A recent report by the AFL-CIO on workplace safety, Death on the Job: The Toll of Neglect, showed a growing problem in Kansas. In 2011, 78 workers were killed on the job in Kansas, a rate of 5.9 deaths per 100,000 workers. Additionally, 41,400 workplace injuries and illnesses were reported in the state, a rate per worker higher than the national average. Sadly, this has earned Kansas a dismal national ranking of 40th in workplace safety, with 1 being the best and 50 being the worst.

While these numbers would be cause for concern for most reasonable people and perhaps spur corrective action by state policy makers, the Kansas Legislature has taken an entirely different tack. For the Legislature, the safety of Kansas worksites is not the problem; it’s the Kansas worker who’s to blame. Thus, lawmakers have embarked on an effort to alter the system for compensating injured workers to rectify their perceived problem.

Bruce Tunnell, Executive Vice-President of the Kansas AFL-CIO put it this way, “Far too many people are dying on the job in this state and instead of strengthening protections for working people, our elected officials are further rigging the system against Kansas workers. Their misplaced priorities will mean that the health and well-being of more working people are at risk on the job.”

Now most legislators would simply dismiss this statement as mere hyperbole. But a look at recent actions by the Kansas Legislature lends merit to the notion that our lawmakers are in fact “rigging” the system against injured workers.

Take for example 2013 Senate Bill 187. This bill, pushed by the Kansas Department of Labor and signed by the Governor, changes the way workers compensation judges are selected and places the appointment of these judges in the hands of businesses and workers comp insurance providers. Business and insurance carriers are litigants in the system and have a vested interest in the outcome. Allowing these interests to hand select the judges makes a mockery of the system and makes a fair hearing for injured workers all but impossible.

But it doesn’t stop there. Our lawmakers went even further with 2013 Senate Bill 73. Instead of rigging the workers comp hearing process, this bill goes directly after injured workers. Under the bill, injured workers will have far less time to even report a workplace injury and be eligible to file a legitimate claim. If they don’t meet this new restrictive timeline, they’re out of luck. Additionally, the bill throws out long-standing guidelines used by doctors to rate the level of impairment of injured workers, and thus their compensation, in favor of new guidelines that have been questioned by practitioners in other states as being too costly and stringent.

The 2013 Legislature will go down as one of the most anti-worker ever to grace the halls of the Capitol…and for good reason. Kansas is one of the ten most deadly states when it comes to a worker’s safety. Unfortunately, for the families of workers who have lost their lives and the thousands of other Kansans injured on the job, their elected officials think the problem is theirs alone to bear.

Crossland Construction Company, a major contributor to Governor Brownback and the Kansas Chamber of Commerce, is currently pushing legislation in the Kansas Legislature to limit the wages of Kansas workers on construction projects funded with taxpayer dollars.

The bill, HB 2069, would prohibit any local unit of government from enacting local ordinances that require contractors to pay prevailing wages or anything more than minimum wage on public works projects.

Currently Kansas law does not require prevailing wage to be paid on construction projects that receive taxpayer funds but certain local municipalities such as the Unified Government of Wyandotte County/ Kansas City, KS have instated local policies requiring any project funded with taxpayer money pay prevailing wages to the workers.

Crossland Construction is a major contractor, who’s business model is based on public projects.  Over the course of the last ten years Crossland Construction has received close to $200 million in government contracts. So, Crossland has pocketed millions in taxpayer dollars, while they openly champion limited government, pushing back workers compensation laws, and lowering workers’ wages.  We guess limited government is only good if it is limited to Crossland’s coffers.

A large amount of this money over the last ten years has found its way to the Kansas Chamber of Commerce’s PAC to back the effort to purge the Kansas Senate of moderate Republicans, and advocate for anti-worker policies and candidates. Now, Crossland is calling in favors with the conservative candidates they bought with taxpayer dollars and pushing legislation that will supress wages accross Kansas.

The legislation is a shameless attempt to sacrifice worker’s wages so Crossland can suck more from the government trough and use to buy the loyalty of more legislators in future elections.

Call your legislator today.  Tell them political paybacks are wrong for Kansas, and tell them to stand up for hardworking Kansas taxpayers.

