Small-business owners in Alaska face cascading crises. Congress shouldn’t make it worse.The global pandemic, the economic shutdown of 2020, the worst inflation in a generation, supply chain disruptions, and a worker shortage have many Alaska businesses wondering what’s next.
Now a legislative initiative in Washington, D.C., threatens to flatten them.The Build Back Better Act contained a provision that would have permitted the National Labor Relations Board to levy punishing fines on small businesses for ill-defined “unfair labor practices.” The fines would not apply to unions, which commit unfair labor practices, as well. The provision is clearly designed to benefit labor leaders at the expense of employers and workers.
Now that the BBB is dead, Senate leadership says it will come back with a new reconciliation bill. Some in Washington, D.C., want to revive these penalties. But this provision is anti-business and will kill jobs.
I strongly encourage Alaska’s delegation to make sure this onerous provision is left out of any new reconciliation bill that emerges in 2022. Alaska’s small businesses have endured enough.
— Jodi Taylor
Board member, Alaska Policy Forum
Anchorage
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