Franklin County Democrats

I have a mental picture of the folks at the National Right-to-Work (for less) Foundation having a  anxiety attack as they opened their Yahoo accounts this morning.  One of the featured rotating news stories is “Memo to Would-Be Mmebers of the 1%; Move to the Northeast or Mid-Atlantic.” 

The title isn’t scary but the contents are for an organization based on misinformation that’s mission is to convince working Americans to vote against their own economic interests.  RTW for less is tireless in thier assertions that weakening unions will result in a better standard of life for whatever state they are focused on.  But according to this report the states with the most upward income mobility, the ability of citizens to earn more money, are all Free Bargaining states – New York, New Jersey, and Maryland.   The states where it was hardest to make more money – were Right-to-Work (for less) poster children North Carolina (the least unionized state in the country) and South Carolina.  To make things worse, the last state to enact Right-to-Work for less – Oklahoma, is one of the worst states in the country. OUCH!

Ensuring the RTW for less folks resort to some over-priced cocktails on their corporate sponsors dime is this analysis of the report,

The states with more upwardly mobile populations were more likely to be liberal-leaning states, and those with more stagnant populations were more likely to be conservative-leaning states. But it is not clear if that correlation is causal; the report does not explain how public policy or other factors may have affected people’s chances of evolving from rags to riches.

“It was beyond the scope of the study to look at why states performed the way they did,” Ms. Currier said. “What I can say is that our previous research has found some particular drivers of economic mobility at the individual level, including education, savings and assets, and neighborhood poverty during childhood.”

Hmm, sounds like facts are displacing fiction.

As the Missouri Legislature kicks off another session new life has been breathed into the legislative mummy that is Right-to-Work for less.  In Missouri, Senator Rob Mayer has filed a RTW for less bill and many of the same states controlled by Republicans looking to lower wages last year are at it again.  One of those states is Indiana, where Gov. Mitch Daniels has expressed his support for a RTW for less bill.  He also tried to restrict the number of people that could visit the Capitol in an attempt to head off protests of his unpopular agenda.

Fortunately, he has failed to head off a report on the affects of RTW for less by the Economic Policy Institute that exposes his claims for RTW for less as being based on very selective economic figures.  Below is just one of the claims made by RTW for less proponents and the facts they fail to mention.

• In its Rich States, Poor States report, the American Legislative Exchange Council promotes RTW by noting that RTW Texas has added more jobs in the past decade than any other state and declaring Texas “the state with the best policy to emulate” (Laffer et al. 2011, 13). What ALEC doesn’t tell readers is that for the last four years, the state’s job growth has come entirely through government jobs, while the private sector shrank—clearly a trend that cannot be credited to RTW (Fletcher 2011).

The Governor also failed to mention the resulting loss of wages for both union and non-union workers due to RTW for less legislation.

Rigorous studies—using regression analysis to home in on the effect of RTW laws— show that RTW laws:

• reduce wages by $1,500 a year, for both union and nonunion workers, after accounting for different costs of living in the states (Gould and Shierholz 2011)
• lower the likelihood that employees get healthcare or pensions through their jobs—again, for both union and nonunion employees (Gould and Shierholz 2011)
• have no impact whatsoever on job growth (Lafer and Allegretto 2011)

I am hoping Missouri legislators will learn the facts and not just swallow the spin of RTW for less supporters.  Our paychecks are counting on it.

This is one of those times it is good to have a blog, otherwise I would just be dancing around the house to my family’s annoyance. 

Yesterday’s announcement that Emerald Automotive intends to open an auto plant in Hazelwood to produce hybrid delivery vans for both U.S. and world markets is great news for Missouri.  

Citing the reasons for this location decision:

 Emerald looked at locations in 25 states, Heaton said. It chose the St. Louis area because of its central location, its pool of experienced auto workers here and “an incredibly business-like” approach by state and local governments, she said.

It also has exposed the fabrications that Mo. State Senate President Rob Mayer had created in an attempt to push his Right-to-Work bill. 

The Post-Dispatch carried this story about Senator Mayer and his agenda, let’s review this sentence in particular:

Today’s Post-Dispatch features a front page, above the fold story, complete with many pictures of the old GM Corvette plant at Union and Natural Bridge in St. Louis -  Vette’ loss looms in hindsight.  I  really enjoyed this article, even agree somewhat with the premise that the loss of that plant may have served as an example for other manufacturing to leave the St. Louis area.  I would like to touch on a couple key points that are still relevant and an obvious error by author Steve Giegerich.

Tax Incentives:  The story detalis how St. Louis would not match the tax incentives offered by Bowling Green, KY, the current home of the Chevrolet Corvette plant as being the primary reason the plant was moved.  This story has been repeated many times as tax incentives have been cited as a dominant factor in many plant locating decisions.  For example, Tennessee gave Volkswagen $577 million to locate their plant in Chattannoga.  These giveaways of taxpayer dollars are conveniently ignored by Right-to-Work proponents that prefer to contend that the state’s Right-to-Work for less status is the reason for these locating decisions.

This brings us to the error in this story,  Mr. Giegerich wrote

Nor did the resentment focus solely on envy over union salaries doled out to carpetbaggers in a right-to-work state. In 1981, only about 6 percent of the 71,000 people living in Warren County were African-American.

This seems to be a common misperception so let’s make this clear – Kentucky is NOT a RIGHT-TO-WORK FOR LESS state!

Mr. Giegerich also overplays his hand with this,

In the years since, a cornerstone of the regional economy has slowly crumbled, shedding middle-class jobs to largely nonunion, right-to-work states and, more recently, emerging economies overseas.

