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Low-Wage Workers Endorse Slate of Candidates to Win Fairer Economy
One Fair Wage Action is endorsing 25 national and state candidates who are "committed to raising the minimum wage and ending the federal subminimum wage of just $2.13 an hour."
Oct 30, 2024
A U.S. advocacy group fighting for a living wage for its hundreds of thousands of service industry employee members on Wednesday announced its endorsement of a slate of "pro-worker candidates" in next week's elections.
One Fair Wage (OFW) Action—whose members include more than 300,000 U.S. restaurant workers, owners, and other service industry employees—said following its recent endorsement of U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris that "these candidates—from Arizona to Michigan to New York—are committed to raising the minimum wage and ending the federal subminimum wage of just $2.13 an hour, a poverty-level wage that leaves tipped and service workers struggling in one of the nation's fastest-growing, yet lowest-paid sectors."
"These candidates understand the need to challenge corporate interests that have long held back meaningful wage reform."
"As families across the nation struggle with rising costs, One Fair Wage Action's coalition of over 300,000 service workers, employers, and allies are mobilizing to amplify the call for living wages," the group continued. "In key battleground states like Michigan and Pennsylvania, the organization will focus on reaching voters who are demanding economic justice and solutions to the cost-of-living crisis."
OFW Action endorsed Democratic candidates including:
- Arizona: Ruben Gallego (U.S. Senate); Junelle Cavero and Oscar De Los Santos (U.S. House); and Mariana Sandoval (state Legislature);
- California: Rose Penelope Yee, Lateefah Simon, Laura Friedman, Rudy Salas, Jimmy Gomez, David Kim, and Stephen Houlahan (U.S. House);
- Illinois: Nikki Budzinski and Lauren Underwood (U.S. House);
- Massachusetts: Leigh Davis and Natalie Higgins (state Legislature);
- Michigan: Elissa Slotkin (U.S. Senate) and Carl Marlinga (U.S. House);
- Nevada: Steven Horsford (U.S. House);
- New York: Adriano Espaillat, John Avlon, Rob Lubin, Grace Meng, Andrea Morse, and John Mannion (U.S. House); and
- Wisconsin: Rebecca Cooke (U.S. House).
"These candidates understand the need to challenge corporate interests that have long held back meaningful wage reform," OFW Action president Saru Jayaraman said Wednesday "For years, powerful lobbying groups have fought to preserve the subminimum wage for tipped workers at just $2.13 an hour, forcing millions of tipped and service workers, who are overwhelmingly women and people of color, to suffer from the highest rates of economic instability and sexual harassment of any industry."
"These candidates are committed to putting a stop to this practice and ensuring that every worker is paid fairly and with dignity," she asserted. "By electing leaders who prioritize fair wages over corporate profits, we can finally create an economy that values the contributions of all workers—not just those at the top."
Last month, OFW applauded Harris for backing an end to the subminimum wage for tipped workers, arguing the policy stands in stark contrast with the platform of former President Donald Trump, the Republican nominee, whose scheme to end taxes on tipped employees has been panned by experts as potentially harmful to the workers it purports to help.
"For too long, well-funded interests have blocked progress on fair wages," Jayaraman added. "These candidates bring a commitment to meaningful change from within the system. They understand the urgent need to address the imbalance that keeps so many workers struggling to make ends meet. One Fair Wage Action is mobilizing to ensure that these voices are heard, so that workers themselves drive this change at the polls."
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Arizona Supreme Court Upholds 1864 Abortion Ban—But Voters Will Get 'Ultimate Say' in November
"Arizona is what happens when abortion policy is, as Donald Trump claims he wishes, left up to the states," said one columnist.
Apr 09, 2024
Reproductive justice campaigners in Arizona on Tuesday vowed to make sure voters "have the ultimate say" on abortion rights after the state Supreme Court upheld an 1864 ban that includes no exceptions for pregnancies resulting from rape or incest.
"This is a horrifying ruling that puts the lives and futures of countless Arizonans at risk," said Leah Greenberg, co-founder of progressive advocacy group Indivisible. "It's devastating and cruel—and we're fighting back."
The court ruled that since Roe v. Wade was overturned by the right-wing majority on the U.S. Supreme Court in 2022, no law exists to prevent Arizona from reinstating a measure passed in 1864—before Arizona was even a U.S. state.
The law outlaws abortion care from the moment of conception with exceptions only in cases of a pregnant person who faces life-threatening health impacts. Such "exceptions" have been shown to threaten the health, including reproductive health and future fertility, of pregnant people in several states since Roe was overturned in the Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization ruling.
Under the Arizona law, doctors who are prosecuted for providing abortion care could face fines and 2-5 years in prison.
State Attorney General Kris Mayes, a Democrat, called the ruling "unconscionable and an affront to freedom."
"Today's decision to reimpose a law from a time when Arizona wasn't a state, the Civil War was raging, and women couldn't even vote will go down in history as a stain on our state," said Mayes. "This is far from the end of the debate on reproductive freedom, and I look forward to the people of Arizona having their say in the matter. And let me be completely clear, as long as I am attorney general, no woman or doctor will be prosecuted under this draconian law in this state."
Democratic organizer Amanda Litman noted that local prosecutors "have jurisdiction to decide whether or not to press charges on people seeking care under this ban."
