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May 19, 2008
The 94th General Assembly adjourned at 6 pm Friday, May 16th. We are pleased to report that we were able to stop proposed legislation that would have taken away rights and benefits of working families in Missouri. Included were bills that would have:
- Enacted Open Shop (Right to Work) in Missouri (HB1811) Hunter, 127th, Joplin
- Enacted Paycheck Deception, removing our rights to participate in the political process in Missouri (HB1872)Hunter, 127th, Joplin
- Repealed the Workers’ Compensation Second Injury Fund (HB2310) Hunter, 127th district, Joplin
- Eliminated injured workers’ benefits under second injury fund for permanent partial injuries (HB2308) (HB2309) (HB2302) Hunter, 127th, Joplin; (HB1886) Scharnhorst, 93rd, Ballwin
- Eliminate minimum wage provisions for tipped employees (waiter, waitresses, etc) (HB 1851) Thomson, 4th, Maryville
- Eliminated collective bargaining rights for teachers (HB2059) Wilson, 130th, Neosho
- Provide Education vouchers for private and parochial schools taking funds from the public school system (HB2040) Jetton, 156th, Marble Hill; (HB1886) Scharnhorst, 93rd, Ballwin
- Eliminated the non partisan court plan in Missouri, putting all our legal rights in jeopardy. (HJR 49) Cox, 118th , Sedalia
These are just the primary bills that were introduced that were intended to harm our affiliates, members and families. Labor stood together in opposition and succeeded in defeating them all.
Our positive bill to pass the legislature, HB 1549, amended by Senator Green, 13th, St. Louis, provides penalties on employers who misclassify employees as independent contractors to avoid paying income, workers’ compensation and unemployment taxes.
We look forward to the November election when we have the opportunity to elect representatives and senators in the General Assembly who will propose legislation to help working families in Missouri enhance their rights and benefits rather than to restrict and /or eliminate them.
We thank all labor organizations that hosted our lobby luncheons and labor breakfasts this session. Thanks also to the labor lobbyists who helped us defend workers’ rights again this year.
We are grateful to have had the opportunity to represent the interests of working families and the memberships of all our affiliates this year in the Missouri General Assembly.
Here you can download both the critical list and priority list:
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