A controversial figure from the Bush Administration comes to Peoria and creates a controversy on Monday. Karl Rove's speech stirs up tension between local labor leaders and businesses.
Union members pack onto the corner of the Pere Marquette. Inside, Karl Rove speaks out against the Employee Free Choice Act to about 40 business leaders. Outside, about 200 union members speak out in support of the bill.
"They're supposed to be able in this country to choose to form a union. That's not the case at all. People are threatened with job loss, plants moving, all kinds of intimidation going on," Local Labor Leader Mike Everett says.
Labor leaders see the bill being able to boost their dwindling membership.
"Forty percent of this country used to be organized. And when we were organized to that extent, we had the highest standard of living in the world and we were the number one nation in the world. Now, it's less than 13% organized, we’ve had an ever dwindling standard of living for all workers," Everett says.
But, the Economic Freedom Alliance believes if this bill passes through Congress it will be bad for business and America. The group says companies could be forced into binding arbitration during stalemates.
"We don't think it's necessary for the federal government to come in and essentially take over the negotiating process and be the arbiters in the private sectors business," Freedom Alliance Chair Ron Gidwitz says.
Still, local labor leaders say Rove's speech is just opening up old wounds. They say local unions and management are building better relationships like with the Build the Block campaign.
"It's not a respectful dialogue they're seeking. They're trying to stir it up," State Senator Dave Koehler, a Democrat from Peoria, says.
"All this is going to do is accelerate the effort to move jobs out of the country and we're going to suffer even more," Gidwitz says.
It's a federal bill creating bad blood and it's bubbling over outside the Pere Marquette.
Rove's private speech also was a fundraiser to fight the passage of this bill. Last year, the Employee Free Choice Act passed the U.S. House but stalled in the Senate.
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