Card Check: ABC Educates Pennsylvanians
Monday, July 27th, 2009 by adminThe relative importance of Sen. Arlen Specter’s views on the Employee Free Choice Act — and labor law reform in general — is high because the law’s razor-thin margins for success or failure in the Senate. This weekend the Philadelphia Inquirer looked at the bill’s status and the political whispers around their home-state Senator’s role.
Luckily, ABC was there to add some employer perspective. After noting an EFCA proponent’s position, the Inquirer reports:
Not surprisingly, Jerry Gorski, national chairman of the Associated Builders and Contractors, disagrees. Not only is the bill unfair to workers and businesses, he says, but it also shows a mind-set that ignores the realities of the global economy.
“Why is the government saying, ‘Well, we need to make it easier to go back to that union model,’ instead of being progressive and helping develop what the new models are?” Gorski asks.
Workers and owners need flexibility, Gorski argues, not rules that say who can use a hammer and who can’t.
He says being flexible allowed his contracting business in Collegeville to avoid layoffs during the current recession, though that sometimes means carpenters painting or landscaping.
“We may be underutilizing someone’s skills,” Gorski says, “but everybody is working, and that’s the kind of stability and adaptability we need. . . . Legislation isn’t going to solve our workforce needs for the future.”
Tags: ABC in the News, Jerry Gorski
