Missouri lawmakers may hear some common themes this session from lobbyists for businesses and for labor groups, Herb Johnson told reporters Thursday.
But labor organizations won't support Senate President Pro Tem Rob Mayer's pledge to make Missouri a Right to Work state.
"I don't think it's healthy for Missouri, and I don't think it creates any wealth or any prosperity for any employer in the state," said Johnson, the Missouri AFL-CIO's secretary/treasurer.
"We would like to see all businesses prosper and flourish, because that's who we're employed by."
His comments came two days after a coalition of Missouri business leaders announced their "Fix the Six" list of "bottom-line issues for Missouri employers."
That business coalition includes the Missouri Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the Associated Industries of Missouri, the Missouri chapter of the National Federation of Independent Businesses, the Missouri Merchants and Manufacturers Association, the Missouri Grocers and Restaurant associations and the Associated General Contractors.
Their list of "revenue-neutral proposals" included reforms in current employment law, workers' compensation, civil litigation laws and unemployment insurance; a cap on the state's current franchise tax and the elimination of the "escalator clause" in the voter-approved state minimum wage law.
The business community said this week that "activist judges" had interpreted wrongly the workers' compensation law changes passed in 2005.
But Johnson told reporters the problem "is the result of an overzealous legislature in 2005 ... that made great changes in the definition of an "accident,' changing 70 years of legal precedent and giving people a chance to sue where the previous workers' compensation law blocked such suits.
"And that's impacting businesses negatively," Johnson said, "as we (predicted) back in 2005."
Johnson said union officials "are willing to sit down with the business groups and come to some accommodations," that would include some changes in the Second Injury Fund funding, as well.
Unions also agree with the business coalition's concerns about financial problems with the unemployment compensation fund, which currently has borrowed more than $722 million from the federal government to pay current claims.
But, Johnson said, labor opposes the business groups' idea of limiting discrimination claims and whistleblower complaints about business operations.
"I can't understand how you can create any (new) employment by limiting a person's right to speak out and blow the whistle on something that's going wrong," he said, "or their protections under discriminatory law."
The business coalition on Tuesday did not mention a change in the law that would allow AmerenMissouri to recover its costs for successfully seeking a site permit for a second nuclear generator at the Callaway Nuclear Plant.
But Johnson said labor groups support it.
"It would employ 20,000 people in the state of Missouri," he said, "not to mention the 4,000 (who would be hired) in the immediate area around it."
He said labor groups support the idea of imposing taxes on Internet sales, creating a level playing field for local businesses that have to charge taxes on the same products.
Johnson said Missouri's labor groups also plan to work to protect state employees from facing more job cuts.
"They are performing the work that has been brought about by state statute and requirements," he noted. "We need those employees in the state Capitol - a lot of people forget that out in the general public."