Kansas Senate President Susan Wagle is after workers paychecks once again. This morning the Senate Committee on Commerce took action on HB 2022, a bill that would allow an employer to withhold portions of an employees paycheck for numerous reasons and without any limits, and amended in Hb 2023, the infamous paycheck deception bill that would forbid employees from choosing to have portions of their paycheck withheld to go to their unions PAC fund.

So to break it down the new HB 2022 now says that an employeer can take any portion of a workers paycheck for a multitude of reasons, but the employee can no longer make a decision on how they would like to spend their own paycheck. The new HB 2022 is hypocrisy at it’s worst and very telling of how Susan Wagle and her buddies at the Kansas Chamber of Commerce really feel about Kansas workers. 

Here’s a little more about the two bills that they combined this morning.

HB 2022:

HB 2022 as written would allow an employer to make addition deductions from an employees wages for overpayment or loan repayment with only a written notice and without any limits. Essentially this grants an employer the rights to garnish a substantial portion of an employee’s paycheck. For workers and their families who live paycheck to paycheck this could have a dramatic impact on their ability to make ends meet. Without some requirements that the employer and the employee must have an agreed upon method for repayment HB 2022 is completely without balance in the employer-employee relationship.

Hb 2023

The deceptively-named ‘Paycheck protection’ is public employee union busting in its purest form. The ‘Paycheck deception’ as it should rightfully be called, seeks to deprive public workers of their right to a union voice in the workplace by stripping them of the ability to have dues deducted from their paycheck.

By law, Kansas is a right to work state and all union membership is completely voluntary, public and private. No employee can pay union dues without proactively approaching the union and signing a card expressing their will to join the union.

The bill is a one-sided attack on the ability of workers to stand together to obtain middle-class dignity and benefits in the workplace.  It would deny unions,  and only unions, the right to speak out on issues that concern working families without jumping through contrived hoops aimed at weakening their voice. All while corporate PACs and other special interest groups are allowed to go without any restrictions.

“Paycheck Deception” is unclear, unfair, and unnecessary. Unions and corporations spend money on political activity. Existing law already bans the use of union dues or corporate funds to make contributions to candidates. Contributions by union members to union political action committees are voluntary and made separately from dues payments.

The bill does nothing more than single out our most trusted public employees, such as teachers, nurses, and firefighters, and denies them the freedom and their right to use payroll deductions to make voluntary political donations.

Call your State Senator’s and tell them to end these outrageous attacks on the hard working men and women of Kansas and to vote against the new HB 2022. 

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HB 2384 advances a misguided solution in search of a non-existent problem.

HB 2384 will negatively impact our state in a whole host of unsettling ways ranging from the ability to attract, train and maintain the best possible professional public work force, to taxpayers suffering inefficient public services, to political cronyism influencing hiring decisions.

This bill proposes to upend almost a century’s worth of civil service tradition in the Sunflower State.  In 1915, Kansas was the 9th state to adopt a general civil service system.  The system evolved over time and eventually a Constitutional Amendment adopted by the voters of Kansas in 1940 set the stage for the system we have in place today.

That civil service system was conceived decades ago because the policymakers and citizens who came before us understood even back then that in order to ensure quality public services hiring decisions should be based on merit, not political patronage.

If enacted into law, HB 2384 will roll back a system that has ensured a professional workforce free of political influence for decades.  The Governor has already rewarded his political contributors with large income tax cuts.  Don’t let him now make a mockery of our public workforce with his latest power grab.

As if the Kansas workers compensation law does not already work hardship on injured workers and their families, Kansas Secretary of Labor Lana Gordon, along with the Chair of the Senate Commerce Committee Julia Lynn, want to make things materially worse.

Under the provisions of SB 187, the Kansas Chamber and those of a like mindset, will unilaterally pick the judges and Appeals Board members in the workers compensation system. They will also hand select the appeal judges in unemployment cases.

So, best case scenario, injured workers will be appealing to judges picked by a commission with a 5-2 bias towards business and industry. Supposing those judges want to keep their jobs, how do you think they are going to be voting when a worker and their employer have a dispute?

Moments ago the Kansas Senate advanced SB 187 to final action. Your Senator needs to hear from you NOW! Take action before it’s too late by calling and emailing your Senator and telling them to VOTE NO on SB 187.