Last week, organizers with Arizona for Abortion Access announced that they had collected more than the number of signatures needed to support placing a referendum on a constitutional amendment enshrining the right to abortion care on state ballots in November.
The ruling was handed down in Planned Parenthood v. Hazelrigg, a case that centered on an anti-abortion doctor's appeal of a December 2022 ruling which upheld the state's 15-week abortion ban. Dr. Eric Hazelrigg, who owns a chain of anti-abortion clinics in the state, urged the high court to instead reinstate the 1864 ban.
Planned Parenthood Arizona, Inc. said the "deplorable decision will send Arizona back nearly 150 years."
"This ruling will cause long-lasting, detrimental harms for our communities," said the group. "It strips Arizonans of their bodily autonomy and bans abortion in nearly all scenarios. And it does so following the troubling example of the U.S. Supreme Court in Dobbs: with judges ignoring long-settled precedent and principles of law to reach their preferred policy result."
Columnist Helaine Olen noted that the ruling was handed down a day after former President Donald Trump, now the Republican Party's presumptive 2024 presidential nominee, said states should be allowed to impose "whatever they decide" in terms of abortion restrictions and bans.
"Remember," said U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.). "This is brought to you by Trump. He supports cruel bans like these, and he made them possible by overturning Roe."
The ruling was put on hold for 14 days, and advocates emphasized on Tuesday that abortion care is still legal in Arizona for the time being.
Since Roe was overturned, pro-forced pregnancy legislators in Wisconsin and Michigan have supported imposing abortion bans dating back to 1849 and 1931, respectively. A judge ruled last July in Wisconsin that the 19th-century law did not make abortion care illegal, and Michigan voters approved a constitutional amendment protection abortion rights, clearing the way for the 1931 law to be repealed.
Voters in Florida, where the state Supreme Court last week effectively approved a six-week abortion ban, will also vote on a constitutional amendment on abortion rights in November.
Since 2022, voters in states including Kansas and Kentucky have voted in favor of expanding, rather than restricting, access to abortion.
"With abortion on the ballot in November, anti-choice extremists will feel the power of pissed off women voters," said Rep. Becca Balint (D-Vt.). "No doubt about it."
Kari Lake, the Republican Senate candidate in Arizona, quickly attempted to distance herself from the 1864 ban, saying she was calling on the state Legislature to "come up with an immediate commonsense solution that Arizonans can support."
U.S. Rep. Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.), who is running against Lake, noted that just two years ago after Roe was overturned, the former TV newscaster and gubernatorial candidate said she was "incredibly thrilled that we are going to have a great law that's already on the books... It will prohibit abortion in Arizona except to save the life of a mother."
"This November," said Gallego, "Kari Lake will find out, yet again, that Arizonans have no interest in politicians who threaten their rights."
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Progressives Cheer Senate Exit of Kyrsten Sinema
Sinema's exit sets up an election between Rep. Ruben Gallego and former television anchor Kari Lake.
Mar 05, 2024
Sen. Kyrsten Sinema—infamous for voting down a federal $15 minimum wage, high-fiving Sen. Joe Manchin to kill filibuster reform, and overall kowtowing to corporate interests while hiding behind euphemistic claims of "moderation"—announced Tuesday she will not run for reelection this year, news welcomed by progressives both in her home state of Arizona and beyond.
Sinema's departure from the 2024 campaign means the Arizona Senate race will most likely be between Democratic Rep. Ruben Gallego and Republican former television new anchor and unsuccessful gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake.
Sinema claimed in a video announcing her decision not to run that moderate politicians are "not what America wants right now."
"Because I choose civility, understanding, listening, working together to get stuff done, I will leave the Senate at the end of this year," she said.
Rep. Gallego put out a statement thanking Sinema for her "nearly two decades of service," and he invited her to campaign against Kari Lake.
Other progressives took the opportunity to let their disgust be known.
"Sinema will go down in history as a feckless, corrupt egomaniac who sabotaged abortion and voting rights and destroyed her own political career in the process," said Leah Greenberg, co-founder of the advocacy group Indivisible.
"Enjoy your lobbying gig and leave the rest of us alone forever," Greenberg added.
Sinema will have served one term as a senator. She previously served in the House of Representatives for six years and the Arizona Senate for one year. Though Sinema started her career as a member of the Green Party, she later became a Democrat and then switched to being an independent in late 2022—a move that deeply wounded the Biden administration's domestic agenda by slicing the Democratic majority in the Senate to the bone.
Sinema was an obstacle to achieving progressive policy goals in Congress, blocking many key priorities, including eliminating the legislative filibuster, along with Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.V.). She infamously did a thumbs down in the Senate gallery to vote against raising the federal minimum wage to $15 per hour in 2021.
The group hoping to oust Sinema, the Replace Sinema campaign, put out a statement in response to the news of her not seeking reelection.
"Sinema obstructed President Biden's Build Back Better agenda, got in the way of fundamental rights like abortion care and voting, and did the bidding of her wealthy donors who fund her luxury lifestyle," the group wrote. "We succeeded in first pushing her out of the party—by making clear she couldn't win a Democratic primary—and now we've also helped push her out of the Senate. Good. Arizonans deserve better."
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