Jackson Free Press

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The Mississippi AFL-CIO held a press conference on Monday, demanding the Senate pass two worker-friendly bills sent to them from the House.

The Mississippi AFL-CIO held a press conference on Monday, demanding the Senate pass two worker-friendly bills sent to them from the House.

HB 296 increases unemployment compensation benefits by raising them to 1/26 of the employee's total weekly insured wages—a number not to exceed $250 per week. Union members are also expecting to have a second bill considered: HB 237 which calls for every state employer to raise minimum wage to $7.25 by Jan. 15, 2008.

AFL-CIO President Robert Shaffer complained that Labor Committee Chairman Terry Brown, R-Columbus, has been unfriendly to labor bills and has not held committee meetings in years, automatically killing labor-friendly bills coming in from House or Senate members.

"All we're asking for is to let democracy work," said Shaffer at a morning march at the Capital. "I know we have the votes in his committee to pass these bills. All we need is for him to let them come up for a vote."

Capitol guards broke up the morning march, proclaiming that the AFL-CIO did not have a permit, but union members returned for a press conference that afternoon.

Sen. Alice Harden, D-Jackson, said she would support either one of the labor bills if Brown would allow committee members to vote on them.

"I've always supported these (labor) bills. I've always stood behind them. That's my voting record, but I don't have any authority in the Labor Committee. My authority lies in the Universities and Colleges Committee, and it's enough to keep my committee moving. If Brown brings those bills up for a vote, I'd be there," Harden said.

Brown told the JFP that he would consider the minimum-wage bill. "I've agreed to have a hearing on minimum wage and hear both sides," Brown said, adding that he would "look at the unemployment bill when it gets here."

"We'll get the experts in and tell us what we have, but the worst thing you can do is slow this economy right now, whatever you do, and I don't know if that bill would have a chilling effect on it or not," Brown said.

Robert Fortenberry, political director for Local 480, said letting the unemployment bill die right now would cost Brown dearly this election year, especially in light of the recent Bryan Foods plant closing in West Point, which cost 1,200 Mississippians their jobs.

"It would be terrible timing," Fortenberrry said. "It seems to me that he'd realize that killing the unemployment bill would be political suicide right now with that plant up in North Mississippi closing. He's supposed to be working for the people, and so far he hasn't given anybody the opportunity to vote on anything."

Brown has two weeks to address House bills before the February deadline.

Didn't Know You Cared
Rep. George Flaggs, D-Vicksburg, said he was floored by the outcry last Thursday from relatives of crime victims opposing HB 727. The bill, labeled the Juvenile Justice Reform Act, prohibits state Circuit Courts from automatically imposing a mandatory sentence for anybody under the age of 17 and prohibits the court from sentencing any child to life without parole. It also raises the age at which juveniles are charged as adults from 13 to 15.

Under current state law, juveniles 13 or older who are charged with violent crimes such as rape, murder and armed robbery are tried as adults. If convicted, those juveniles face adult mandatory sentences, which means a 13-year-old child convicted of murder will spend the rest of his or her life in jail, with no possibility for parole.

The bill also requires the presence of an attorney, parent or guardian before a juvenile can be interrogated by law enforcement.

Flaggs said the bill has had a warm reception, sailing through his Juvenile Justice Committee. Even the House contemplated the bill without much ado—though the bill did get held because of a problem with its language.

It was for this reason that Flaggs said he had not been expecting the sudden outpouring of opposition to the bill.

"This bill is about being fair," Flaggs told the House during a floor debate last month. "It's about making a justice system that works, and right now it is not working."

Previous Comments

ID

67411

Comment

"The bill also requires the presence of an attorney, parent or guardian before a juvenile can be interrogated by law enforcement." Does this mean juveniles do not have that right currently? Thought that was a national law...?

Author

Izzy

Date

2007-02-01T11:54:07-06:00