Contractors, Governmental Global Warming Rules

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[Editor’s note: This letter is in response to the article “Contractors Face Step Up in Rules, Regs,” Dec. 1, 2008.]

In some ways I am disgusted with our industry. Yes, we have to follow the rules and regs that are heaped upon us, but we don’t have to repeat the junk science that spawns some of them. To be exact, “The global warming debate is over.” I think that when you have over 30,000 scientists willing to sign a petition to the U.S. government saying that they do not believe there is solid evidence to support the global warming theory, I do not think that is an end to the debate.

For us as an industry to capitalize on these new rules makes sense. But it will come back to haunt us in the end. Our clients are not getting any of this information elsewhere. We owe it to them to tell those who will listen.

In the end, it makes no difference if it is a thief or the government who takes $50 of every $100 that we make. We still only have $50 left to spend. And the greedy rats want even more!

Raymond Wilson
Owner
Wilson’s Refrigeration
Wyandotte, Okla.

Not Getting Rid of Employees in the Tough Times

I read Butch Welsch’s column about the rumor mill [“My Two Cents: Keeping the Rumor Mill at Bay,” Jan. 12] and thought I would pass on a similar experience that happened at our company. I own a small HVACR company, and we have been in business for over 26 years. As the economy continued to get worse, even my attitude turned downhill; my employees began to get nervous.

As I thought of the implications of this nervousness in the minds of my employees, I realized I would have to address the problem. I came to an interesting conclusion. The next week, we met, [I told them of my decision] and they all felt better and began to relax. The decision was that I would lay my wife off for eight weeks, and then I would lay myself off for eight weeks, creating a rolling layoff situation.

I have the best employees working for me since I have been in business and do not want to lose them. By doing this, we assured them that we had their best interests at heart. In our area, good help is extremely hard to find, and it sometimes takes some extreme measures to keep them.

By letting our feelings be known by our actions, they are assured we will do everything possible to keep them working.

Thanks for the column.

Pete Kiefhaber
Kiefhaber’s Heating & Air
Star City, Ark.

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Publication date: 02/02/2009