{"id":2005,"date":"2015-10-21T20:36:43","date_gmt":"2015-10-22T00:36:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/morgancountyusa.org\/?p=2005"},"modified":"2015-10-22T11:36:03","modified_gmt":"2015-10-22T15:36:03","slug":"saira-blair-on-poverty-workers-comp-right-to-work-and-alternative-energy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/morgancountyusa.org\/?p=2005","title":{"rendered":"Saira Blair on Poverty, Workers Comp, Right to Work and Alternative Energy"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">West Virginia Delegate Saira Blair is the youngest legislator in the country.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Okpy7MyodEw\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Blair is a sophomore at West Virginia University. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">She\u2019s studying Spanish and Economics.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">At the same time, she is a member of the West Virginia House of Delegates &#8212; representing the 59th District &#8212; southern Morgan County and parts of Berkeley County, including Hedgesville.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Blair is a conservative Republican.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cOn economic and financial issues, you will find that the majority of people my age are conservative, especially when you talk with them about things like Social Security and whether or not we think it will be around,\u201d Blair told <em>This Week in Morgan County with Russell Mokhiber.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cWhen it comes to mandatory spending, you are going to find that more people my age are a little more conservative with that because they are looking out for themselves,\u201d Blair said. \u201cMy generation is a very selfish generation. We like to get out what we put in. And a lot of people feel that conservative viewpoints are the best way to do that.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cWhen it comes to social issues, my friends vary. I have some that are very far to the left on social issues and I have some that are very far to the right. But you have that in all ages when it comes to social issues.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Last month, <a href=\"http:\/\/budget.house.gov\/uploadedfiles\/saira_blair.pdf\">Blair traveled to Washington, D.C. to testify<\/a> with other millennials at a hearing titled \u201cRestoring the Trust for Young Americans\u201d before the House Budget Committee.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Blair proposed eliminating West Virginia\u2019s workers compensation program and replacing it with private health insurance accounts.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">When asked about that proposal, Blair said &#8212; \u201cit wasn\u2019t simply eliminate workers compensation and have nothing there to replace it.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cIt\u2019s a detailed plan that I\u2019ve been working with my father on and a few other delegates,\u201d Blair said. \u201cWe really have been looking into this. It\u2019s not eliminating it. It would be replacing it. What I was saying before, millennials are very selfish &#8212; get out what you put in. They would be paying into their own plan, like a 401(k) or a medical savings plan. They would be paying into it. Their employer would be matching it. Say they are injured on the job. Then they would be able to take this out, along with a high deductible rate &#8212; they would be able to take it out and be able pay for their injury. If they live a very healthy lifestyle, they would be able to take this out and use it later on. It works as a backup savings.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">(Blair\u2019s plan sounds similar to plans being pushed around the country documented last week in an article titled <a href=\"http:\/\/www.propublica.org\/article\/inside-corporate-americas-plan-to-ditch-workers-comp\"> \u201cInside Corporate America\u2019s Campaign to Ditch Workers\u2019 Comp\u201d <\/a>by Michael Grabell of ProPublica and Howard Berkes of National Public Radio. Grabell and Berkes found that state laws in both Oklahoma and Texas, for example, allow employers to opt out of workers&#8217; compensation and develop their own workplace injury plans. The reporters found that those plans generally cover fewer injuries, cut off benefits payments sooner, control access to doctors and even impose mandatory settlements.)<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Blair also wants to move West Virginia from being a \u201cpro-labor\u201d state, as she called it in her campaign materials, to being a \u201cright to work state.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Blair says she believes the legislature will take up the issue in the upcoming session.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">But West Virginia\u2019s anti-poverty coalition &#8212; <a href=\"http:\/\/www.ocofwv.org\/ballot\/explore-the-issues\/#Right\">the Our Children, Our Future Campaign &#8212; \u00a0recently put out a ten point platform for the new legislative session<\/a> &#8212; and issue number three is &#8212; \u201cright to work is wrong.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cSo-called right to work states have a 54.4% higher on-the-job death rate and workers in those states make $5,971 less per year in salary,\u201d the group says. \u201cAlso, 7 of the 10 highest unemployment rates in the country are in states with these laws. We oppose efforts to pass right to work legislation in West Virginia.