Mississippi’s Low Income Workers

There is a movement taking hold that would try to protect low income workers….and Mississippi has it fair share of those, as well as day workers and such.

Original source: civilrights.org

Organizations that advocate for working-class Americans, such as the Institute for Policy Studies and Jobs with Justice, recently formed a coalition called the Inter-Alliance Dialogue to address the needs of low-income workers, minorities, domestic workers, day laborers, and other groups most affected by the recession.

In recent months, employers have been eliminating jobs at a rate of about half a million per month, causing many people to lose their homes and healthcare, especially low-income workers and minorities.

The groups that make up the Inter-Alliance Dialogue are urging Congress to address the needs of low-wage workers, by:

* passing the Employee Free Choice Act to expand workers’ right to organize and improve working conditions;
* enhancing worker protection laws to prevent wage theft and workplace abuses;
* preventing the lending and credit industries from taking advantage of minorities and low-income people;
* implementing fair immigration reform that protects workers and their families; and
* providing equal opportunities for jobs for all workers in the emerging green economy.

Student Workers Unionize

Original source: unionreview.com

First student school bus drivers, monitors and mechanics in West Point, Mississippi, are now Teamster members, after an overwhelming 21-6 vote in favor of representation by Local 891 in Jackson. The workers united in order to secure fair pay, affordable and decent health insurance, respect and a say on the job.

“We’re going to start bargaining the second week of June, and look forward to negotiating the first contract in the state of Mississippi for bus drivers,” said Willie Smith, President of Local 891 and Secretary-Treasurer of Joint Council 87.

There are 42 workers in the bargaining unit, who are now part of the more than 400 First Student workers in Mississippi who have joined Local 891 since September.

Since the Teamsters national Drive Up Standards campaign to improve safety, service and work standards in the private school bus and transit industry began in 2006, more than 17,600 drivers, monitors, aides, mechanics and attendants have become Teamsters.

Did Company Mistreat Its Workers?

CNN recently did a report on the mistreatment of immigrant workers and two Mississippi companies are faced with lawsuits concerning the immigrants.

Two Mississippi companies deny allegations they lured foreign workers to the United States with false promises of good jobs then housed them in storage buildings.

Twelve Brazilians are suing Moss Point-based Knights Marine and Industrial and a subsidiary, Five Star Contractors LLC, alleging racketeering, breach of contract and fraud.

The workers, who came to Mississippi on temporary work visas, allege they spent thousands of dollars in travel expenses, but the high-paying jobs they were promised didn’t materialize.

Brian Knight, president of Knights Marine, denied the allegations in a statement to The Associated Press.

He calls the allegations false and the lawsuit frivolous.

Biofuel Comes To Mississippi

A Canadian company said Thursday it had selected a northeast Mississippi site for its first U.S. plant to turn solid waste, wood residues and other feedstock into biofuel.

A spokeswoman for Montreal-based Enerkem Inc. said the company had been in discussions with officials in Pontotoc since early last year. The plant is expected to create up to 450 jobs.

Enerkem has signed a letter of intent with the Three Rivers Regional Solid Waste Management Authority, which owns and operates a regional landfill for the counties of Calhoun, Itawamba, Lafayette, Lee, Monroe, Pontotoc, and Union.

Three Rivers has agreed to supply Enerkem with approximately 189,000 tons or 60 percent of its solid waste annually as feedstock for the plant.

Enerkem has operated a pilot plant in Sherbrooke, Quebec, since 2003. Its first commercial plant was in Westbury, Quebec, and the company will start construction on a third plant in Edmonton, Alberta. The Mississippi plant will be a $250 million project and is expected to produce 20 million gallons of ethanol a year

The project is expected to create 150 long-term direct and indirect jobs and 300 jobs during the construction and startup phase, officials said.

It will be fascinating to see what the governor and his cronies have offered this company as compensation for locating in Mississippi.

Stimulus Cash Comes To Mississippi

Agencies in Mississippi are still cautious about saying exactly what they’ll get from the federal stimulus package or what they’ll do with it, but one group of Mississippians has already benefited — the unemployed.

Beginning the last week of February, the unemployed got $25 more a week.

