Monday, June 18, 2018

Tell Congress: Stand up for workers' rights


Petition to Congress:
"Raise wages and fight inequality by passing the Workplace Democracy Act, which would ban 'Right to Work for Less' laws, make it harder for corporations to interfere in the decision to create a union, and protect workers from loopholes that allow companies to pay less and offer fewer benefits."
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Tell Congress: Stand up for workers' rights
Conservatives on the Supreme Court are mounting a war on working people. They have already banned workers from joining together to sue employers for violations of federal law. Soon, they may attempt to decimate public sector unions.1
The results of the decades-long Republican attack on working people are already clear. Anti-union states see lower wages and fewer benefits for all workers, not just those in a union. Today, only 11 percent of workers belong to a union, down from nearly one-third 60 years ago, even though support for unions is at an all-time high. Inequality is skyrocketing as corporate CEOs face less pressure to distribute profits to workers and instead pocket the money for themselves.2
Progressive champions Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep. Mark Pocan are fighting back with a new bill – the Workplace Democracy Act – that takes power out of the hands of greedy bosses and puts it back in the hands of working people.3 This is the type of bold legislation that should form the backbone of the Democratic agenda, so we need to get behind it in a big way.
Donald Trump wants us to put the blame for low wages on immigrants and bad trade deals in order to protect the Wall Street puppet masters he has always admired. Sanders and Pocan – along with a host of House and Senate Democrats who have co-sponsored the bill – are putting the focus right where it belongs and exposing Trump's phony populism in the process.
If people can quit a bad job for better pay and benefits at a union worksite, companies face pressure to raise wages for everyone. Corporations know this and target unions directly – hurting every single person who works for a living, hourly and salaried, union and non-union, in the so-called “right to work” states and the states that value working people.4
Every time we get behind a bill like this, it exposes Trump's agenda, aligns Democrats with the progressive base of the party and builds momentum for the future. We need to speak out now.
The Workplace Democracy Act would undo much of the damage of this long corporate crusade against unions: allowing a union to form if a majority of workers demand one, banning race-to-the-bottom "right to work for less" laws, outlawing deceptive and delaying tactics companies use to undermine unions, making sure workers know if their employers are running anti-union ads, and making sure corporations cannot get away with misclassifying workers as independent contractors or supervisors just to avoid paying them benefits or overtime.5
Union workers make more, get hurt on the job less, receive better benefits, have a more secure retirement and are less likely to be victims of wage theft. Black and Latinx workers, in particular, get a particularly large pay boost from joining a union.6 In short, unions are good for unionized workers, good for non-union workers, and are an antidote to skyrocketing wealth, income and racial inequality. We need strong unions – and that starts with legislation protecting workers' rights.
Stand with Sanders and Pocan: Tell Congress to stand up for workers' rights. Click below to sign the petition:

- Josh Nelson, CREDO Action

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