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cIf the proposed \u2018right to work\u2019 legislation passes, workers will see lower paychecks and less safe workplaces,\u201d the anti-poverty campaign says. \u201cWe think the proposal should be Dead On Arrival. However, the new leadership is in favor of passing \u2018right to work,\u2019 so the threat is real.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">When asked about the the claim by the anti-poverty coalition, Blair said &#8212; \u201cevery study is different.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cWages have gone up in a few of the right to work states,\u201d Blair said. \u201cMore businesses are coming in. Tesla Motors, when they were building their new battery factory, of the six states in the running, they said they wouldn\u2019t choose four of them because they weren\u2019t right to work states. It\u2019s very clear that businesses are thinking about that when they are deciding where they want to locate.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cI have friends who work at say Krogers. They are 16, 17, 18 year-olds. I ask them &#8212; are you a member of a union? Yes I am. Would you prefer that that money didn\u2019t come out of your paycheck? They say yes, yes I would. \u00a0I ask &#8212; do you know what your rights are? And they say, no, the only thing I know about the fact that I\u2019m in a union is that I have a hat and it is probably sitting in the back seat of my car under a pile of McDonald\u2019s bags.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cIt\u2019s clear to me that a lot of people should have the right to decide,\u201d Blair says. \u201cI don\u2019t think we should ever abolish the concept of unions. I think they have a place. Especially 100 years ago they had a place and were important in our society. But West Virginians are fully capable of making the decision themselves if they would like to join or not join. It\u2019s not going to have a direct correlation on poverty levels.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cIn right to work states, people who opt out of the unions are getting promotions. People who are still members of the union are at the cap and they can\u2019t move up until everybody else moves up within. It\u2019s creating that division.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cIf someone decides to opt out of a union (in a right to work state), the employer is allowed to lower their wage back down because they opted out of (the union.) The benefit would then be safety. But that\u2019s why we have OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration).\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">When asked why West Virginia shouldn\u2019t follow in the footsteps of Hawaii and Germany and make a push toward transforming the state from fossil fuels to alternative energy, Blair didn\u2019t hesitate.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cI\u2019m a friend of coal,\u201d she said.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cThere are going to be better alternatives in the future,\u201d Blair said. \u201cI\u2019m very confident that my generation is going to create the energy efficient but also the economically efficient. We simply cannot afford to keep the lights on right now without using fossil fuels. If there was a better, faster, quicker, cleaner way around it, we would already be doing it. But right now it isn\u2019t there. I really do believe that we should utilize the resources that we have &#8212; which are fossil fuels &#8212; until this new energy source comes &#8212; that we truly can utilize in an efficient manner.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cI do want to go toward that. I don\u2019t know that it needs to be so forced. I have no problem in waiting for another country like Germany to develop it themselves and we try to implement it. That goes against the American &#8212; we are first and we are the most creative &#8212; but I don\u2019t think our government should be funding that. We have other priorities that we need to be worrying about. We do have another energy source available and we need to utilize that first. And in time, new technology will arise for us.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>West Virginia Delegate Saira Blair is the youngest legislator in the country. Blair is a sophomore at West Virginia University. She\u2019s studying Spanish and Economics. At the same time, she is a member of the West Virginia House of Delegates &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/morgancountyusa.org\/?p=2005\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2005","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/morgancountyusa.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2005","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/morgancountyusa.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/morgancountyusa.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/morgancountyusa.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/morgancountyusa.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2005"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/morgancountyusa.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2005\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2010,"href":"https:\/\/morgancountyusa.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2005\/revisions\/2010"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/morgancountyusa.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2005"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/morgancountyusa.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2005"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/morgancountyusa.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2005"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}