Working Kansas Alliance President Calls for Jobs

WKA president Terry Forsyth calls for renewed focus on Kansas jobs

Topeka, KS

Source: Working Kansas Alliance, Monday, April 30, 2012

Moments ago we held a press conference in the Kansas Statehouse asking Governor Sam Brown back and the members of the Kansas Legislature to end the war on workers and focus on creating jobs and putting Kansans back to work. We were joined by House Minority Leader, Paul Davis and Senate Minority Leader Anthony Hensley.

  

Working Kansas Alliance President Terry Forsyth spoke to members today in the state capitol and denounced the growing collection of anti-worker bills being worked on in the Kansas Legislature. He called on Governor Brownback and the Legislature to stop wasting time attacking Workers rights and to turn their focus towards putting Kansans back to work.

“Blaming working families for the sluggish economy is a poor excuse for a jobs plan,” said Forsyth. “We are here to remind the governor and the legislature that this economy didn’t slow down because of the work of firefighters or teachers or highway workers who are making life in Kansas better.”

“Taking away the rights of workers is as short-sighted of an economic policy as raising taxes on the working poor to cut taxes for the wealthy,” Forsyth said. “These bills are an insult to the hardworking men and women of this state who have dedicated their careers to making Kansas a great place to live and only ask for a decent wage and fair treatment in return.”

Forsyth shared with the crowd a list of ten bills being considered by legislative committees that are direct attacks on working families.

“When the governor’s signature policy change for the session is a tax “cut” package that will actually increase taxes on working families, it is safe to say that he has lost touch with Kansas values.

“When the House and Senate Commerce Committees are teed up with bills that taken together dwarf what is going on in Wisconsin, Ohio, Indiana and Arizona, it is clear that what we are dealing with here is a full-blown anti-worker agenda.

“And when a series of bills that will actually create jobs in Kansas are collecting dust in those same committees, it is obvious that this is more about politics than about doing something positive for the working families of Kansas.”

Forsyth called on the Governor and the Legislature to end their blatant attacks on working families and the middle class and to focus on legislation that will actually create jobs for Kansans.

“We demand that this Governor start putting his weight behind legislation that will put Kansans back to work.”

Rebuild America Act Introduced

Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, recently introduced the Rebuild America Act, which offers a path toward a brighter economic future for most Americans. While addressing many of the biggest problems confronting our nation's economy, the bill would provide good jobs for working families, stabilize state and local governments, and update current labor laws.

In enacted, this bill would increase employment by making big investments in rebuilding our roads, bridges, and transportation systems. It would help develop renewable energy, promote manufacturing in the United States, and provide assistance to state and local governments to retain police, firefighters, and teachers. It would also invest in school modernization and help states improve their teachers' effectiveness.

Kim Bobo, the executive director of Interfaith Worker Justice, who will be coming to Wichita on May 16-17, said, "The bill offers an excellent vision for investing in jobs, raising core standards and paying for investments in fair and just ways. This is exactly the kind of bill that creates a vision for the future and stimulates conversations about how government can serve the common good."

By raising the minimum wage to $9.80 an hour over a period of three years and then indexing it to inflation, the bill would directly help workers. The bill would also adjust the minimum wage for tipped workers (currently set at $2.13 an hour). Both provisions are long overdue.

The bill would strengthen overtime laws, which have eroded over time, to insure that workers would be paid time and a half for every hour over 40 hours a week. It further would protect the right to join a union and bargain collectively. By taxing all earned income and changing the formula for cost-of-living adjustments, it would strengthen Social Security Insurance. It also would provide for paid sick days to care for one's self and one's family.

The Rebuild America Act would add millions of jobs to the economy and raise the typical family's income and enhance its retirement security. It would be paid for by making changes in the tax code that would shift the burden of hundreds of billions of dollars of federal taxation from working and middle class families to those who can afford to pay.

                                                           --source:Interfaith Domestic Human Needs Network

Safe Jobs Save Lives

The workplace is where people go to earn a living. All of us depend on workers to make the clothes we wear, plant and process the food we eat, and manufacture the products we use every day. The shirt I am wearing today was made in Bangladesh. The Fair Trade coffee I drank earlier this morning came from Colombia.The global village is a reality and we are all members of it.

For many workers the workplace is not a safe place. It is a dangerous place. The International Labor Organization reports that worldwide:
     every 15 seconds a worker dies in a work-related incident
     every day 6,300 workers die in work-related incidents
     every year 2.3 million workers die in work-related incidents
Most of these deaths could have been prevented.

