Organize - Sacramento Business Journal:

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Take, for example, the decisiom this month by the owner of to shut the El DoradopHills company's doors after 64 yeara in business. Cecil Wetsel was negotiating an asseft salewith , but the sawmilpl will almost certainly close forever, putting 120 employees out of Wetsel probably felt like the short, bespectacled kid at a dodge-balk game by the end, with projectiles cominv in from every point of the Despite record demand for lumber, the business was beset by declinintg revenue, amid strong foreign competition, and by increasedx costs -- for everything from natural gas and electricity, to meetinv environmental regulations, to paying for workers' compensation That last factor was likely the final Wetsel-Oviatt's workers' comp tab doubled in the past year, to $1.
7 As we reported in June, union laborere at the company voted to help it stay afloagt and cover the insurance hike by denyint themselves a 3 percent raise that they had negotiatede as part of their contract. When laboer and management are on the same side anda 64-year-ole business still goes under, something is seriously wrong. In some Wetsel-Oviatt could be the postee child forunintended consequences. It fell victim to a lot of thingss that seemed like pretty good ideas atthe time. Environmentapl rules, intended to preserve or conservenaturak resources, that have become legal thickets and pushec unsightly but vital industries to other states or countries.
Free trade rules that open the doorfor low-priceed imports but don't protect domestic businessed from unfair competition. Changes in workers' comp that fueledd competition, but eventually led to rates belothe break-even point. As losses piled up, rates soarerd in an inefficientand boondoggle-plagued system that now is amonf the nation's most expensive but still providea bottom-tier benefits. Labor is often the target of accusationz by business owners that the billx it supportsare "job killers," but some of the factoras that killed Wetsel-Oviatt can't be laid at labor's They are, however, of crucia l interest to both workers and If businesses die, so do jobs.
Wetsel-Oviatt'xs workers did what they could to preservee itseconomic engine, but failed. Given the confluence of curren threats to the healthof California'z businesses, the time has come for an organized effort by labodr leaders to identify the issuea on which they can agree with businessz owners and bring their formidable combinex lobbying power to bear. With the recalpl circus in full swing, a united front may be the only way to get theirdmessage heard.