Topeka ? Gov. Kathleen Sebelius voiced pro-worker themes to organized labor Wednesday — and slammed business interests on the issues of workers’ compensation and sending jobs overseas.

“The current outsourcing of jobs out of the state and particularly out of this country is short-sighted and very dangerous in the long run. It will break the backbone of the middle class of this country,” Sebelius said in a speech to the Kansas AFL-CIO convention meeting here.

Sebelius said she would institute a policy to withhold state grants and tax breaks from companies that send jobs out of state. She told reporters later that if businesses “don’t live up to their commitment to add workers, we’ll come and get that money back and reinvest it in some companies that will stay here in Kansas.”

Kansas has been wracked by the loss of aviation industry jobs where much of the work has been sent to other countries. Sebelius touted legislation she signed in an effort to help Boeing in Kansas secure work for the company’s new airliner. But, she added, “I think it’s important that we also insist on fair treatment for workers in exchange for any opportunities to tap into state incentive resources.”

Union members said they liked what Sebelius said. “She’s committed to keeping jobs in the state of Kansas,” said James Cottrell of the Plumbers and Pipefitters Local No. 441 in Lawrence. “She’s committed to education, health care, the economy and moving the state forward.”

‘No jobless recovery’

Sebelius also told the approximately 140 union officials that education would be the main part of her 2004 legislative agenda, and she complained of the federal government’s handling of the economy and failure to corral prescription drug costs.

She rejected the notion that the economy was recovering, saying that millions of manufacturing jobs had been lost nationally. “There is no such thing as a jobless recovery. A recovery without a job is not a recovery, and any time that phrase is used, you need to leap up, I need to leap up and correct that language,” she said.

Sebelius gave no details about her education package but said she would try to reshape the issue so that Kansans viewed education as a lifelong system from preschool to postcollege graduation.

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“We will not keep good jobs in Kansas, we will not keep employers in this state unless we have an excellent educational system that is something we can tout, something we can be proud of. That’s something I believe in and something I will fight for,” she said.

Workers’ comp

Sebelius blasted a proposed workers’ compensation bill that is being pushed by the Kansas Chamber of Commerce & Industry, which has complained that businesses were paying too much into the system to cover employees hurt on the job.

Kansas enjoys the 10th-lowest workers’ compensation insurance rates in the nation, Sebelius said. “That is hardly a crisis. The crisis is we have some of the lousiest benefits in the country, so when workers get injured, they don’t have the kind of compensation they deserve.”

Jim Gregory, a spokesman for the statewide chamber, declined to respond directly to Sebelius’ comments.

“We will be working with the Legislature and the governor to work toward lowering the cost of doing business in Kansas, and that includes the cost of workers’ compensation,” he said.

Gregory added that the best way to reduce outsourcing and revitalize the economy “is to reduce the cost of doing business.”

But Sebelius said the way to lower workers’ compensation costs was to rein in health care costs, particularly prescription medicine costs. She said her office was researching whether it would be cheaper and feasible for the state employee insurance plan to purchase drugs in Canada.

She blamed Congress for failing to address the issue.

“Until Congress has the backbone to deal with this situation, governors are going to be more proactive and progressive, and not just sit back and see what happens,” she said.