My friend the Reverend Dr. Anton Jacobs has been doing some research on workplace deaths in America. He learned that logging is the most dangerous occupation in the United States.Workers in this industry experienced 88.1 deaths per 100,000 in 2007. That is the same rate of deaths per 100,000 that the military reported in 2010--in a time of war. In peacetime, in 1999, the military reported 55 deaths per 100,000.

Those of us living in Kansas remember that on October 29, 2011, an explosion at the Bartlett Grain Company elevator in Atchison killed six people. The four workers killed in that incident were all in their early 20s. The two inspectors killed in the explosion were 34 and 43 years of age.

On April 12, 2012, the Occupational Health and Safety Administration (OSHA) accused the Bartlett Grain Company, which FORBES ranks as among the largest private companies in the United States, of ignoring workplace safety rules, leading to the explosion that caused these deaths. The Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis proposed fines against the company of $406,000 for five willful workplace violations, and $67,500 for eight serious workplace safety violations. The company is contesting the accusations.

The story was reported in the Kansas City Star (April 12, 2012) by Mike McGraw, who wrote that working in grain elevators has "become one of the most dangerous jobs in what has become America's most dangerous industry: agriculture." OSHA reports that in the past 35 years there have been more than 500 explosions in grain handling facilities in the United States, resulting in the deaths of 180 people and causing injury to more than 675 people.

Data complied by the Bureau of Labor Statistics shows that in Kansas there were 84 workplace fatalities in 2010; 76 workplace fatalities in 2009; 73 workplace fatalities in 2008; and, 101 workplace fatalities in 2007. National data shows that every day there are 14 workers killed in work-related incidents in America. Thousands of workers die every year from work-related diseases, and millions are injured on the job.

The International Workers Memorial Day is a time to remember and mourn the loss of those who died in work-related incidents.

The first observance of International Workers Memorial Day was held in 1989. The United Nations declared April 28 International Workers Memorial Day in 2001. President Obama issued a Presidential Proclamation designating April 28 as Workers Memorial Day in 2010, marking the 40th anniversary of the enactment of the Occupational Health and Safety Act and the Federal Coal Mine Health and Safety Act.

The International Workers Memorial Day is a day to mourn those who have died in work-related incidents. It is a time to call attention to the need for laws that protect worker safety. It is a time to demand that state and federal agencies charged with enforcing these laws remain vigilant.

This year the AFL-CIO Wichita Hutchinson Labor Federation will observe Workers Memorial Day on April 19. People of faith are asked to remember workers and their families this weekend or next weekend as you gather for worship. The motto for this year's observance is: Safe Job Save Lives.

Workers Memorial Day April 19, 2012

Let me first thank all those who participated in the April 4, 2012 service honoring the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. I thought we would be able to post a video of this outstanding event but the person who offered to provide this service experienced technical difficulties and was unable to record it. It is lost opportunity. We do have an audio recording, which I will edit and post. We may be able to get transcripts of some of the presentations. I will post my own written review soon.

As a representative of IWJ Kansas I have the honor of being invited to participate in a Workers Memorial Day Event, April 19th. I would like to encourage faith communities to remember workers killed or injured on the job and their families in your worship on April 20, 21 or 22. "A Prayer for the Fallen" written by Reverend Ian Lawton, which will be included in the service on the 19th, is included below.

Forty years ago in April the OSHA law and mine safety law were enacted promising workers in this country the right to a safe job. All over the country--in town squares and union halls, at worksites and memorials, in community after community--people gather to remember our sisters and brothers who have lost their lives and to fight for safe workplaces and for good jobs for all workers. Please share in this sacred time.

A Prayer for the Fallen by Reverend Ian Lawton

We remember those we have lost with great fondness.
They gave much to the world; as individuals, family members, friends and work colleagues.
We remember their families in their enormous sadness.
For those who have died at work building a better place for the rest of us.
Those who have died while constructing our buildings and expressways, hospitals and schools.
For those who have died young and innocent, victims of avoidable accidents.
May we learn from this loss, honour the memory of those lost
And work towards a safer workplace for all people
Where the rights and dignity of all workers are upheld above all else.

Interfaith Worship April 4, 2012

WE ARE ALL TOGETHER

A Service Faith and Labor

Bringing together members of the faith community, labor and community organizations

Standing for Justice—Working for the Common Good


HONORING THE MINISTRY
OF
THE REVEREND DR. MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR.

