Unions built the American middle class. To rebuild it, we need to strengthen unions and ensure that our workplaces are safe, healthy, and free from harassment.
We know that unions raise wages and benefits -- even for those who don't belong to unions.
But in Texas, and across the country, organized labor and collective bargaining rights have been severely restricted. And there is a connection between the decline in union membership over the past several decades, and the increasing wealth and grotesque income inequality that is making it harder to see a doctor, afford rent and bills, and for those of us who weren't born wealthy just to get by.
We also know that corporate profits have never been higher, and while wages stagnate, the gap between the very rich and everyone else keeps growing.
Julie is part of the movement to bring about the kind of change it will take to level the playing field, by supporting union membership, standing with unions, and to fight runaway income inequality.
Julie believes that we should make it easier to join a union, not harder, that working people should be able to bargain for better wages and benefits for themselves and their families, and that in addition to better wages, every Texan is entitled to paid sick leave and childcare.
As we rapidly accelerate to reduce carbon pollution and create jobs under a Green New Deal, by investing in infrastructure projects, wind and solar energy, and more efficient buildings and transportation systems, we'll be creating millions of new, good-paying, union jobs.
You can count on Julie to fight to ensure that more power gets into the hands of employees and unions more than any other candidate, because she is not afraid to stand up to corporations and the billionaire class. Julie has always been a fighter, was endorsed by Senator Elizabeth Warren--one of the most pro-union fighters out there--in 2018, and she doesn't take a single dime from any PAC, so you'll never have to worry about her being in the pocket of any special interest.
In Congress, Julie will support legislation to:
- 1. Ban so-called “right to work” laws and repeal Section 14(b) of the Taft Hartley Act.
- 2. Support higher pay for American workers, and a $15 minimum wage indexed to median wages so that each year it is adjusted based on growth in the median wage. (The Raise the Wage Act, passed the House in 2019, but Julie would affirm and support subsequent legislation to help working families).
- 3. Support a rapid transition a low-carbon economy under the provisions of a Green New Deal, to generate millions of good-paying clean energy jobs.
- 4. Guarantee that all workers have the right to unionize and that farm workers are ensured the same protections as other workers, including the right to join a union, overtime pay, and safe working conditions.
- 5. Deny federal contracts to employers that pay starvation wages, ship jobs overseas, and deny their employees good benefits.
- 6. Ensure that every working person is guaranteed paid overtime, safe and healthy working conditions, meal and rest breaks, paid sick leave, and the freedom from workplace harassment.
- 7. Enshrine a Domestic Workers Bill of Rights so that those who provide the care for our homes and loved ones are afforded the basic rights and dignity they deserve.
- 8. Strengthen the NLRB.
- 9. Ensure that public projects jobs under the Green New Deal have labor protections, a livable wage, and collective bargaining rights for all jobs in the clean energy economy.