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About Northwest labor press. (Portland , Ore.) 1987-current | View Entire Issue (April 17, 2015)
PAGE 12 | April 17, 2015 | NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS Shadowy corporate group fighting to gut workers’ comp laws By Kenneth Quinnell AFL-CIO NOW blog Nearly two dozen major corpo- rations have joined together in recent years in an effort to gut workers’ compensation laws in the states. Walmart, Lowe’s, Macy’s, Kohl’s, Sysco Food Services and others formed the Association for Responsible Al- ternatives to Workers’ Compen- sation (ARAWC) in 2013, and the organization already has had a bill introduced in Tennessee. The bill would let employers opt out of the state’s workers’ compensation program and al- low them to set up their own plan, as long as it met minimum requirements. Mother Jones magazine takes a look at ARAWC’s methods: “Now, ARAWC wants to take the Texas and Oklahoma model nationwide. Tennessee, where Lowe’s, Walmart and Kohl’s each have about 20 loca- tions, is the only state where the group has pushed legislation so far. But ARAWC is already con- sidering its next targets. “ARAWC hopes to see some neighboring states take up legis- lation this year and we’re ready to assist those legislatures as well,” [Richard] Evans, the group’s executive director, writes in an email. Conservative Southern states where ARAWC’s corporate fun- ders have major operations—in- cluding Florida, Georgia and Al- abama—are on the group’s short list. And ARAWC already has hired lobbyists in North and South Carolina. The group has written model legislation, but ARAWC intends to work closely with lawmakers to adapt its model for individual states. When ARAWC targets a state, it moves aggressively. In Tennessee, the group has spent more than $50,000 deploying lobbyists to push its legislation. Evans says that state senator Mark Green, who introduced the opt-out bill, was already working on the legislation be- fore ARAWC started pushing for it. But a February blog post written by an executive at Sedg- wick, an insurance company that helped found ARAWC, suggests the group played a more active role. In the post, the executive boasts that ARAWC “secured a highly respected bill sponsor”—presumably Green—to introduce the bill, which the group “assisted in drafting.” Green’s proposal, which sup- porters are calling the Tennessee Option, bears many of the hall- marks of the Texas and Okla- Trumka to attend organizing summit in Vancouver May 19 National AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka will join some of the most talented union or- ganizers across the country in Vancouver, Wash., Tuesday, May 19, for the 2015 Organiz- ing Summit. The summit, presented by the Oregon AFL-CIO, also will fea- ture national AFL-CIO Organiz- ing Director Elizabeth Bunn. It Particiants will learn about the state labor federation’s col- laborative approach to building worker power. The summit will be held at the Vancouver Hilton from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Registration is $25. For more information, go to www.oraflcio.org/organizing- summit/. homa system: It allows busi- nesses to place strict spending caps on each injured worker and to pick and choose which med- ical expenses to cover. “We took the best of both and put it together to make it work for Tennessee businesses,” Green told an insurance trade magazine. The bill as introduced does not require employers to pay for artificial limbs, hearing aids, home care, funeral ex- penses or disability modifica- tions to a home or a car for in- jured workers. All of these ben- efits, notes Gary Moore, presi- dent of the Tennessee AFL-CIO Labor Council, are mandated under the state’s current work- ers’ comp system. “This piece of legislation is designed as a cost- saving measure for the em- ployer,” Moore says. “Any- where they save a dollar, it costs the employees a dollar. It’s just a shift in costs.” VOTE Michael Sonnleitner A PCC Teacher for the PORTLAND COMMUNITY COLLEGE Board of Directors • Affordable Classes with low to no tuition increases. • Embracing Diversity throughout PCC & beyond • Board Transparency, with a new student board member. ENDORSEMENTS: NW Oregon Labor Council PCC Federation of Classified Employees PCC Federation of Faculty & Academic Professionals For more Information: www.zone3pcc.com Paid for by he NW Oregon Labor Council PAC
