Sunday, April 26, 2015

"I think the governor has badly misdiagnosed the problems with Illinois" U.S. Representative Bill Foster (from Todd Mertz)





 “Here is the video of the Naperville City Council meeting from Tuesday when over 600 people and 27 speakers were able to stop Rauner's union busting and right-to-work resolution from passing.

“Towns and cities traditionally rely on state funding for a portion of their annual budget… If they don't pass it, he has vowed to reduce or cut their funding from the state--in essence starving their local municipality.  Although mayors and city councils across the state may completely disagree with Rauner's agenda, there is unquestionably intense pressure to pass it to avoid being on his naughty list and lose state funding...


“Some noteworthy quotations from the article:

“‘Some council members said they had not heard about the matter enough in advance of the meeting to make an informed decision...’

“‘Some of the speakers openly derided the proposal, calling it a death knell for the middle class.’

“‘Several noted Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan's recent declaration that right-to-work laws are unconstitutional.’

“‘U.S. Congressman Bill Foster, a Naperville democrat, said 'the empowerment zones are basically a gimmick to pit communities against one another by offering incentives to companies to move to towns where they can pay lower wages.  I think the governor has badly misdiagnosed the problems with Illinois.’


 
“‘Some council members had second thoughts after hearing from the labor supporters.’

“Incoming Mayor Chirico said, ‘I think the optics of it alone is enough to make this a valid reason to table it.  I wasn't prepared to table it. I was prepared to vote on it tonight, but I think that's the right thing to do.’

“Councilman Paul Hinterlong said, ‘What I've learned tonight is the facts that were brought up are facts, and things that we have in this resolution that we're looking at and make points of, there's no facts to back them up.’

“‘Councilman Hinterlong noted that the CEO of the Illinois Chamber of Commerce not long ago said simply reforming workers compensation law would make the state competitive again.  That means not getting rid of prevailing wage, not having right-to-work laws.’

“Here is a well-written synopsis by my district's union president Paul Gamboa posted on the IEA website. A victory for sure, but we need to be ready for the next round...

—Todd Mertz
           


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