LANSING – Companies that get Michigan tax breaks would be required to pay them back if they outsource jobs from state operations to overseas plants, and they would also have to give workers 60-days notice their jobs are being moved, under a proposal Senate Democrats unveiled on Monday.
The proposals would also call on companies to list their overseas operations on a state website and prohibit the state from contracting for work that involves overseas production unless it would be cost prohibitive.
Democrats outlined the proposals at a series of press conferences across the state, including one at Greenville, site of the Electrolux plant that closed last week after state efforts to convince the company not to move refrigerator production to Mexico failed.
Senate Minority Floor Leader Sen. Mark Schauer (D-Battle Creek) said efforts to combat outsourcing need to focus on federal policy of enforcing trade policies and go after issues like alleged currency manipulation. But the state has to do its part as well to help with outsourcing issues, he said.
One of the biggest potential impacts the proposal could have would be on smaller companies if they are required to give notice of a plant closing, Schauer said. Already, federal law requires companies to give notice if a shutdown involves a plant or facility with more than 100 workers, but Schauer said smaller companies have watched their doors close as work is moved overseas.
The proposal would require that the employees receive 60 days notice, and Schauer said any company moving their operations out of the U.S. would know of that at least two months in advance. Giving the workers, and by extension their communities, 60 days notice would at least give them a fighting chance to keep a company in the area.
And a Senate Democratic aide said requiring companies to repay any tax benefits they received from the state if they closed would help pay the cost of programs Senate Democrats announced last week to provide new training for workers who have lost their jobs due to outsourcing.
A spokesperson for Senate Republicans could not be reached for comment.
Asked if the state could not fight outsourcing better if it eliminated the Single Business Tax, Ray Trevino of UAW Local 925 in St. Johns, where workers are employed by the Federal Mogul plant, said his company has asked for $11 million in concessions from the workers and not once has the SBT come up in the discussion. Companies are moving more because of the cost of labor than they are taxes, he said.
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