Increase wages for workers
To date, 30 states have helped to enact protections for minimum wages that are higher than the federal rates (DOL, 2021). The federal minimum wage has stayed stagnant at $7.25 since 2009 despite increases in the cost of living, creating and exacerbating economic hardships for workers. The income divide between Black and White workers has grown over time. Because Black and Brown workers are overrepresented in low-wage work, increases in the minimum wage would decrease the wage gap between workers of color and White workers (Derenoncourt et al, 2020). For example, an increase to $15 an hour would result in a pay increase for 31% and 26% of Black and Latinx workers, respectively, compared to about 20% of White workers (Cooper et al, 2021). More specifically, this rise in wages would amount to an additional $3,300 a year, which is significant for someone who currently earns less than $25,000 (NELP, 2021). While numerous campaigns such as the Fight for $15 have advocated for increases in the minimum wage, legislation is necessary to make this change.
- State Minimum Wage Laws. U.S. Department of Labor. May 1, 2021. https://www.dol.gov/agencies/whd/minimum-wage/state
- Derenoncourt E, Montialoux C, Bahn K. Why minimum wages are a critical tool for achieving racial justice in the U.S. labor market. Washington Center for Equitable Growth. October 29, 2020. https://equitablegrowth.org/why-minimum-wages-are-a-critical-tool-for-achieving-racial-justice-in-the-u-s-labor-market/
- Cooper D, Mokhiber Z, Zipperer B. Raising the federal minimum wage to $15 by 2025 would lift the pay of 32 million workers. March 9, 2021. https://www.epi.org/publication/raising-the-federal-minimum-wage-to-15-by-2025-would-lift-the-pay-of-32-million-workers/
- Why the U.S. needs a $15 minimum wage. National Employment Law Project. January 26, 2021. https://www.nelp.org/publication/u-s-needs-15-minimum-wage/
Build worker power
In order to address health, workers need to have greater power that counteracts and balances that of business interests. These strategies include improving collective bargaining, supporting worker centers, and limiting the passage of right-to-work laws. Unions, in particular, help to establish protections that improve health such as higher incomes, job stability, health insurance, and workplace safety (Hagedorn et al, 2016). Other strategies that also improve collective bargaining, but at the industry level include sectoral bargaining and wage boards. Black workers have been a part of unions at historically higher rates than White workers, a fact that continues to support wages and access to health and retirement benefits for Black workers (Bucknor, 2016). For many workers who are not protected by labor laws, such as domestic workers, day laborers, and gig workers who are disproportionately people of color, worker centers are community-based alternatives that increase worker voice through organizing and advocating for low-wage workers (Fyne, 2005). Finally, repealing and limiting the impacts of right-to-work laws, which threaten opportunities for collective bargaining, is necessary to ensure health equity among workers of color (CAP, 2021; CAP, 2018).
- Hagedorn J, Paras CA, Greenwich H, Hagopian A. The Role of Labor Unions in Creating Working Conditions That Promote Public Health. Am J Public Health. 2016;106(6):989-995.
- Bucknor C. Black Workers, Unions, and Inequality. Center for Economic and Policy Research. August 29, 2016. https://www.cepr.net/report/black-workers-unions-and-inequality/
- Fyne J. Worker centers: Organizing communities at the edge of the dream. Economic Policy Institute. December 13, 2005. https://www.epi.org/publication/bp159/
- Center for American Progress. 11 Things State and Local Governments Can Do to Build Worker Power. February 9, 2021. https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/economy/reports/2021/02/09/495627/11-things-state-local-governments-can-build-worker-power/
- Center for American Progress. Systematic Inequality: How America’s Structural Racism Helped Create the Black-White Wealth Gap. February 21, 2018. https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/race/reports/2018/02/21/447051/systematic-inequality/
Reform the broken immigration system
Immigration policy is labor policy. Therefore, in order to address the exploitation that is common among immigrant workers, there is a need to ensure that policies protect immigrant workers. This includes policies that consider immigration based on labor market needs, have accurate worker authorization, do not rely solely on border enforcement, provide adjustments to the status of currently undocumented populations, and improve temporary worker programs (SEIU).
- Our framework for Comprehensive Immigration Reform. https://www.seiu.org/cards/solutions-for-immigration-reform-explained/our-framework-for-comprehensive-immigration-reform/p2
- Migration Policy Institute. Comprehensive Immigration Reform. https://www.migrationpolicy.org/topics/comprehensive-immigration-reform
- The Century Foundation. Seven Things to Do Right Now to Help Workers. September 1, 2017. https://tcf.org/content/commentary/seven-things-right-now-help-workers/?session=1
- Economic Policy Institute. A real agenda for working people: How to raise wages, protect workers’ rights, and fix our rigged economy. June 2018. https://www.epi.org/workers-agenda/
- How State and Local Governments Can Strengthen Worker Power and Raise Wages. May 2, 2017. https://www.americanprogressaction.org/issues/economy/reports/2017/05/02/166640/state-local-governments-can-strengthen-worker-power-raise-wages/
- Urban Institute. What would it take to achieve quality jobs for all workers? May 2019. https://next50.urban.org/question/job-quality#increase-effective-wages
- National Employment Law Project. A State Agenda for America’s Workers: 18 Ways to Promote Good Jobs in the States. December 2, 2018. https://www.nelp.org/publication/state-agenda-americas-workers-18-ways-promote-good-jobs-states/
