The Lisbon Reporter

WELCOME TO THE LISBON REPORTER. In an effort to keep our community informed of what is going on at local and Federal levels of government, we decided to create this on-line newspaper. It is our hope that this on-line newspaper will help you stay informed so that you can get involved and take action for the benefit of our ENTIRE community. Thank you for visiting and please check back frequently for information about what is happening in LISBON/LISBON FALLS, MAINE USA

Tuesday, June 14, 2011

Lisbon's Own Politico Pundit, Dale Crafts Reacts To Rumors!

Help the workers, not DeCoster

Published:
Tuesday, June 14, 2011 2:08 PM EDT

Rep. Dale Crafts, R-Lisbon, sponsor of a controversial bill that would take away workers’ right to unionize at the Jack DeCoster-owned Quality Egg of New England farm in Turner, offered a surprising argument last Thursday that he hoped would persuade skeptics to support LD 1207.

Speaking to MPBN reporter Susan Sharon, Crafts revealed that the right to unionize was an obstacle in a rumored sale of the Quality Egg farm to a subsidiary of Land O’ Lakes Inc. Crafts essentially argued that passage of his bill could facilitate the sale and thereby hasten an end to DeCoster’s long history of workplace safety and labor violations in Maine — a good thing, he implied.

“The non-starter of the negotiation is the contractual abilities to unionize,” Crafts told Sharon in her June 9 report.

The problem with that argument is that it asks us to trust that the rumored sale would go through and is not simply a ploy by DeCoster to get rid of the threat of unionization imposed by a 1997 law in response to widespread labor violations at that time. Even a cursory glance at DeCoster’s 40-plus-year history in Maine — a highlight being the $3.6 million fine levied by the federal Occupational Health and Safety Administration in 1996 for unsafe working conditions (later negotiated down to $2 million) — should give lawmakers ample reasons for not wanting to be “enablers” of a businessman whose actions demonstrate he can’t be trusted.

Another reason to be leery of Crafts’ disclosure of a possible sale are the coy follow-up statements made by both spokespeople for both Quality Egg and Land O’Lakes spokeswoman.

http://www.timesrecord.com/articles/2011/06/14/opinion/editorials/doc4df78f3e37882954844284.txt

Believe us, there are a whole lot more reasons to be leery of anything that Crafts' says. And we will be bringing more information in the very near future.

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Rumor has it that he can't even read.