Carbondale Reporter

Rep. Paul Jacobs (R-Carbondale) recently praised Labor Union 773 for doubling its delivery of donated turkeys for Thanksgiving meals to the needy.

“Laborers Union 773 wasn’t satisfied with 150 Thanksgiving meals in Cairo on Thursday, they had to do another 300 on Saturday at the Marion Pavilion," Jacobs said on a Facebook post. “That’s caring for your neighbors! Thanks 773.”

Laborers Local 773 is a 3,500-member union representing several trades including construction, industrial workers and public employees.

In other actions, though Jacobs supports the state's recent pay increase for in-home care givers, he's bothered by Gov.  Prtizker's other expenditures.

"I think it is important to make sure our elderly are well cared for,” Jacobs said. “Increasing pay for in-home care providers is necessary to ensure that we are to retain good people in these important jobs. What I have an issue with is the unwillingness of the current administration to make better budgeting decision across the board. The budget that was passed last spring had about $1 billion in goodies for Democrat legislators. Instead of using those dollars to address long-term problems such as pensions; the majority party in the House and the Senate along with the Governor decided to go on a spending spree."

Jacobs said such spending hurts the state’s economy and called for more reasonable and disciplined expenditures.

Jacobs was also quoted in the Southern Illinois News saying that Pritzker had acted irresponsibly during the COVID-19 pandemic, shutting down businesses that never reopened and laid off workers.

"Businesses have struggled in the last year through no fault of their own," he said. "Gov. Pritzker locked down our economy, forcing businesses to close their doors, leaving millions of Illinois residents out of work.” 

Earlier this month Jacobs said in the South West Illinois News that an amendment to the Health Care Conscience Act, passed by the House in October and signed by Pritzker on Nov. 8, hurts workers who refused COVID-19 vaccination.

The act, originally passed in 1977, was intended to allow medical professionals to opt out of performing procedures such as abortions if they objected morally or for religious reasons. Workers during the pandemic have been using the law to avoid Pritzker’s COVID mandates, which require testing and vaccinations. Revisions to the Act allow employers to enforce work rules and policies related to the COVID-19 vaccinations and testing. The revisions could make workers refusing the shots liable for job repercussions.  

Jacobs called the revisions a “sad day” in Illinois.

“The Governor has signed legislation to limit the Right of Conscience for workers in Illinois,” he said. “I have no doubt the courts will have the final say on this, but for now our freedoms and liberties are threatened. We must stand up for the rights of working families and push back against the constant assault on our freedoms.”

Jacobs, a retired vintner, has represented the 15th District in the Illinois House since 2021, and is up for reelection in November of 2022.