Click here to find the contact information for your Senator.

Here’s a quick run down of the effects on SB 187.

1. THE IDEA OF A FAIR ARBITER OF DISPUTES IS TOTALLY DESTROYED. The makeup of the Committee will be perpetually controlled by the business side of the table. Judges in deciding cases will always be “looking over their shoulder.” If they do not vote the way the Chamber/ insurance carriers desire, they will lose their employment. The bottom line is that the Chamber and insurance carriers will be deciding all the cases involving injured workers, and appeals to unemployment.

2. THE QUALITY OF JUDGES IN BOTH SYSTEMS WILL SUFFER. Under the proposed system, the judges will merely be political appointees. Individuals who seek to be fair arbiters, and seek to be fair to both sides, need not apply. Applicants will have a master to whom they must answer, i.e. the business agenda.

3. A SOLUTION IN SEARCH OF A PROBLEM. The current system has served the people of Kansas quite well. In fact, in the intense negotiations that occurred between labor and industry groups a year ago, the selection process for the judges was never even brought forth as a topic of discussion. All sides were well pleased.

• THE BOTTOM LINE IS THAT THIS IS RAW POLITICS WITH NO SEMBLANCE OF FAIRNESS.
• WORKING FAMILIES SHOULD NOT HAVE THEIR LEGAL DISPUTES DECIDED BY JUDGES BEHOLDEN TO THE CHAMBER AND INSURANCE COMPANIES.
• THE FOX IS NOT ONLY IN THE HEN HOUSE, THE CHICKENS ARE OUT NUMBERED.

As if the Kansas workers compensation law does not already work hardship on injured workers and their families, Kansas Secretary of Labor Lana Gordon, along with the Chair of the Senate Commerce Committee Julia Lynn, want to make things materially worse. Under the provisions of SB 187, the Kansas Chamber and those of a like mindset, will unilaterally pick the judges and Appeals Board members in the workers compensation system.  They will also hand select the appeal judges in unemployment cases.

Lana Gordon’s UI and Work Comp court-packing scheme took a big step forward this morning as it was voted out of Senate Commerce on a party-line vote. The bill is likely to fly through the Senate this week.

Democrats voiced strong objections to the plan before voting against the measure that will let the Kansas Chamber of Commerce and its allies hand-pick judges who will protect their interests.

The proposed court packing scheme does not even attempt to display fairness. It is a pure political power grab that will have devastating consequences on the integrity of the workers compensation system and the unemployment system.

Currently, members of these boards are nominated by a two-member committee representing both labor and industry. The process is balanced and has worked well since 1993.

Sb 187  changes this process to establish a 7-member commission with the Chamber and its allies taking 4 seats, Lana Gordon taking another and even choosing a representative from among state employees or teachers. The Kansas AFL-CIO will have one seat to protect the interests of working Kansans.

So, best case scenario, injured workers will be appealing to judges picked by a commission with a 5-2 bias towards business and industry. Supposing those judges want to keep their jobs, how do you think they are going to be voting when a worker and their employer have a dispute?

Democrats criticized the bill for the blatant pro-business slant, rejecting Gordon’s claims that the new commission’s makeup would somehow balance the interests of injured workers and businesses despite gifting the Kansas Chamber and allies a majority of the appointments.

Here’s some more information about the current system and how SB 187 would stack the deck against injured workers in Kansas.

Current System:

The current system for the selection of the Appeals Board members for workers compensation has been in effect since 1993.  Essentially, when vacancies occur, the Kansas Chamber and Kansas AFL-CIO meet and send a nominee to the Secretary of Labor.  The appointment is for four years, and the Appeals Board members are permitted to reapply.  The system worked so well that it was extended for the selection of Administrative Law Judges, or ALJs.  Likewise, selection of unemployment appeal judges is balanced between the Chamber and the AFL-CIO.

Proposed Change:

The Secretary of Labor Karin Brownlee seeks to change the nominating committees from the Chamber and AFL-CIO to a seven person panel.  The seven person panel consists of four members with a ‘pro-business’ states agenda: the Kansas Chamber, the National Federation of Independent Business, the Society for Human Resource Management, and the Kansas Self-Insurers Association.  Compared to the business interests, Labor has two votes: AFL-CIO and a to-be-named employee organization.  In addition, a representative of the Kansas Secretary of Labor votes.