Dr. King was killed on April 4, 1968 in Memphis, Tennessee where he had gone in support of sanitation workers who were on strike. This year marks the 44th anniversary of his death. We celebrated his birth on January 16th. Let us come together on April 4th and rededicate ourselves to his vision and to the struggle for the beloved community and justice for all.

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 4, 2012
7:00 P.M.
UNITY CHURCH
21ST AND OLIVER
This is a service of witness and song and a call to action.

Sponsors: Interfaith Worker Justice Kansas, Service Employees International Union 513
, Sunflower Community Action, Global Faith in Action, Unity Church, AFL-CIO Wichita-Hutchinson Labor Federation

Common Values

Followers of Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Hinduism, Buddhism, Native Spirituality and all people of good will share common foundational values: do no harm, do not steal, love thy neighbor as thyself and do unto others as you would have them do unto you. These moral values give us common ground and remind us that it is within our means to create a society in which families of all types are honored; high-quality education and health care for all are supported, available and accessible; safe housing is affordable; workers are fairly and adequately compensated in wages and benefits; and the natural environment is protected.

Democracy is an experiment that allows people to come together to create and support political systems and social institutions that are responsive to our needs and consistent with our values. I define politics not as the “art of compromise,” or the “art of the possible,” but rather, for me, politics is the “art of creating the common good.” Creating the common good requires compromise, but compromise is not the goal. We have an immodest agenda that calls for more than “muddling through,” or “making do.” Our goal is to create a political process that is of the people, for the people and by the people. Our goal is to create a civic community in which mutual respect and environmental integrity are normative. Our goal is to create an economic system that keeps people out of poverty by sharing equitably the rewards of work and offers a safety net to help us through hard times. Our goal is to create democratic systems that invite our participation and value the contributions that each of us can make.

In this legislative season we have unique opportunities to work with our legislators and encourage them to support and enact legislation that will move us toward our goals, and to oppose legislation that hinders the realization of them. The AFL-CIO Wichita Hutchinson Labor Federation sent out an alert a few days ago urging us to contact our legislators to let them know we oppose SB 413 and SB 416. Having tried to track legislation myself, I know that it can be difficult because the numbers keep changing and it is sometimes not certain when a bill is going to come up for a vote. This is all the more reason to contact your representative directly. Our representatives have told us that phone calls are the best way to reach their office, but I know they also read emails and letters. Your representatives do want to hear from you.

Senate Bill 413 is another version of Secretary of Labor Karin Brownlee's attempt to change the composition of the panel that settles compensation and unemployment claims. Employers and labor are equally represented on the panel now. The Brownlee proposal gives employers 5 members of the 7 member nominating committee for work comp and UI judges. How is that fair?

Senate Bill 416 is now a combination of several anti-worker bills. It allows the Department of Labor to leave workers high and dry if their employer challenges unpaid wage claims in court. Under current law, the Department of Labor is there to defend unpaid wage claims under $10,000. But the proposed change would leave workers on their own. Workers would suffer the loss of wages and have to pay the legal expenses of trying to recover them. This proposed legislation is not only unfair to workers; it also puts ethical employers who do pay full wages at a disadvantage.

Senate Bill 416 also now contains a big change to unemployment benefits. It changes UI (unemployment insurance) law to treat earned wages (such as vacation time) as justification for delaying unemployment benefits. If you get a lump sum payout when you are laid off - regardless if that payout is for wages already earned - your unemployment benefits would be held back. The bill also lowers employer contributions to the UI Trust Fund at a time when the State is borrowing money (and paying interest on it) to pay benefits!

Leaders of faith communities are encouraged to talk with employees and employers in your congregation. Learn what your own faith tradition teaches about worker rights and workplace justice. Devote one or two adult education meetings to these conversations. Invite your representative, a member of the AFL-CIO and an employer to discuss workplace justice, contact Interfaith Worker Justice Kansas. We would be happy to help you find resources for your use.

Labor Organizing Should be a Civil Right

Dean Baker is the Co-Director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research. This article by Baker appeared on the Nation of Change website and is reprinted here in its entirety.

Getting Labor Unions to the Adult Table: Why Labor Organizing Should Be a Civil Right

Like many progressives I had hopes that President Obama could push the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) through Congress. There was no doubt that it would be difficult to get it through a Senate filibuster, but the support of a few moderate Republicans did not seem impossible. Passage seemed close enough that a bit of horse trading and arm-twisting could pull the bill over the line.

