Illinois Republican Senate candidate Benjamin Salzberg says Democratic legislators should not be criticizing large companies when they are forced to lay off Illinois employees. Instead, blame should be placed on the “really bad policies” the party has supported.
Salzberg, who is running against Democratic incumbent Julie Morrison in District 29, was referring specifically to U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) criticizing Abbott Laboratories for laying off approximately 150 employees and replacing them with contractors from Wipro, an information technology services firm based in India.
In two separate letters to Miles White, CEO of Abbott Labs, Durbin urged White to reconsider the layoffs and questioned the non-disparagement agreements the employees were required to sign before they could receive any severance pay.
“I am deeply disappointed that your response confirmed you are replacing these workers, who have dedicated years of loyal service to your company, with contractors from Wipro, a foreign company that specializes in outsourcing American jobs,” Durbin wrote in his second letter penned in April.
But Salzberg believes such layoffs are symptomatic of the enormous challenges companies face in Illinois because of bad policies supported by Democratic-leadership.
“Companies are struggling right now... . I talked to companies that want to leave Illinois and they don’t know what to do,” Salzberg said. “So when you have Dick Durbin talking about these different issues of disclosure of, ‘Oh my God, I can’t believe we’re letting these people go,’ but your party -- Julie Morrison, (House Speaker Mike Madigan), (Senate President John Cullerton) -- are not doing anything to support the company to stay here in Illinois, to bring people back to Illinois.”
Abbott Laboratories is a global health care company headquartered in Lake Bluff, Illinois that employs approximately 73,000 employees and operates in more than 150 countries. It was founded by Chicago physician Wallace Calvin Abbott in 1888; and in 2014, the company’s revenues were $20.2 billion.
Salzberg said he is running for office because he wants to support businesses so people in Illinois can be employed and support their families.
“(Abbott) has to do different things to survive," he said. "I don’t know what their financial state is right now. If they are trying to grow, just like any other company, they are struggling because of the political arena in Illinois. So in order to survive, they have to do certain things. Whether they have to outsource, at least the whole company is not leaving. So I am so happy about that. It is heartwarming they are not leaving because a lot of companies are leaving.”
According to Chief Executive’s 10th annual survey, “2014 Best & Worst States for Business,” Illinois ranked third worst for the second consecutive year. Five hundred CEOs across the country participated in the survey, and rankings were based on factors such as taxes, regulations, quality of the workplace and living environment.
“Right now we are still looking at the atmosphere of why companies are leaving, and they are leaving because of Julie Morrison and the political cloud over Illinois -- and that is very upsetting,” Salzberg said. “The business climate right now is very upsetting to business owners.”
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