This bill is supported by: AFL-CIO; Americans for Democratic Action; Center for Popular Democracy; Communications Workers of America; Economic Policy Institute; Institute for Policy Studies, Global Economy Project; International Brotherhood of Teamsters; International Federation of Professional & Technical Engineers; Jobs with Justice; National Federation of Federal Employees; People’s Action; Public Citizen; Restaurant Opportunities Centers United; SEIU; and Social Security Works.
Congressman Mark DeSaulnier
October 1, 2020
During the coronavirus pandemic, millions of Americans have faced financial hardship with more than 50 million filing for unemployment benefits. But even before the COVID-19 crisis, many Americans were dealing with economic issues. According to the Economic Policy Institute, the federal minimum wage hasn’t been enough to meet cost of living demands since the 1960s.
The Active Times
October 1, 2020
According to the Economic Policy Institute, 29.8 million would lose insurance and 1.2 million jobs would be lost if Obamacare is repealed. In Maine, the number of people without insurance would jump by 122% to 95,000.The number of jobs lost would be 3,435.
Press Herald
October 1, 2020
The pressure for aid is high. Although new jobless claims for the week declined in the last week (to 837,000 from 870,000), more than 21 million people remain unemployed as a result of the pandemic, according to estimate by the Economic Policy Institute. United and American airlines will furlough 32,000 employees, and Disney has laid off 28,000 people worldwide.
CNET
October 1, 2020
HEALTH CARE JEOPARDIZED
According to the Economic Policy Institute, 6.2 million workers lost employer-sponsored health insurance between February and July 2020, while 12 million people (including spouses and dependents) lost coverage.
UAW
October 1, 2020
Business is as divided in attitude as in pay. For example, a recent Economic Policy Institute study found that top execs are paid on average 320 times as workers at the top 350 firms in the US. And the problem of attitude is global since IBM surveyed execs worldwide.
WRAL Tech Wire
October 1, 2020
“If we want to stop this virus, we collectively have to be able to keep workers safe and we have to know when people are getting exposed at work,” said Terri Gerstein, senior fellow at the Economic Policy Institute, a labor-funded think tank, and director of the State and Local Enforcement Project at Harvard Law School’s Labor and Worklife Program. “It’s just layer upon layer of inadequacy in terms of taking the steps needed to protect people.”
NBC News
October 1, 2020
Daniel Costa, director of immigration law and policy research at the center-left Economic Policy Institute, told Business Insider that “scrapping the survey before it’s completed for the year gives them the excuse to use another data source for 2021 and beyond.” And that, in practice, would mean reducing what are already some of the lowest wages in any sector, at a time when these workers are risking their health not only during a pandemic but an extended wildfire season that led the West Coast to experience some of the worst air quality in the world.
“The justification has never been better for higher rates,” Costa said. “And when you consider the billions and billions that farmers have gotten in government subsidies and aid, even just this year, it’s pretty hard to argue that they can’t afford to pay a decent living wage.”
Business Insider
October 1, 2020