In fact, this country has lost over 50,000 plants and 5 million jobs in the last ten years,  not to nonunion, right-to-work states but to other nations!  The vast majority of these lost plants were non-union plants!   Right-to-Work for less states are not immune to unemployment; they just earn less when they are working.   In the same edition of the Post-Dispatch, Kevin Horrigan cited the unemployment rate in St. Louis as 8.6%, Louisville 9.5% and Right-to-Work for less Memphis at 10.1%.

Despite these biased political talking points, reading this article was an enjoyable experience as were my past discussions with former members of UAW Local 25 that worked at the old Corvette plant.  I have been to Kentucky and toured the Bowling Green plant a couple of times and invite you to check it out if you enjoy cars.   Who knows, you may find an old Franklin County resident waiting there.

Read more: http://www.stltoday.com/business/local/article_7b8400ee-4abc-5de3-b1c8-2a2145f2ef53.html#ixzz1RjHGZJRK

Much like Missouri, New Hampshire has a number of corporate lackeys in their General Assembly.  There are enough of them to pass a Right-to-Work for less bill and send it to John Lynch, their Democratic Governor.  Fortunately, Governor Lynch has seen through the bogus claims made by Right-to-Work proponents and vetoed this bill.  He points out that New Hampshire already has a much better economy and standard of living than the vast majority of RTW for less states.  The RTW proponents case boils down to two talking points, neither of which the Speaker of the House wanted to discuss as evidenced in this video of taxpaying constituents being told they can’t stay in a public building.  The two talking points they can’t  defend are:

• Right-to-Work will help job growth. continue reading…

Today the Post-Dispatch published the short version of my Op/Ed on the confusing aspects of Right-to-Work (for less).  You can read it here.

The Washington Missourian printed the long version this week and it is available here

The high road could be described as the U.S. Conference of Bishops wrote in their 1986 letter, economic justice for all. They argued that fair wages, rest, health care, retirement benefits and reasonable job security “are all essential if workers are to be treated as persons rather than simply, a factor of production.”

Does your state representative and senator view you as a “factor of production” or a “person”?

Perhaps Republican lawmakers in Jefferson City got a little nervous about pushing through the so-called “Right to Work” measure after seeing the huge turnout at Kiener Plaza on Friday, March 11. The bill has hit the skids in the Missouri Senate:

… after debating the bill for about three hours, with packed galleries of pro-union spectators looking on, the Senate shelved it without a vote. Whether it will ever reach a vote was unclear.

Republicans, who control the Senate 26-8, are split on the issue. Some such as Jim Lembke of Lemay and Kevin Engler of Farmington have voiced opposition to the bill. With a divided GOP, it could be hard to end a filibuster by cutting off debate, a maneuver that is rarely used in the Senate anyway.

Democrats led the opposition, saying that prospective employers place more importance on factors such as energy costs, access to highways and tax subsidies. They said Missouri falls short in the competition for auto manufacturers because it can’t offer up-front cash incentives as some states do.

Right-to-work is “a grand distraction,” said Sen. Victor Callahan, D-Independence, warning that he would talk “ad nauseam” if necessary to stall the bill.

So for now at least Nieves will have to cry in his beer that he didn’t get to screw working families in Missouri out of a decent paycheck. But stay vigilant. These anti-working class crusaders have been at this a very long time. Even Harry Truman weighed in on it back in his day.

You will find some people saying that they are for the so-called ‘right-to-work’ law, but they also believe in unions. This is absurd. It’s like saying you are for motherhood but against children .

The truth about the Right-to-Work for less issue is the focus of a seminar at 1:00 p.m. Saturday, March 19th at the Machinists District 837 Hall, 212 Utz Lane in Hazelwood and you are invited.  The seminar will expose how RTW for less will harm workers, retirees, labor unions, minorities, women, young workers and the entire community.  The event is sponsored by the Coalition of Labor Union Women.  Speakers will include St. Louis Labor Council President Bob Soutier, Audrey Hollis, Missouri Jobs with Justice Director Lara Granich, State Representative Bert Atkins, my good friend and State Representative Clem Smith, and myself.

My comments will  focus on the similarity between today’s Wall Street Bankers (Banksters) and those supporting Right-to-Work.  Let’s just say they are anxious to achieve short-term gains for themselves at the expense of everyone else’s long term well-being.

Come on down, bring a friend, and I look forward to seeing you.

Recently, after watching an episode of “Donnybrook” in which a guest had claimed that being a “Right-to-Work” state would stop jobs from leaving Missouri in “droves” and attract jobs (despite the fact most of our border states our already RTW for less, so why come here?) I did a little research on the business conditions and specifically the Sales Taxes in these business friendly slices of heaven surrounding us.  The result is my latest letter to the Missourian which hit the stands today.

It was also interesting that at the Senate hearing for SB 1, the proponents for RTW for less were almost entirely from out of state while the opponents were from Missouri.  I hope you enjoy.

Right to Freeload (for a few), Higher Taxes (for All)

As corporate-funded, out-of-state lobbyists and consultants descended on Jefferson City on February 8^th for the initial hearing on the Senate Right-to-Work bill (SB 1) they were anxious to distract legislators from the affect of this legislation on most Missourians.  continue reading…

The January 3, 2011 edition of the Springfield News-Leader featured my latest Op/Ed “Plan would encourage workplace freeloaders“.  Please feel free to comment and share with friends because Missourians don’t need a $5,000 pay cut!