The money, which runs out in 2010, has no state match, but Gov. Haley Barbour signed an agreement with the Department of Labor to get it rolling. How does that stimulate?

Ed Sivak, director of the Mississippi Economic Policy Center, quoting Department of Labor research, said that for every $1 of unemployment benefit money injected into local economies, $2.15 is generated in economic activity.

The Mississippi Department of Education received new information from the U.S. Department of Education last week and school districts were given solid numbers on what they would receive for Title I and special education, but then they learned Tuesday that the money will be funneled through the state, which could change the totals.

Mississippi will get $132 million for Title I, which funds services for children from low-income families. It will receive a total of $117.8 million for special education and $8.5 million for education technology.

Mississippi will receive $44.3 million through the U.S. Department of Labor for employment and training programs funded by the stimulus package. That’s a portion of $3.5 billion nationwide.

The DOL money will be used primarily through the state’s WIN Job Centers. Some solid figures for Mississippi include $3.6 million for job training, work retraining and working with employees who have been laid off. There will be $18.7 million for youth summer employment and other activities, $7.8 million for adults and $14.2 million for dislocated workers.

And Medicaid?

Dan Turner, spokesman for the governor’s office, said though there are reports that the state has received $137 million in stimulus Medicaid funding, it hadn’t as of Monday, but it’s expected soon.

Turner puts the total for Medicaid for Mississippi at around $414 million.

In the past our governor did not want the cash for the unempoloyed for whatever reason that he could make up, but here is something to think about…..for every $1 of benefits it will create $2.15 of economic activity….why would anyone be opposed to getting a 100% economic bang for the buck spent?  Maybe these are the types of questions people should consider before voting for the next “good old boy” governor.

I Told You So!

Gov. Haley Barbour said today he doesn’t want to accept part of President Barack Obama’s stimulus money because it would mean raising unemployment taxes.

Barbour spoke to the Gulfport Business Council and after the meeting said he will not accept about $50 million of the stimulus money related to unemployment benefits.

If a person is unemployed, he can get unemployment benefits if he is willing and able to work full time. The stimulus money requires that everyone who is unemployed receive benefits, not just people who can work full time.

Barbour said that would have to continue even after the stimulus money is gone. That would require the state to raise $16 million each year to continue paying those benefits.

That means that if you were hurt on the job and cannot work full time…then you do not deserve benefits….workers?  Who needs stinking workers? (sarcasm)

God forbid that the state actually do anything to help its residents.

Is this what you elected a governor to do?  If it is then this state is in sad shape and will NEVER amount to anything.

Assault On The Workers

Do you know what the “Employees Free Choice Act” is?  It is a bill in the US Congress which basically states that workers have the right to employees have the right to join, form or assist labor organizations to provide for injunctions for unfair labor practices.  Does that sound like something that would be objectionable?  Well, it is….and especially in Mississippi a right to work state that gets constipation every time the word union is mentioned.

They are so afraid of unions, by they I mean the paid for politicians in the state legislature, that they have gone so far as to offer a bill to order the Mississippi representation in Washington to vote against it.

That bill is SC 550 which states:

A CONCURRENT RESOLUTION URGING MEMBERS OF THE UNITED STATES CONGRESS TO OPPOSE PASSAGE OF THE FEDERAL “EMPLOYEE FREE CHOICE ACT”

Has anyone in Jackson actually asked any worker in the state of Mississippi what they think of the idea of the Free Choice Act?  I do not think so.  Business in the state does not want it, so they pay these a/holes in Jackson to oppose it…and like good little puppies they do what they are told.

When…just when will the workers in Mississippi wake up and realize that the state is NOT on their side…that the state does all it can to keep them at the bottom of the economic ladder….the Mississippi worker deserves better from their politicians….it is beyiond time to throw these a/holes back into the sewers they crawled out of and start with the governor and go through the entire list…..start over could be no worse than it is now.

Mississippi Good To Workers

That is what the admins have been saying for years and years.  But is it true?  HA!  Not a chance!  Mississippi is a right to work state–that means business gets the help and the recognition….labor gets dumped on with low wages and even lower living standards.

What is that sound?  It is business and their butts slammin’ shut.  Okay, why do I say this about the state?  Let us look at the legislature then….there are several issues before it concerning labor, the most ugly one is HB 682 which says that a company is allowed a minimum of time to inform workers of a lay-off or shut-down.

