(Part 4 in an 11-week economic plan to get Michigan moving again and get our people back to work)

This past Monday we celebrated Labor Day. For many people, Labor Day marks the end of summer, or a chance to enjoy a three-day weekend. For politicians and the media, Labor Day is the semi-official start of the fall election campaign. But at its heart, Labor Day is a celebration of our working families, the hard-working men and women who drive our economy. And so it’s fitting that as we continue to outline a plan to grow our economy and bring prosperity back to Michigan, we take a moment this Labor Day week to ensure that all of us have the opportunity to share in the new prosperity this plan creates.

A recent study from the Economic Policy Institute illustrates the scope of the problem. As the study notes, during the last decade “Gross domestic product and historically high productivity growth should have raised paychecks up and down the income ladder, but instead the benefits of that growth have bypassed most of the people who made it possible.” This is in contrast to the U.S economy’s performance during the 1990s, when under President Clinton the expanding economy also created a record number of new jobs and lifted the wages of workers at all income levels. As one of the study’s authors noted, “If job growth from 2000 to 2007 had matched the 1990s cycle, the economy would have added 7 million more jobs than it did.” Indeed, according to a report released this morning by the U.S Department of Labor, worker productivity rose 4.3% in the second quarter of 2008, even while the number of unemployment rate continued to increase.

We cannot afford to continue down this path. Simply put, it is shameful that increases in worker productivity are often reflected only in increased profits for investors, while the men and women who made those profits possible fall farther and farther behind. Worse, too often the only thanks workers receive for their efforts is a pink slip, letting them know that despite their work, and despite the increases in their productivity, their jobs are being shipped overseas. As State Representative, I will fight for Michigan working families by eliminating tax breaks and ending state contracts for any company that outsources Michigan jobs. And I will make Michigan more attractive for those businesses that are interested in putting our people back to work by cutting taxes for companies that hire Michigan workers and requiring that all businesses that contract with the state hire Michigan workers. No longer will we subsidize with our state tax dollars the outsourcing of Michigan jobs, and by supporting efforts to “Hire Michigan First” we can create jobs while cracking down on illegal immigration.

However, while we need to restore economic fairness to Michigan’s working families, we also need to step up our efforts to provide education and skills training for those workers who have been displaced by changes to our state’s economy. Efforts such as the “No Worker Left Behind” program are essential if we’re going to develop the highly-educated, highly-skilled workforce we need to compete in a globalized information economy. We must and can do much more to ensure that those Michigan workers who have lost their jobs because of global changes to Michigan’s economy have the skills training they need to reenter the labor force at a competitive wage.

Finally, as State Representative I will continue to stand up for Michigan’s middle class and actively oppose efforts that would gut the ability of Michigan workers to join a union. Keeping our labor protections in place is a central element of restoring broad-based prosperity for all of us – whether we belong to a union or not. The simple fact is that wages in so-called “Right to Work” states are 6% to 8% lower than they are in states where the ability of workers to join a union is protected. Especially now, with the price of food, gas and other essentials continuing to increase, none of us – whether we’re union or not – can afford to cut wages to Michigan’s working families.

Going door-to-door, meeting the men and women who have brought Michigan a middle class that is the envy of the rest of the world and created a century of broadly-shared prosperity, I know that it will be Michigan’s working families who will drive our economic turnaround. And especially during this Labor Day week, our working men and women deserve our thanks.