Guest Viewpoint: Worried about card check, cap and trade
Halvorson’s vote critical
By Jerry Kuntz
Kankakee
A pop icon passed away. Another star politician fell from grace. While these recent developments have drawn much public attention, none impact the everyday lives of people in Kankakee like the barrage of federal legislation that is currently making its way through Congress. With unemployment in Illinois at its highest rate in 25 years, government must enact policies that will encourage, not stifle, business growth.
As the owner of a small, telecommunications company, I respect U.S Rep. Debbie Halvorson (D-11th), a fair-minded legislator who has advocated for small businesses in the past. But I have grown increasingly concerned about her stance on two key issues: card check
and cap and trade. U.S Rep. Halvorson is co-sponsoring card check, also known as the Employee Free Choice Act, which aims to change the union organizing process by doing away with the secret ballot election.
Besides the obvious democratic problems by taking away an employee’s right to vote in private, an equally frightening provision of this bill could put my business in the hands of a government bureaucrat. If the employer and newly formed union did not reach an agreement within four months, a Washington, D.C.-based arbitrator would make binding decisions on items like health care and vacation policy. This costly, time consuming process is sure to squash small and large business growth, particularly in the health care and technology industries.
Jobs and economic recovery go hand-in-hand. A successful business accumulates cash, uses that cash to finance growth and then, hires more employees. If cash is absorbed by government through additional fees and bureaucratic red tape, I will be prevented from putting that cash into growing my small business and hiring new employees. Rep. Halvorson also recently voted for the controversial cap-and- trade legislation, which would impose strict energy efficiency standards and a national requirement for renewable electricity use. According to the independent American Institute for Economic Research, this bill alone could double the price of natural gas and send electricity costs soaring by more than 100 percent.
For businesses that are already shedding jobs by the minute, the timing could not be worse. During a recession, clients seek companies that can add value and provide service at the lowest possible cost, not the other way around. We all want to take care of the environment and become energy independent but surely, there are more reasonable ways to address these issues than legislation that will depress our economy. In my humble, unelected opinion, it is not the time to enact a job-killing bill for the purpose of boosting union membership. On the same count, it is not the time to pass what amounts to a massive energy tax.
Jerry Kuntz is the President of Converging Networks Group Inc., a small, family-owned telecommunications business in Kankakee.
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