Here they go again. Washington politicians continue to spend trillions and trillions of dollars, tell Granite State families what to do and how to live, all while they ignore the biggest challenges that New Hampshire families face every day – the highest inflation rate in a generation, a stalled supply chain, and persistent worker shortage.
In typical Washington fashion, they fail to understand how they helped contributed to our economic problems, continue to compound our economic problems, and if they have their way, they are prepared to make our economic problems much, much worse.
Last month, New Hampshire Representatives Annie Kuster and Chris Pappas voted for the COMPETES Act. While they tell you one thing, the reality is that they voted for some of the most dangerous anti-business provisions that would seriously harm businesses across the Granite State and nation.
The COMPETES Act requires all businesses, and their subcontractors, who participate to accept unionization of their workplaces through the “card check” process. This essentially eliminates the secret ballot in union elections and will subject workers to intense pressure, even intimidation, from union bosses to support a union organizing campaign. “Card check” has long been a controversial dream of big labor that never had support to pass into law until House Democrats snuck this into the bill at the 11th hour.
It will also give the federal government power to deem a union in a private business if a collective bargain agreement breaks down. This is a massive power shift from private business and employee choice and would empower federal bureaucrats with zero business experience. Their interests would not lie with Granite Staters. Instead, it would consolidate power back to Washington and with unions.
These amendments didn’t appear out of thin air. They were originally part of a labor bill full of outdated and failed ideas called the PRO Act, which is quietly being pushed by Senators Shaheen and Hassan.
The PRO Act would nullify Right To Work laws across the nation that grant employees the choice of whether or not to join a union. It would give unions almost full control over America’s workplaces and go as far as to redefine what a franchisee or independent contractor is versus an employee – ruining many individuals’ ability to work from home or at a time and conditions of their choosing. It would crush the high-tech and start-up industries and force good manufacturing jobs overseas.
Our delegation never talks about the PRO Act in New Hampshire, namely because every business and association in our state has spoken out against it. But they support every effort to sneak PRO Act provisions into Build Back Better, COMPETES or any other unrelated legislation that they think they can try to pass, sometimes with just 50 votes in the Senate.
Too much of our politics has become about personal destruction. I think it’s time we focus on the policies that are destroying businesses and the economy. Stick to the issues that matter to us in New Hampshire. Granite State businesses and workers are not failing, it is their DC policies that are.