There are some bright spots in the legislature, HB 741, to create a Dept. of Labor, that is right the state does not have a department that looks out for the workers of the state.  We have a MS employment Commission and that is about it.  And then there is HB 606 which basically says that an employee cannot be fired for filing a workers comp claim in good faith.  See there are bright spots, but they dim quickly.

The creation of a Dept. Of Labor comes up just about every year and NOTHING gets accomplished…a wasted opportunity.  It just appears to me that NO ONE is serious about this, they just offer it up every year as a pad for their resume for re-election.

HB 606 is sadly needed but I look for this measure to go down in defeat as the Dept of Labor will….sad.  There are a wealth of stories about employees that were hurt on the job and when they could not return when ordered, were in turn fired.  The sad part of that is that is legal to dump on workers in Mississippi.

The workers in Mississippi are never a consideration until they are trying to sell the tax breaks for a company wanting to do business in the state.  Mississippi is friendly…but it is business friendly….NEVER labor friendly!

Mississippi’s Not Good For Business

Mississippi’s competitive environment is the worst in the U.S. So says the “Eighth Annual State Competitiveness Report,” (PDF) from the independent, non-partisan Beacon Hill Institute, an economic research organization at Boston’s Suffolk University.
The BHI compilation looks for “policies and conditions that ensure and sustain a high level of per capital income and continued growth,” the report states. “The central goal of this report is to engage everyone in thinking about how best to improve long term economic growth, while expanding and maintaining high levels of personal income.”

The areas considered are: government and fiscal policies, security, infrastructure, human resources, technology, business incubation, economic openness and environmental policy. Each of the areas includes numerous specific measurements, or sub indices.

Mississippi’s high percentage of rural areas and its poverty influence the infrastructure factors: Mississippi has the fewest high-speed Internet lines of any state, and is 47th in air passengers per capita, a measure of commerce and business travelers.

The Magnolia State has some high points in the rankings: relatively low carbon emissions and housing costs, and high academic research and development compared to the state’s gross state production. Low taxes and a balanced budget also rate high.
Factors that create a good business environment—Mississippi’s lack of minimum-wage laws, low unemployment benefits and low percentage of workers in unions—are at odds with the state’s human-resource disadvantages, because those factors disproportionately hurt the state’s high percentage of poor people. The more prosperous a state is, the less these factors affect its competitiveness, Conte said, but Mississippi doesn’t have offsetting factors.

Mississippi’s HR negatives include high infant mortality rates and uninsured people, and low elementary-school math scores and high-school grads over 25, all factors related to poverty. Conte said HR factors are the No. 1 area Mississippi needs to improve. “Businesses like to have a well-educated labor force if they’re going to move in there, at least the kinds of firms that are going to generate higher economic growth and higher incomes,” he said.

The report emphasizes that higher rankings equate to greater affluence, with each point equaling an additional $1,500 in per-capita income. “[T]he greatest upside potential is for the indicators whose performance is currently weak,” the report states.

Mississippi has the lowest per capita income ($23,448 in 2005) in the country, and this year’s BHI index, like the previous eight, provides a lot of “upside potential” for Mississippi.

There is lots of work to be done in Mississippi, the problem is NO ONE wants to tackle the problem…they prefer to rely on the same “good old boys” thinking from a 100 years ago.  If Mississippi wants to change these negatives then the Land Value Tax has come to call.  LVT could solve a number of these negatives, but who has the ‘nads to propose it?

AL: Investigation Of State Workers Union

The board that oversees state employees voted Wednesday to request investigation of a pension deal between the Alabama State Employees Association and Nationwide Life Insurance Co.

The vote by the Alabama State Personnel Board followed a lawsuit filed by a pair of state employees against the association and Columbus, Ohio-based Nationwide.

The suit claims that the employees union agreed to a bad deal for state workers and received millions from Nationwide in return.

“I’m worried about the 11,000 state employees and how these funds have managed to be kept a secret,” said personnel board member John McMillan. “There’s just a very distinct line between right and wrong.”

McMillan said the investigations conducted by four agencies, including the attorney general’s office, could result in financial penalties or even criminal prosecution.