Effects:

1. THE IDEA OF A FAIR ARBITER OF DISPUTES IS TOTALLY DESTROYED. The makeup of the Committee will be perpetually controlled by the business side of the table.  Judges in deciding cases will always be “looking over their shoulder.”  If they do not vote the way the Chamber/ insurance carriers desire, they will lose their employment.  The bottom line is that the Chamber and insurance carriers will be deciding all the cases involving injured workers, and appeals to unemployment.

2. THE QUALITY OF JUDGES IN BOTH SYSTEMS WILL SUFFER.  Under the proposed system, the judges will merely be political appointees.  Individuals who seek to be fair arbiters, and seek to be fair to both sides, need not apply.  Applicants will have a master to whom they must answer, i.e. the business agenda.

3. A SOLUTION IN SEARCH OF A PROBLEM. The current system has served the people of Kansas quite well.  In fact, in the intense negotiations that occurred between labor and industry groups a year ago, the selection process for the judges was never even brought forth as a topic of discussion.  All sides were well pleased.

The arguments that Labor only “represents” less than 10% of the Kansas population is insulting, and not true.  Any time organized Labor is able to assist injured workers with better medical care, improved benefits, less litigation, etc., those benefits accrue to all injured workers – union and nonunion. Kansas is, by law, a right-to-work state, meaning Union leadership must represent all workers, regardless of whether the worker is a dues paying Union member or not. Furthermore, the business membership of the entities named in the bill still constitues a minority of total businesses in the state.

• THE BOTTOM LINE IS THAT THIS IS RAW POLITICS WITH NO SEMBLANCE OF FAIRNESS.

• WORKING FAMILIES SHOULD NOT HAVE THEIR LEGAL DISPUTES DECIDED BY JUDGES BEHOLDEN TO THE CHAMBER AND INSURANCE COMPANIES.

• THE FOX IS NOT ONLY IN THE HEN HOUSE, THE CHICKENS ARE OUTNUMBERED.

You might be wondering what happened to HB 2085, the bill to dismantle collective bargaining for teachers and the Kansas School Superintendents’ Association proposal to strip teachers of any voice in anything except salary, supplemental pay, sick leave and personal leave.

We were wondering as well until we got wind of a game afoot.

The House Commerce Committee met today and decided to discuss the collective bargaining proposals but not to work HB 2085. What could this mean?

What we learned is that a plan was hatched out by Chairman Kleeb working with a few superintendents and KASB – folks who wish to strip teachers of most if not all collective bargaining from teachers – to craft some ideas behind closed doors, and then drop the plan in as a “gut and go” amendment to another bill that apparently no one cared about.

Is this possible? Sure it is! You’ll be able to see it soon in HB 2027, shooting out of committee just in time to get through the full House before turn-around on Friday.

This is the time to get back into action. Contact your House member and ask him/her to oppose changes to collective bargaining for teachers in HB 2085, in HB 2027, or any other bill or amendment in the House.

Click here to find the contact information for you Legislators

This action could take place any time over the next three days. It is important that you both email and call your House member! Leave a message both in the email inbox and on the office voicemail!

Early today the Kansas Senate Commerce Committee had a hearing on SB 179, also know as “Hire Kansans First”. This bill is a common sense measure that would require contractors and subcontractors involved in state contracts, or public projects that are funded by taxpayer money, in excess of $100,000 to abide by the 70 percent rule starting in 2014.

Sb 179 should be a bipartisan piece of legislation that not only helps put Kansans back to work but also reinvests taxpayer money in the Kansas economy rather than sending it out of state.

Unfortunately SB 179 is opposed by Senate Leadership and their pals over at the Kansas Chamber of Commerce. Once again Senate Leadership is turning their packs on Kansas workers by allowing out of state and undocumented workers to take jobs away from Kansas workers.

Kansas deserves better. Call your Senators and tell them to stop sending jobs out of state and focus on putting Kansans back to work . Tell them to support SB 179 and make taxpayer dollars work for us by reinvesting in our Kansas economy.

Click here to find the contact information for your Senator.

