SMALL BUSINESS GIVES “F” TO PROPOSAL FORCING BIG LABOR AGENDA ON SCHOOL CHILDREN
BOSTON (September 24, 2015) Lawmakers are poised today to
continue the debate regarding whether to force Massachusetts public school
children to learn about the organized labor movement while leaving out the
nation’s most important job creators: small business entrepreneurs. The
National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) can’t help but wonder why
legislators are considering adding the labor movement into school curriculums
at a time when schools are failing to produce enough graduates with the
skillsets our economy needs.
“Our public school system is barely keeping up with the
standard reading, writing and arithmetic and yet somehow some legislators think
it would be a good idea to force impressionable students to learn the ins and
outs of organized labor, especially during a period of time when union rolls
are on a steady decline,” according to Bill Vernon, NFIB Massachusetts state
director. “Where is the interest in educating our youth about the American
entrepreneurial spirit? The very mechanism that has allowed us to prosper as a
nation and creates two-thirds of Massachusetts’ jobs.”
In the past, NFIB has advocated for union recruitment ploys SB329
and HB 373 to be dismissed especially considering unions employ a dwindling 6%
of the private work force. However, in the interest of compromise, Vernon
suggested, in the very least, that students be provided with a better rounded
version of small business’ contribution to the workforce. This includes an
in-depth look at the free enterprise system and the positive impact that it has
on the economy and our nation as a whole.
“It is not unions that make our county the most prosperous
nation on the planet, it is in fact our free market system that keeps our
economy going, in spite of some awful policies that exist on both the state and
federal level. The small business community is integral to our economic
survival and should be the cornerstone of any school courses focused on labor.
Small business employees a vast majority of Massachusetts and it is time to
honor their contributions to our society, not prop up unions to help swell
their diminishing ranks,” concluded Vernon.
