Opinion
Miller a keystone of Old Milwaukee
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Milwaukee must do everything in its power to keep Miller Brewing Company’s headquarters in the city.
Miller’s recent merger with Molson Coors could have devastating effects on a city in dire need of an economic success story. The merger will combine the nation’s second- and third-most profitable brewers in hopes of competing more vigorously with the likes of Anheuser-Busch.
The merged companies are in the process of deciding where their new corporate headquarters will be located. The options are Miller’s current headquarters in Milwaukee, Coors’ current headquarters in Golden, Colo., as well as Dallas, Kansas City or Chicago.
Milwaukee’s potential loss of Miller is a classic example of a Rust Belt town that benefited from the post-World War II boom and is now feeling the negative effects of globalization.
After the war, Milwaukee became a national leader in manufacturing, with a strong unionized workforce and profitable businesses such as Miller Brewing, Harley Davidson, Alice Chalmers, Briggs and Stratton and countless other brewers and manufacturers.
While many of these businesses remain in the Milwaukee area, the general trend has been toward outsourcing and downsizing.
Miller, long a staple in the Milwaukee economy, may continue this trend if the Milwaukee 7, a panel of representatives of seven southeastern Wisconsin counties, is unable to find a way to convince the company’s new board of directors to keep it in Milwaukee.
Certainly, if the headquarters were to move, it would not be the end of the world. Company officials have already said that all its breweries would remain in operation. The major job losses would come in Milwaukee’s corporate offices where 800 people are currently employed.
But the real fallout would be the moral defeat for the city. At a time when Milwaukee tries to get itself back on its feet economically, this sort of loss would be a major blow, especially to groups such as the Milwaukee 7, who have been working so hard to attract corporate headquarters to the region. If Milwaukee cannot even hang on to Miller, its longtime cornerstone, what hopes would remain for attracting new headquarters to the region?
Luckily, Greater Milwaukee’s Business Journal reported that “no cities have been ruled out,” according to Miller officials, claiming the selection process has not even begun.
The truth is Milwaukee needs to reevaluate its whole business philosophy. The city needs to change its approach from simply trying to figure out how to keep companies from leaving to figuring out how they are going to improve the city’s business climate to the point at which it can attract new companies.
In the short term, yes, Milwaukee needs to do everything it can to court the new MillerCoors corporation, but this situation is representative of a much larger problem facing the city.
Realistically, why would a business want to relocate to Milwaukee right now? City officials try to sell the city to corporations by touting its new east side developments, its international access via Mitchell International Airport, the Port of Milwaukee and its rich brewing history. While these are all wonderful parts of the city, is that really enough to lure business to the region? After all, the airport and ports are available in most major cities.
Milwaukee has a lot to offer as a city with its central location, first-class convention centers — like the Midwest Airlines Convention Center — its rich cultural traditions and ethnic festivals and the tourism these festivals generate. It also has a skilled and hardworking labor force, which is its biggest asset. But these factors, though attractive aspects of the city, are not what will attract new businesses to it.
Milwaukee must think in terms of the long run and turn itself back into the favorable business climate it once was. The Milwaukee 7 and local politicians must recognize that in order for the city to attract new businesses, they must find a way to make state and local taxes more competitive with other regions.
When the state is running a deficit, it seems absurd to suggest commercial and industrial tax cuts. But the fact is that Wisconsin’s high taxes are driving businesses out and keeping them from coming here. Even high tax rates will not generate state revenue if all the businesses have been driven out. However, low taxes will attract new businesses and in turn more revenue for the state.
Additionally, the city needs to continue investment and exploration into a more viable mass transit system. It must work to integrate itself with the vast educational resources within the state by funneling in graduates from institutions such as the University of Wisconsin-Madison, UW-Milwaukee, Marquette University and the Milwaukee School of Engineering. The innovative minds of these students are a huge asset in the drive to establish new higher-tech forms of industry and fresh ways of thinking about the Milwaukee economy.
There is still hope for Milwaukee. It has unbelievable amounts of untapped potential, and its future will rely on bright young minds such as the ones produced at our fine institution. Right now, Milwaukee must do everything it can to not only keep but also attract businesses like MillerCoors to the city.
Joe Trovato (jtrovato@wisc.edu) is a sophomore majoring in journalism.
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“a strong unionized workforce”
Those unions are what killed the brewery biz.
The tax climate in Wisconsin, and especially in Milwaukee, is what’s freezing out business. The sweet deals that the public employee unions have will drive the City, County and State broke.
As a Milwaukee resident, a good first step we, as a city, can take to ensure Miller stays headquartered in Milwaukee would be to stop murdering their executives.
From an economic perspective, you are absolutely right. But from a beer lover’s perspective, maybe if Miller leaves Wisconsin people from WI will actually start drinking GOOD Wisconsin beer instead of that bottom-of-the-barrel swill produced in Milwaukee.
Alice Chalmers? The name was (and is) Allis-Chalmers. The company left the manufacturing business and the Milwaukee area years ago, but survives as a Texas oil-field services company, http://www.alchenergy.com/.