LETTER: Job losses loom on the horizon

To the Editor:

The WARN ACT was designed to protect workers, their families and communities by requiring employers with over 100 employees to provide a 60-day notice in advance of a plant closing or mass layoff. It became law Feb. 4, 1989. The expectation is that a warning will allow working class (middle class) people to prepare.

On Sept. 28 the Obama administration and the once nonpartisan Office of Management and Budget issued a letter urging businesses expecting layoffs on Jan. 2, 2013 to not comply with the act. Their reasoning, announcing layoffs of countless thousands before the election will look bad for Obama. Why bring added attention to the Obama economy?

The act has three exemptions for compliance; a faltering company looking for funding, unforeseeable business circumstances, and a natural disaster.

Quoting from Jane Oates, Department of Labor, Assistant Secretary, “Of these three exceptions, the unforeseeable business circumstances exception is the one that would apply to plant closings or mass layoffs occurring before or in the wake of the potential sequestration on Jan. 2, 2013.”

To paraphrase, “We predict big defense contractor layoffs Jan. 2, 2013, they can be called unforeseeable business circumstances.” Huh? “Our prediction can be claimed to be a surprise when it happens.” If you’re not following the logic “Good for you!” it wasn’t made to be followed. It’s ludicrous, asinine and arrogant.

OK, all this is simply horrible. There’s more. The administration added, if a lawsuit is filed the federal government will be liable.

That’s “taxpayers.” Obama, who claims to protect the middle class, throws it under the bus.

If you like the mounting deficit, the unemployment numbers, government healthcare, gas and grocery prices, a president who is above the law, defending Allah at the cost of Israel, and a nuclear Iran, re-elect him.

Tom Winkler

Prescott

Tags: letters to the editor, opinion