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'Hire Michigan First:' Dems win first round in local hiring effort

Date Posted: August 31 2007

LANSING - An effort to give preference to hiring Michigan workers on state taxpayer-funded projects moved quickly last week, and resulted in a victory for the home team.

On Aug. 20, State Rep. Fred Miller (D-Mt. Clemens) announced a plan "that gives priority for economic development projects to companies that employ 100 percent Michigan workers." The "Hire Michigan First" initiative would also crack down on the practice of hiring illegal immigrants and would prohibit businesses that violate these guidelines from receiving tax breaks or future state contracts.

Then the initiative quickly became implemented. As the state Senate was going to vote on new spending measures on Aug. 22, State Sen. John Gleason (D-Flushing) attached an amendment to Senate Bill 239, which provides funding for projects that come out of the Michigan Department of Labor and Economic Growth. The amendment was right out of the playbook for "Hire Michigan First" effort. The pro-Michigan-worker amendment passed, 38-0, with all Democrats and Republicans voting for it.

But… the amendment was adopted shortly after state Republicans unanimously rejected an identical amendment attaching the "Hire Michigan First" legislation to a bill funding projects sponsored by the Michigan Economic Development Corporation.

"After it went down the first time, I figured what the hell, I'd try to shame them (Republican senators) into going along with it," Gleason said. "I just got up an asked them 'whose side are you on? Out-of-state workers? Illegal aliens? Or Michigan workers?' They voted for Michigan workers. Maybe they were embarrassed."

With the House controlled by Democrats, passage of the bill with the pro-Michigan worker amendment is expected.

"Michigan families have been hit hard by outsourcing and downsizing, and every scarce state dollar should be used to create jobs here in Michigan," Miller said.

The "Hire Michigan First" effort was unveiled last month with considerable pressure from building trades unions. A consistent sore point over the past year has been the ongoing construction at the Marysville Ethanol, LLC plant south of Port Huron. The $95 million plant received a four-year, 100 percent tax abatement from St. Clair County, plus considerable state incentives. They hired hundreds of construction workers - some of them union who are local residents, many who are nonunion and who live out of state.

"I think this 'Hire Michigan First' effort is long overdue," said Mike Moran, business agent for IBEW Local 58. Moran and other agents and supporters have staged pickets on the highway in front of the plant nearly once a week for a year to call attention to the hiring of out-of-area workers. "It's great that we have friends like (State Reps) Fred Miller and Terry Brown in the House and John Gleason in the Senate who are willing to fight for us. After all, we're the taxpayers who are helping to pay for these jobs - we should be the ones who benefit."

State Democratic lawmakers aim to have the "Hire Michigan First" rule permanently tied into spending packages for 10 other state-funded programs, including the Transportation Economic Development Fund, the 21st Century Jobs Fund and the Michigan Economic Growth Authority.

The policy would require companies that accept state economic development incentives to report who they hire to ensure that Michigan workers are hired first - "encouraging transparency and accountability."

Businesses with contracts for construction of state buildings would be required to hire 100 percent of their workers from Michigan - strengthening the current requirement of 50 percent.

And, companies found to hire illegal immigrants would have their state incentives and contracts canceled, require them to pay back past incentives, and bar them from future dealings with the state.

"I've visited the pickets in Marysville a few times, and I learned a lot," Gleason said. "There are investigations going on regarding whether workers there are in this country legally. Everything about this whole situation, with what's going on in Marysville and in Lansing, should remind building trades workers to remember who their friends are at election time."