In reality, it turned out that it was not close. In spite of the best efforts of the labor movement and its supporters, the bill had nowhere near the votes needed to get through a filibuster. The issue was not just getting the few Republicans that would be needed to end a filibuster; the problem was that many Democrats in the Senate would not go near a bill that would make unionization easier.

In an environment of unrelenting employer hostility to unions, there can be little doubt that there needs to be some change in the rules if workers in the private sector are going to have chance of being able to organize successfully. As it stands, it is standard practice for employers to fire workers who are engaged in an organizing drive.

While such firing is against the law, the penalties are trivial. When it gets around to hearing the case, which could take years, the National Labor Relations Board can order that a worker wrongly fired be rehired. Workers wrongfully fired are also entitled to the difference between the wages that they would have earned on the job from which they were fired, and the wages they actually earned. This is often little or nothing. Imagine being fired from a job at Walmart that paid little more than the minimum wage.

Meanwhile, the firing is great strategy from the employers' standpoint. The troublemakers are gone. The union is shown to be impotent and the rest of the workforce conceals any possible interest in the union in order to avoid the same fate. It doesn't help much if the organizers get rehired a year or two later. Imagine that President Obama got to jail his opponent's campaign workers for the two months prior to the election, but had to release them the month after. That is the roughly the state of union elections in America today.

But EFCA got nowhere and it is not likely to get anywhere any time soon. There was very little public understanding of the issues involved. And one of the key demands, that workers could organize through majority sign-up rather than a secret ballot election (a situation that already exists at the discretion of the employer but not the workers), seemed undemocratic to many people who might have otherwise been sympathetic. If labor is to again be able to organize in the private sector, it clearly needs a new path forward.

This is where Why Labor Organizing Should be a Civil Right by Richard Kahlenberg and Moshe Marvit (Century Foundation) takes off. This book is written from the perspective of two lawyers who recognize the importance of the labor movement to progressive change in the United States over the last 8 decades.

The book's key proposal is that workers who are trying to organize should be given the same sort of legal protection that African Americans or women enjoy against discrimination based on race or gender. This means that workers who are fired would get to sue in real court (not the NLRB) for real damages. As in civil rights cases, they would be entitled to collect attorney's fees from employers if they won their case.

Attorneys' fees are a huge deal, since it means that workers could afford to get lawyers in cases where it otherwise would probably not pay to hire a lawyer. As part of their suit, workers would also have the opportunity to engage in discovery, forcing employers to turn over documents about hiring union-busting consultants and to reveal discussions that might have led workers to exercise their right to seek union representation.

This is the sort of huge rethinking that is needed if labor and progressive politics more generally are going to have a chance to advance in the decades ahead. The current situation of labor is striking because the laws are incredibly tilted against workers in a way that even many progressives do not recognize. If workers violate the law, for example with a wildcat strike or secondary boycott, employees can go to court and get an injunction in hours.

Unlike the situation where employers fire organizers, the penalties for the workers in these cases are hardly a wrist slap. Leaders of the action face imprisonment if they defy an injunction. Any assets of the union can be seized, which could include any strike fund, bank accounts, even office equipment. Imagine if Jeffrey Immelt, the CEO of GE, faced jail time every time the company violated a labor law?

If it ever was passed into law, Kahlenberg and Marvit's proposal would likely have substantially more impact on unionization rates than the EFCA, but more importantly the proposal has a greater prospect of gaining the sort of popular support needed for passage. The issues that motivated the EFCA required a knowledge of the specifics of union organizing that few people have. As a result, even people sympathetic to labor often did not support the bill. By contrast, the Kalhlenberg-Marvit proposal is rooted in a rights-based approach that should be more intuitive to the public.

The authors are not naïve in thinking that this reframing will cause a bill to magically sail through Congress and land on the president's desk. Employers will be every bit as forceful in opposing a bill that seeks to give workers this right to sue as they were in opposing ECFA. However, the big difference is that labor and its supporters are far more likely to be able to gain the popular support to overcome this opposition going the civil rights route.

This argument also helps to pull the argument away from a sort of loser liberalism story where the government is reaching over to help labor by letting them go to children's court (the NLRB) because it feels sorry for them. Instead, labor is seeking symmetry in the relationship with management. Employers get to take their grievances to real court; workers should have the same opportunity.

While Kahlenberg and Marvit did not invent the proposal that is the centerpiece of the book, they deserve credit for bringing it back to public attention in a forceful manner at a time when labor and the progressive movement more generally are desperately in need of new directions forward. This is a book worth reading and argument worth taking seriously.