We Need More Senators Who Support Workers Like Senator Jon Tester
By Matt Murray
NH Labor News
This week, Democratic Senator Jon Tester of Montana, submitted new legislation in support of workers who have been locked out by their employer.
In August, French-owned Imerys’ locked out workers at their plant in Three Forks. Workers are members of the Boilermakers union (IBB) and have been fighting back against the lockout for three months now. This is the first lockout in Montana in over 35 years.
According to the AFL-CIO, “the lockout comes after Imerys consistently has refused to back down from its anti-worker contract proposal. The proposed contract would eliminate retiree health insurance, seniority, overtime over eight hours, double-time pay for overtime and the current defined contribution 401(k) plan, and would freeze the defined pension plan.”
Last month, Tester rallied with workers locked and vowed to take legislative action in the U.S. Senate.
Tester’s bill, the Prohibiting Incentives for Corporations that Kickout Employees Tax (PICKET) Act, will eliminate tax breaks, deductions, and credits for corporations that lock out their workers during a labor dispute.
“When corporations sell their workers downstream, they shouldn’t be able to turn around and cash in on the backs of taxpayers,” Tester said. “Imerys is a multinational, billion-dollar foreign corporation that has shown no interest in our Montana values and this bill will hold them accountable for unnecessarily upending the lives of workers and their families.”
Tester’s bill will specifically require corporations who lock out workers during a labor dispute to pay the old corporate tax rate of 35 percent, rather than the new rate of 21 percent for the entire taxable year.
Tester’s bill also will prevent these corporations from deducting wages and benefits paid to any temporary workers during the lockout and prevent the corporation from receiving certain tax credits for hiring replacement workers.
The PICKET Act applies to all U.S. corporations and U.S.-based subsidiaries of foreign corporations like Imerys. Tester’s bill is available HERE.
We need all of our US Senators to join Senator Tester in holding these greedy corporations accountable. We need to stop rewarding them for locking workers out.
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Reposted from NH Labor News