Earlier this year the Kansas Senate confirmed former State Representative Lana Gordon as the new Kansas Secretary of Labor. Gordon was chosen by Brownback to replace the former Secretary, Karin Brownlee, who you may have read a lot about last year on our site.

No one really knows the true reason for Brownback dismissing Brownlee from her post, but it is widely rumored it is because of Brownlee’s hostile relation with organized labor and pro-worker groups in Kansas (including this one).

It is also widely rumored that Gordon was Brownback’s pick because he wanted the Kansas Department of Labor to get along with these groups that Brownlee had issues with, and Gordon was viewed as best choice for the task at hand.

Unfortunately for Brownback it isn’t (totally) the personalities of his appointments that organized labor and pro-worker groups take issue with, it’s the policy that they are attempting to spearhead through the Kansas Legislature.

When Gordon took over she claimed to be pro-worker, and that she was different than Brownlee. However her actions have quickly shown us that she is no different than the previous Secretary. 

Gordon, much like her predecesor,  has continued to carry water for the Kansas Chamber of Commerce and anti-worker extremists by supporting drastic changes to the current Unemployment Insurance laws, Worker’s Compensation laws, and once again attempting last year’s failed court packing scheme.

All of these measures supported by Gordon and her anti-worker buddies at the Kansas Chamber of Commerce do nothing more than push back workers’ rights in Kansas and stack the deck against working families.  

Today the Kansas Senate will debate Senate Bill 73 on the floor. SB 73 proposes to shift worker’s compensation from the current system to a system that would favor the employer over injured workers all across Kansas.

SB 73 seeks to require physicians to use the sixth edition of the American Medical Association Guides for Evaluation of Permanent Impairment, an edition that have been rejected by across the country as being too employer biased. It also proposes to shorten the amount of time from 20 days to 10 days that employees have to give notice to the former employer of the accident.

The workers compensation system should not be tilted to benefit one side over the other, keep the system fair and reject SB 73. Injured Kansas workers shouldn’t be left out in the cold.

Urge your legislators to keep the worker’s compensation system fair and reject SB 73! Sign and share our petition today!

This coming Saturday workers from all across Kansas will be gathering in Topeka on the steps of the State Capitol to rally for workers rights! Join us in standing up for your rights, and telling Governor Brownback and the Kansas Legislature that it’s time to end these senseless attacks on the hard working men and women of Kansas.

Help us spread the word about Saturday by taking a moment to share this post on your social networks. (You can use the buttons at the bottom of this page to do so)

You can also RSVP to our event on Facebook by clicking here, and be sure to invite your friends, family, and coworkers to join us as well!

See you Saturday.

This afternoon the Kansas Legislature is holding a hearing on HB 2069, a measure that would prohibit local units of Government from requiring that developers pay prevailing wage on projects funded with taxpayer money.

It’s important to note that currently in Kansas the only place that has a prevailing wage requirement on public projects is Wyandotte County/ Kansas City, KS. The Unified Government of Wyandotte County/Kansas City opposes House Bill 2069. Here is a excerpt from the testimony the submitted in opposition to the bill today.

“House Bill 2069 will undermine the extremely successful approach to economic development which has transformed our community into a regional tourism and manufacturing center, creating thousands of good paying jobs and promoting small local, minority and women owned businesses.

The Unified Government does require prevailing wage be paid on public projects and on projects where tax incentives are used. The Unified Government also sets supplier diversity goals on construction projects more than $250,000 and on projects involving tax incentives. HB 2069 would clearly prevent the prevailing wage requirement and there is concern the language could also hamper the supplier diversity program. 

The prevailing wage and supplier diversity requirements fit the nature of our community and are supported by our citizens. They have encouraged economic success, not hurt it. The Unified Government has been recognized as one of the most business friendly local governments in the Kansas City region by Ingram’s Business magazine”

Earlier today the Kansas House Republicans announced that they don’t (currently) plan to run HB 2123, one of the many anti-worker/ anti-labor bills currently introduced in the Kansas Legislature.

This announcement only goes to show that the calls and emails you all have been sending are working. Keep the pressure up and make it clear that we need to end all the attacks on Kansas workers!

Click here to find the contact information for your legislators and tell them to support workers rights and oppose all anti-worker/ anti-labor legislation.

