Bill prefiling for the 2014 General Assembly session has started.

Organized labor is the focus of several pieces of filed legislation:

HB 1053 Lichtenegger, Donna

Specifies, upon voter approval, that no person as a condition or continuation of employment can be required to become or refrain from becomming a member of, or pay dues to, a labor organization(LR# 4563H.01I)

[sic]

HB 1093 Lant, Bill

Requires authorization for certain labor unions to use dues and fees to make political contributions and requires consent for withholding earnings from paychecks(LR# 4567H.01I)

HB 1094 Lant, Bill

Specifies that no person as a condition or continuation of employment can be required to engage in or cease engaging in specified labor organization practices(LR# 4569H.01I)

HB 1095 Lant, Bill

Specifies that no person as a condition or continuation of employment can be required to engage in or cease engaging in specified labor organization practices(LR# 4568H.01I)

HB 1099 Burlison, Eric

Specifies that no person as a condition or continuation of employment can be required to engage in or cease engaging in specified labor organization practices(LR# 4633L.01I)

HJR 43 Lant, Bill

Proposes a constitutional amendment to prohibit public labor organizations from withholding sums from the earning of public employees for the payment of dues or fees without consent(LR# 4448H.01I)

HJR 44 Lant, Bill

Proposes a constitutional amendment to prohibit employers from requiring persons to become member of a private labor organization as a condition of employment(LR# 4451H.01I)

Evidently, for republicans, organized working people are the problem in Missouri.

With apologies to Atrios

Our parents teach us many valuable lessons when we’re growing up. Among those offered by my father, and taken to heart, were “never vote for a republican” and “you get what you pay for.” HB 2276, offered by Representative Marilyn Ruestman (r), embodies both of those life lessons.

HB 2276 Establishes the School Construction Act which exempts the construction and maintenance work done for certain school districts from the prevailing wage rate requirement upon the school board’s appr

Sponsor: Ruestman, Marilyn (131) Proposed Effective Date: 08/28/2010

CoSponsor: Munzlinger, Brian (1) ……….etal. LR Number: 5315L.01I

Last Action: 03/03/2010 – Read Second Time (H)

HB2276

Next Hearing: Hearing not scheduled

House Calendar HOUSE BILLS FOR SECOND READING

Right, let’s further diminish the wages of hard working men and women in favor of a lower tax burden for the top 1%.

If you’re a republican that makes perfect sense.

RSMo 290 addresses “Wages, Hours and Dismissal Rights.” And prevailing wage (RSMo 290.210)?:

….(5) “Prevailing hourly rate of wages” means the wages paid generally, in the locality in which the public works is being performed, to workmen engaged in work of a similar character including the basic hourly rate of pay and the amount of the rate of contributions irrevocably made by a contractor or subcontractor to a trustee or to a third person pursuant to a fund, plan or program, and the amount of the rate of costs to the contractor or subcontractor which may be reasonably anticipated in providing benefits to workmen and mechanics pursuant to an enforceable commitment to carry out a financially responsible plan or program which was communicated in writing to the workmen affected, for medical or hospital care, pensions on retirement or death, compensation for injuries or illness resulting from occupational activity, or insurance to provide any of the foregoing, for unemployment benefits, life insurance, disability and sickness insurance, accident insurance, for vacation and holiday pay, for defraying costs of apprenticeship or other similar programs, or for other bona fide fringe benefits, but only where the contractor or subcontractor is not required by other federal or state law to provide any of the benefits; provided, that the obligation of a contractor or subcontractor to make payment in accordance with the prevailing wage determinations of the department, insofar as sections 290.210 to 290.340 are concerned, may be discharged by the making of payments in cash, by the making of irrevocable contributions to trustees or third persons as provided herein, by the assumption of an enforceable commitment to bear the costs of a plan or program as provided herein, or any combination thereof, where the aggregate of such payments, contributions and costs is not less than the rate of pay plus the other amounts as provided herein….

[emphasis added]

The bill:

SECOND REGULAR SESSION

HOUSE BILL NO. 2276

95TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

INTRODUCED BY REPRESENTATIVES RUESTMAN (Sponsor), MUNZLINGER, CUNNINGHAM, SCHAD, LAIR, FISHER (125), DAY, COX, THOMSON, WETER, SATER, WALLACE, KOENIG AND WILSON (130) (Co-sponsors).

5315L.01I                                                                                                                                                  D. ADAM CRUMBLISS, Chief Clerk

AN ACT

To amend chapter 290, RSMo, by adding thereto one new section relating to wages for work done on behalf of a school.

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the state of Missouri, as follows:

           Section A. Chapter 290, RSMo, is amended by adding thereto one new section, to be known as section 290.345, to read as follows:

           290.345. 1. This section shall be known and may be cited as the “School Construction Act”. The provisions of this section are intended solely to assist school districts in obtaining the maximum value from their tax dollars expended for the construction and maintenance of their educational facilities.

           2. Notwithstanding any provision of law to the contrary, for work done on behalf of a school, a school district in any county except a county with a charter form of government may exempt itself from the provisions of sections 290.210 to 290.340 upon majority vote of the school board of such district. If the school district exempts itself from sections 290.210 to 290.340, the school district shall notify the division of labor standard within the department of such exemption.

And they want to exempt school districts from this prohibition?:

Missouri Revised Statutes

Chapter 290

Wages, Hours and Dismissal Rights

Section 290.305

Rebates by workmen prohibited, exception.

290.305. No person, firm or corporation shall violate the wage provisions of any contract contemplated in sections 290.210 to 290.340 or suffer or require any employee to work for less than the rate of wages so fixed, or violate any of the provisions contained in sections 290.210 to 290.340. Where workmen are employed and their rate of wages has been determined as provided in sections 290.210 to 290.340, no person, either for himself or any other person, shall request, demand or receive, either before or after such workman is engaged, that such workman pay back, return, donate, contribute, or give any part or all of said workman’s wages, salary, or thing of value, to any person, upon the statement, representation, or understanding that failure to comply with such request or demand will prevent such workman from procuring or retaining employment, and no person shall, directly or indirectly, pay, request or authorize any other person to violate this section. This section does not apply to any agent or representative of a duly constituted labor organization acting in the collection of dues or assessments of such organization.

[emphasis added]

What will the school children think? I can guess what working men and women will say.