Our Issues
Freedom to Join Unions
All workers should be able to join a union without interference from their bosses and without endless legal wrangling. That is how the system is supposed to work. But in reality, corporations use scorched-earth strategies to prevent workers from unionizing, blatantly breaking the law to stop organizing drives and thwart collective bargaining.
The National Labor Relations Act is outdated and desperately needs to be modernized and expanded to protect the rights of all working people--private and public employees alike. All of us should have the right to freely negotiate for higher wages and better working conditions and Congress should pass legislation to make this a reality.
A Good Job For Everyone
A good job provides not just wages and benefits, but a sense of self-respect. Good jobs bring people out of poverty and provide them and their families financial security. Not only should everyone who wants to work have a job, but that job should provide a fair wage that allows working people to support themselves and their families, and a $15 federal minimum wage is a good start.
Full employment is essential and can be made a reality through a multitrillion-dollar infrastructure program that would modernize our public schools, fix our crumbling bridges and roads, and improve aviation, rail and public transit systems. It would also include bringing our nation’s electrical grid into the 21st century and expand broadband access to all working people.
Fair Trade That Works for Everyone
International trade is a vital part of the modern economy, but it should create jobs and raise wages here in America. For too long, Congress has clung stubbornly to trade rules that create profits at the expense of good jobs, when the two should go hand in hand. Trade deals should improve wages, working conditions and workplace rights for all people, instead of creating a race to the bottom.
Trade deals and trade-related legislation must set high standards for workers’ rights and contain enforceable labor protections. This means eliminating the corporate courts, entitlements and other special privileges for corporations in trade deals. It also means requiring public and congressional input into choice of trade partners, trade objectives and other critical decisions.
Tariffs should be used smartly and strategically to benefit America’s workers, farmers and producers, not as a blunt tool to bully allies.
Health Care and Retirement Security
Quality health care and a secure retirement should be basic rights for all Americans. No one should be afraid to see the doctor or purchase the medications they need because they can’t afford it. Americans also should be confident that their retirement, including Social Security, Medicare and their pension, is secure.
Legislators can guarantee health care as a human right by shoring up the Affordable Care Act, expanding Medicare to cover more people, lowering prescription drug costs, and by removing onerous taxes on worker-negotiated health plans.
A Discrimination-Free Society
All Americans have a right to participate in our democracy. That means protecting the right to vote and taking steps to increase voter turnout and expand and diversity the electorate. It also means rejecting efforts to criminalize communities of color and reforming our criminal justice system to end mass incarceration and detention.
All workers deserve to work without fear and to be treated with fairness and respect at work. That means ensuring no worker is subjected to discrimination, harassment or violence, including immigrants, women, people of color and LGBTQ workers. It also means strengthening workplace fairness and safety laws and ensuring no worker has to risk deportation for standing up for their rights on the job.
Congress should pass comprehensive protections—including the Equality Act, DACA and TPS—for LGBTQ and immigrant workers, whose livelihoods too often rest on the whims of their employers.
A Safe and Secure Workplace
The right to a safe job is a fundamental worker right. Every worker should be able to go to work and return home safely at the end of the day. Worker safety is not optional; it should be a top priority for every employer in this country. Employers should not put profits over the safety of their workers.
It is imperative for Congress to strengthen the Occupational Safety and Health Act to expand coverage to all workers, toughen enforcement and penalties, and bolster anti-retaliation protections for workers reporting injuries, illnesses and unsafe working conditions.
Work-Family Balance for All
Working people should be able to balance their jobs and families without being forced to make impossible choices between financial security and the well-being of their family. Good jobs should provide decent benefits, including overtime pay, and paid sick and family leave.
Legislators should back their pro-family rhetoric with laws that give working people more control over work schedules, restore overtime protections and advance paid family and medical leave.
Quality Education and Public Services
Few things have a greater impact on a child than a quality education. We have a responsibility to ensure every child in America can go to a good public school. Those schools should be safe and have the resources they need, with reasonable class sizes and teachers who are supported.
Beyond K-12, higher education and career training should be widely available and affordable without leaving young people in debt. Skills and career training programs are a vital alternative for young people, and need to be expanded.
Legislators should work to fully fund public K-12 education and reject attempts to privatize the education system through private-school vouchers or voucher-like schemes. And they should work to make college more affordable, protect student borrowers and make debt-free college a reality for students.
Tax Fairness for All
The only way to create a fairer and more just society is for corporations and the wealthy to pay their fair share in taxes. Tax subsidies for outsourcing and offshoring jobs hurt American workers and America’s bottom line, and must be eliminated.
Legislators should close the pass-through and carried interest loophole, pass a Wall Street speculation tax, and raise the top tax rate so the wealthy and big corporations pay their fair share.
A Financial System That Supports the Real Economy
Our economy works best when corporations act responsibly toward their employees, their customers, the environment and local communities. But too many corporate CEOs choose management strategies for short-term gain that undermine their companies in the long term. Corporations need to invest for long-term sustainable growth, not short-term stock buybacks. Good corporate governance should hold CEOs accountable and limit runaway CEO pay.