The attacks on organized labor have gone eerily quite during the past two days but they will likely be coming up quickly. These attacks are being spearheaded by the Kansas Chamber of Commerce and anti-worker extremist in the Kansas Legislature.

Here’s a brief summary of major anti-labor bills currently introduced. Take action and contact your Legislators today! Tell them to oppose these attacks on working families.

Click here to find out who your legislators are and how to contact them.

HB 2023/SB 31, keeping teachers and other public employees out of politics and advocacy. This so-called “paycheck protection” bill prohibits the use of any money collected via payroll deduction from being spent on “political activities” which is defined so vaguely and broadly that it likely goes way beyond campaigns and includes any advocacy work done on behalf of a unions members. Click here to read the truth about this bill. HB 2023 has passed the House on a vote of 68-56 and is now awaiting action by the Senate Commerce Committee. SB 31 is in the Senate Commerce Committee and has not yet had a hearing. This is the bill that the top Kansas Chamber of Commerce lobbyist, Eric Stafford, said he needed to pass to “get rid of public sector unions.”

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HB 2085 is a bill designed to essentially eliminate collective bargaining for teachers. Under this bill, bargaining cannot be exclusively granted to a bargaining agent as is the case now. Now, teachers in a district vote to choose a bargaining agent (mostly KNEA) and school boards negotiate a contract with that bargaining agent that applies to all teachers. HB 2085 says the board must negotiate with any individual employee who wants to negotiate his/her own deal. The bill further makes all collective bargaining permissive. The school board could decide simply not to bargain with anyone and impose whatever they felt like imposing.

The bill has had a hearing in the House Commerce Committee but no action has yet been taken by the Committee.

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HB 2123 would make mandatory collective bargaining laws and payroll deduction for association dues illegal. It applies to public sector unions only.

This bill is in the House Commerce Committee and has not yet had a hearing.

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HB 2221 would remove exclusive use of school facilities from the professional negotiations act and require school boards to open functions to any and all groups offering professional development or liability insurance. This would create chaos for administrators who would be forced to open events such as convocation to a potentially unlimited number of groups. Also open to all groups would be bulletin boards and school mail services. Under current law, a school district must bargain exclusive use but is not required to grant it.

This bill is in the House Education Committee and has a hearing on Monday, Feb. 11.

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The Kansas Legislature’s first vote of the year house bill 2023 was a direct attack on organized labor in the state of Kansas. House bill 2023 seeks to limit the voices of public employees and their unions. This is just the first of many anti-labor bills that are before the legislature this session. Though we all have different political beliefs it would seem safe to say that if you are a working Kansan, union member or union supporter in this right to work state that you believe in that right and all the benefits that come with it.

It is with this in mind that we are writing this post. We need working people, union members and our supporters from across the state to contact their state representatives and express their opposition to anti-union legislation. As it stands right now there are 9 bills that seek to undermine the power that workers have in the state of Kansas. It is important as members of either party that you contact your reps on these issues as they come up.

If you don’t know who your Kansas representative are you can find that information by visiting this website. Once you know who your rep. or senator is you can visit this spreadsheet to see how they have voted on labor bills that action has already been taken on. This isn’t purely Democrat Vs. Republican. Today 23 republicans went against their leadership to oppose HB 2023. We feel more could join them in the future. Just because someone votes for or against doesn’t mean that they will not change their vote in the future when they are contacted by their constituency. If they appear to be a labor supporter don’t think it is not worth a phone call, please contact them and thank them for their support.

In the aim of keeping you more informed about the actions that are coming before the legislature you can add your name to our email list here on the right hand side of the Working Kansans website and like our Facebook page. Also please share this with anyone who you think might be interested in protecting the rights of working people in Kansas. Kansas politicians make the assumption that unions are only composed of Democrats, this is not true. Many unions in Kansas have a majority of their membership as registered Republicans. Which makes it even more important that you make your voice heard. We will post regular action alerts when it is important to contact your state representative or senator.

Many of these bills at first glance may not seem to affect your work directly but there is an old union slogan, “An injury to one is an injury to all.” If we allow rights and benefits to be taken away from any workers you can guarantee every worker is the next target of the Kansas Legislature’s attacks. We must stand in solidarity with all  working people and union members across the state of Kansas.