Bush-backed bill curbs class-actions
WASHINGTON (PAI) - President Bush and the Republican-controlled Congress have adopted a "reform" bill that sharply curbs the legal rights of individual Americans in favor of large corporations.

The legislation will transfer most large, multi-state class action lawsuits out of state courts and into the federal courts, where companies are widely expected to usually get a better deal.The bill also curbs state attorney generals' right to sue on behalf of consumers

Democrats argued that the main goal of Republicans was to hurt trial lawyers who donate heavily to the Democratic Party and to help big business escape multimillion-dollar verdicts from state courts. "This bill is the Vioxx protection bill, it is the Wal-Mart protection bill, it is the Tyco protection bill and it is the Enron protection bill," said Rep. Jay Inslee, D-Washington.

Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Ma.) wanted state courts to continue to get class action suits to "prohibit discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability...or to obtain relief under state or local law for failure to pay the minimum wage, overtime pay, or wages for all time worked, failure to provide rest or meal breaks, or unlawful use of child labor."

Republicans argued that the new measure will prevent "frivolous" lawsuits. "Frivolous lawsuits are clogging America's judicial system, endangering America's small businesses, jeopardizing jobs and driving up prices for consumers," said House Majority Whip Roy Blunt, R-Missouri.

AFL-CIO President John Sweeney called the measure "a huge disappointment for working men and women who seek fair resolution of their cases in state courts."


Granholm proposes minimum wage hike
LANSING - Part of Gov. Jennifer Granholm's economic development package is a proposal to raise the state minimum hourly wage for full-time workers from its current $5.15 per hour.

"It is overdue," she said in her State of the State message. " It has not been adjusted for eight years - back when gas seemed expensive at $1.22 a gallon. It is only fair to our workers - many of whom support families on $5.15 an hour, below poverty-line wages - to increase the minimum."

Granholm didn't propose a new minimum wage, but a week earlier, State Rep. LaMar Lemmons Jr. (D-Detroit) introduced two minimum wage hike bills in the GOP-run legislature. One would raise the state minimum for full-time workers to $6.75 hourly this July 1 and by another dollar an hour next July 1. The other would raise the minimum for workers partially paid with tips from $2.65 to $4.65 an hour.