Happy Hump Day, Shit Givers.
Today I think a lot of us don’t think much about Labor Day other than a day off marked by sales, the end of summer, and back to school.
It actually started as a preemptive olive branch: in June 1894, with the Pullman Strike already underway, Congress rushed through a holiday to smooth things over with organized labor. Weeks later, federal troops opened fire on Pullman strikers anyway.
The fight that came out of it — fair pay, the right to organize, safe conditions, and more — continues today.
Let’s go.
— Willow
APL Positions covered this week:
💵 $15+ federal minimum wage, indexed to inflation
👶 Federal paid family and medical leave
A living wage
The federal minimum wage has been stuck at $7.25 an hour since 2009, which is absurd considering that’s what gets you about two oranges at the grocery store these days. There isn’t enough individual hustle in the world that can fix a wage floor that’s fallen so far behind.
Here’s what you can do:
Worker power
Union membership has been declining for decades because the process for organizing one keeps getting harder.
Here’s what you can do:
Support the PRO Act to strengthen protections for workers organizing and joining unions (go).
Oppose the Employee Rights Act, an industry-backed bill dressed up as “worker empowerment” that would actually make it harder to organize and ban undocumented workers from voting in union elections (go).
Organize for justice with Southwest Workers Union, where workers, youth, and power unite (go).
Use legal tools to help build resilient, worker-owned local economies with the Sustainable Economies Law Center (go).
It’s about time
The US is still the only wealthy nation without a national paid family and medical leave program. That means a new parent, a cancer diagnosis, or a dying relative can also mean a missed paycheck, or a lost job.
Here’s what you can do:
Essential, not expendable
Some of the hardest, most necessary work in the US is also some of the least protected and least visible. Show up for the workers we all depend on but rarely think about.
Here’s what you can do:
Support farmworkers in Florida organizing for justice and dignity with the Farmworker Association of Florida (go).
Build equity in clean energy trades through union career access with the Construction Trades Workforce Initiative (go).
Unite workers and climate advocates for a just, green transition with the Labor Network for Sustainability (go).
That’s it for this week.
Thank you — as always — for giving a shit.
— Willow
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