
          Claude Ramsay, 1916-1986
          By Minor, BillBill Minor
          Vol. 8, No. 2, 1986, pp. 17-18
          
          In death, Claude Ramsay belatedly was paid homage the other day by
a lot of big politicians and some of his long-time foes around the
Legislature as the best friend working people in Mississippi ever
had.
          It was extraordinary, of course, for a labor leader in this state
to be accorded such recognition because organized labor has never been
regarded as a political force here comparable to most other
states. Nor was Ramsay a beloved figure in many political circles.
          No doubt, the Ramsay family and those who toiled with Ramsay in the
vineyard to keep the labor union movement alive in Mississippi were
pleased that Claude was appreciated.
          But it occurred to me that if people in government and those who
influence government want to pay a more lasting tribute to the memory
of Claude Ramsay, it would be to correct one of the chief wrongs in
our state that Claude spent the last years of his life trying to
correct.

          That is the unconscionable system of compensating injured workers
in Mississippi, a system in which benefits allowed by state law border
on cruel and inhumane punishment of those so unfortunate to be hurt on
the job.
          Mississippi was the last state in the nation to enact a Workers
Compensation Law in 1948, to assure compensation for workers who
suffer job-related injuries or illness without having to go to court
or prove who was at fault.
          For years Ramsay had been the point man in trying to get the
Mississippi Legislature to upgrade benefits for injured workers to a
level of decency comparable to most other states.
          The sad facts are that Mississippi's benefits for job-related
injuries have fallen behind all other states to the point that the
economic worth of a Mississippi laboring man or woman seems to be only
a fraction of other American workers.
          A Mississippi worker who loses an arm on the job can expect to be
compensated $25,200, while an Alabama worker with the same injury
would receive $48,840; a South_Carolina worker $63,144 and a worker in
Iowa--a farm state which in many ways resembles Mississippi--would be
paid $133,250.
          The loss of an eye by a Mississippi worker carries only $12,600 in
benefits, but $24,800 in Louisiana, $27,280 in Alabama, $21,862 in
Arkansas and $92,400 in Pennsylvania.
          At the heart of the inadequate Mississippi workers' benefits is the
pitifully low maximum weekly benefits permitted an injured worker in
this state. Now at $133 a week, it is considerably below every other
state in the nation (Alabama $303, Louisiana $248).
          Ramsay had waged a losing battle against the powerful business
lobby which consistently in the past worked on the Legislature to hold
down the maximum weekly benefits to only small annual increases.
          While most states have adopted a system of maximum weekly benefits
based on two-thirds of the state's average weekly wages, the
Mississippi Legislature has held the line to a specific amount.
          Translated into a yearly amount, the $133 weekly payment allowed an
injured Mississippi worker adds up to $6,916, which is below the
poverty level. That means, for instance, a truck driver making $600 to
$700 a week who injures his back and is laid up for six months would
have only $133 a week in compensation to take care of his family.
          Although Mississippi Workers Compensation Law is now almost forty
years old, the maximum 450 weeks of compensation, regardless of
injury, has remained in the law.
          Some business organizations have even touted Mississippi's low
compensation as a selling point to attract industry to the state. In
1981 the state Supreme_Court held under the existing state law, a
worker in Mississippi had no job protection if he filed a worker's
compensation claim. The court went so far as to suggest that the
Legislature should adopt the Texas law which guarantees a worker
cannot be fired for filing a compensation claim.
          Ramsay had valiantly tried to get the Legislature to outlaw
retaliatory firings of any workers who made compensation claims, but
again he met a wall of business resistance led by the Mississippi
Manufacturers Association.
          Hoping to break the long-standing stalemate in the Legislature over
upgrading the injured worker's benefits, Marshall Bennett, chairman of
the Mississippi Worker's Compensation Commission, two months ago
brought the opposing forces together with legislative chairmen who
handle compensation leglislation in hopes of reaching a compromise on
revising the law.
          Ramsay, as labor's spokesman, and a representative of the
Mississippi Trial Lawyers Association, which sides with labor in the
controversy, sat down with the manufacturers and other business
representatives, the legislative leaders, and Bennett. They hammered
out a compromise just a week before Ramsay died.
          Although the compromise measure emerged intact from the House
Insurance subcommittee, House members failed to pass the bill.
          Claude wasn't around for the demise of this year's workers'
benefits bill. But in lieu of eulogies and flowers, I'm sure he would
rather see injured Mississippi workers get a better deal.
          
            Longtime Mississippi political columnist Bill Minor lives
in Jackson.
          
        
