Ellington

The only bill to survive the Labor Committee, chaired by Rep. Harvey Moss, D-Alcorn, is one that benefits big business rather than workers. The lone bill, SB 2480, would lower unemployment contributions and tap into the $740 million Unemployment Benefit Trust Fund to increase funds for work-force training—while decreasing funds for the unemployed.

The trust fund was designed to be a safety net to Mississippi's unemployed—which pulled the state down to the third highest (7.1 percent) in January, according to the U.S. Department of Labor. The bill lowers the unemployment compensation tax for most employers from 1.2 percent to 0.9 percent.

Labor advocates are furious. "Our [Unemployment Benefit Trust Fund] is the second highest of all states," said Mississippi Immigrant Rights Alliance Chairman Bill Chandler.

The bill provides $20 million for work-force training by creating the Mississippi Workforce Training Enhancement Fund and establishes a minimum balance of $500 million in the Unemployment Compensation Trust Fund. The training funds made available through SB 2480 will be administered by the State Board of Community and Junior Colleges.

Robert Schafer, president of the AFL-CIO, said, "I'm not against work-force training, but that money was put there for unemployed workers. … What about that worker who's out there paying $2 per gallon of gas trying to find a new job because he got laid off when his job got sent out of the country?" Schafer said, adding that the jobs that are out there "aren't paying anything."

"Congress just voted down the minimum wage increase of $7 an hour, but at the same time the Legislature's over there twisting their arms saying 'where are we going to get any tax money?' It seems like everybody wants to keep the workers down to where they can't make anything, then once you get them down and they do get laid off, let's continue to keep them down and pay them no unemployment."

Rep. Jim Evans, D-Jackson, who is on the Labor Committee, said he "couldn't in good conscience, and as a human being," vote to take money meant for the unemployed and "spread it around to everybody else." Evans said that the fund had so much money in it "because we haven't been paying the workers what they deserve." He said that $210 a week is the lowest in the United States, including Guam, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands.

Labor attorney Jason Pollan called the bill "fiscally irresponsible."

"[This bill] seeks to bring less revenue into the state and create a new government program that we'll have to fund. Sen. Tommy Robertson (who introduced the bill from the Senate) needs to learn that we cannot operate this state on a credit card," Pollan said.

Louis Slater, senior vice president of government relations at the MetroJackson Chamber of Commerce, said the legislation will allow upward mobility among employees.

"We feel an employee can take advantage of this money to get his skills upgraded and get him or her more in line for a wage increase or get retrained and go somewhere else if they're ready to move into another field," Slater said, pointing out that the re-training may be able to counter the manufacturing jobs fleeing the country.

Schafer of the AFL-CIO said Mississippi's unemployed were still ailing from the funds denied them for so long and criticized Moss for undermining the needs of labor.

"We just don't have horsepower with Mr. Moss, and I don't know why. Hell, he comes from one of the poorest counties in Mississippi, but Harvey is pretty much for whatever the manufacturers and the governor want. He's had a deaf ear as long as I've worked here," Schafer said, accusing Moss of avoiding committee meetings and killing almost every bill through inaction.

"We had 20-plus bills in the labor committee this year, but he refused to meet. All the bills died in committee because he wouldn't meet. This is all about working people. … We're going to put the word out that Moss is a committee failure," Schafer added.

Moss, who earns $10,000 plus expenses for serving in the House, did not return calls from the JFP.

Labor bills in the Senate Labor Committee also have a near 100-percent death rate. Chairman Terry Brown, R-Columbus, also did not return calls.