toddlers joined the Welfare Warriors' photo bus tour of Milwaukee's Bloated Welfare Empire on May 11. The tourists represented newspapers, radio stations, senior citizen groups, churches, political parties and the UN. They came from Milwaukee, Kenosha, Chicago and Ireland to see and record the reality of the exorbitant costs to the taxpayers of W2, Wisconsin's version of welfare reform. They came with cameras and camcorders, notebooks and tape recorders.

They came to learn how W2, allows corporations to exploit the work of women formerly on welfare. The way the reformed welfare system works is that large amounts of government money are awarded to corporations, which then hire at very low wages people who would otherwise receive direct welfare benefits.

The 3-hour tour began at the Welfare Warriors Mothers' Organizing Center near downtown Milwaukee. Tour Guide and Welfare Warriors' director, Pat Gowens, provided tourists with a general history of the welfare corporations, the dollar amount of their W2 contracts and bonuses, and the number of cases served. The information came from an audit conducted by the Wisconsin Legislative Audit Bureau (4/11/01). There were gasps and shocked silences as the tour progressed. Most `tourists' were appalled to learn how few mothers and children are sharing in the millions of dollars enjoyed by welfare professionals.

Magaretta D'Arcy, who runs a radio station in Galway, Ireland, and is a member of the Irish Writer's Union, said she was "shocked rigid by the W2 firms pimping off the backs of our most precious population -- mothers and children." She added, "I've heard of sweatshops and child slavery. But going through the streets of Milwaukee and seeing the invisibility and normality of those buildings, I wonder how these men can be in such denial about the crimes they committing. Enriching themselves off government taxes and the sweat and blood of hardworking Americans. Why aren't they in jail? They need to be behind bars and rehabilitated to humanity and decency. If this were happening in a foreign country, the Americans would have invaded to restore democracy. They'd be bombing and sanctioning. These W2 corporations are war criminals -- making war on the people."

A recent study by the Applied Research Center in Oakland, California, referred to U.S. private companies "prospecting among the poor in the welfare reform gold fields." To highlight this study, D'Arcy, dressed as a gold miner, approached the W2 buildings with her miners' pick in search of the gold within those walls.

Miriam Eaton, artist and retired art teacher from Cardinal Stritch College, expressed dismay at the "run-away costs to taxpayers, the heartless suffering of families in poverty."

John Heckinlively, writer for the Kenosha Labor Press, wondered why mainstrem media has not reported on this "devastating rip off of both taxpayers and the poor." Grant Waldo, of the Wisconsin Council of Senior Citizens said, "What has happened is outrageous. They're spending so much more money and only 10% as many people are getting coverage. And it's not equivalent to what they got before." Salvador DeLeon of Esperanza Unida shook his head and repeated, "How do they get away with it?" while Dennis Williams, freelance photographer for the African American Media asked, "Where is all that money going?"

The tour stopped at all five privatized W2 agencies, The Private Industry Council, which oversees the W2 contracts, and the former welfare department buildings. The purpose of the tour was to provide citizens, media, and politicians with an understanding of what welfare reform has meant to both taxpayers and the poor.

Wisconsin welfare costs increased from $548 million for 299,700 individuals (1986) to $710 million for 20,000 individuals (2001). Across the globe, people hear about the great reduction in U.S. welfare roles. But few people, here or abroad, know that the costs to the taxpayers have skyrocketed, while mothers and children are facing dire poverty and lawless denials of aid. Four of the non-profit W2 agencies provided for-profit branches to accommodate the $36 million in profits they earned by denying cash to and to and sanctioning poor families. Maximus was always a for-profit business.