On Friday Governor Rick Scott of Florida signed a bill that would block local governments in the state from passing any kind of mandatory paid-sick time measures. In a statement Rick Scott said:

“This bill fosters statewide uniformity, consistency and predictability in Florida’s employer-employee relationships. These fundamental elements are essential to ensuring a business-friendly environment that supports job creation.”

Republicans across the nation have been trying to pass similar legislation in the name of “job creation.” Big businesses like Walt Disney, Darden Restaurants, and the Florida Chamber of Commerce along with other business interests backed this proposal. They argued the inconsistent regulations from city to city would hamper businesses and stunt growth. The “create jobs” or “hamper growth” slogan is becoming played out. This is the same line Republicans and big businesses use every time they want to stick it to the low wage workers.

The sponsor in the Florida Senate, Republican David Simmons, said:

“He believes that it’s important to our recovering economy and increasing jobs that he affirm the importance of this legislation. We simply do not need an inconsistent patchwork of regulation from one city to the next or one county to the next.”

Of course, the main goal of the big businesses is to limit wages and cut benefits in order to garner egregious profits. This is simply what “encourages job creation” means. The businesses opposed to the paid-sick time measure say that it over reaches into a company’s ability to conduct their own affairs and should be left to the market. When companies are in a race to the bottom, in regards to cutting wages and benefits, the market will only encourage this behavior.

The Tea Party coup in Florida has angered many progressives in the state. There was a recent measure in Orange County that would’ve required employers to provide paid time off to workers who are sick or taking care of a sick relative. However, with Rick Scott signing this bill into law it doesn’t matter what Orange County does.

The Tea Party back legislature loves to tout the horn of small government; however, they just used the state apparatus to nullify any measures by local governments to provide meaningful assistance for their constituents. It appears profits and corporate interest trump the philosophy of small government.

These bills aimed at destroying paid-sick benefits come straight from the American Legislative Exchange Council, or ALEC. ALEC is essentially a massive corporate operation linking multinational corporations with conservative state legislatures to do corporate biding. ALEC uses conservative politicians as their economic henchmen. For example, in Milwaukee a paid-sick ordinance was passed, but the Wisconsin state legislature passed a bill nullifying the ordinance. These kinds of battles are happening all over the country like Michigan, Mississippi and Washington.

Corporate interests have completely invaded the legislative process and have waged war on workers’ wages and benefits. The demolition of unions and other pro-worker bills are all part of the concerted effort to undermine labor rights. Big business propagates lies of “rising costs” and “efficient work conditions” to help degrade any effort at helping low-wage workers. Meanwhile, unwittingly, and sometimes not, mainstream conservatives and Republicans bite at the bait of “trickle-down” economics. With these outlandish profits, workers see nothing trickling down except their wages and benefits. These efforts prove that the market won’t fix anything, especially when the market it rigged by lawmakers and corporate cartels like ALEC.