For over 30 years, wages in America have remained stagnant while productivity has increased and corporate profits have reached all-time highs. In order for more of those corporate profits to reach the pockets of workers, not just the wealthy few, we need updated rules governing worker protections such as overtime pay and the minimum wage. In 1975, the overtime threshold covered over 60 percent of salaried workers. Today, only 8 percent are covered. Raising the salary threshold—below which all workers are guaranteed overtime pay—to $50,440 would raise the share of salaried workers covered significantly. Earlier this year, EPI members delivered thousands of petition signatures urging the Department of Labor to increase the overtime salary threshold, and thanks to you we’re almost there. The Department of Labor has opened a 60-day comment period and needs to hear from you! Big Business is once again opposing common sense approaches to raising workers’ wages. It is demonizing this new rule and misrepresenting how it will positively impact the lives of workers and their families. Millions of workers need our help! Tell the Department of Labor that we stand with them as they work to complete work on these new rules, which will Raise America’s Pay.

Andy Puzder, Hardee's and Carl's Jr. CEO, recently appeared on Fox News and disrespected his 20,000+ employees by insisting that they are so dependent on public benefits that they would not want to work full-time hours nor take promotions if the minimum wage were raised. He went on to say, "These [public assistance] benefits are essential for people, they're how they pay the rent, they're how they feed their kids," without noting the irony that it's his company's poverty wages that make it impossible for fast food workers to make ends meet without public assistance. The fast food industry benefits from over $153 billion a year in subsidies in the form of public assistance because their wages are so abysmal. These subsidies allow CEOs like Puzder to earn a staggering $17,192/day, which is more than a minimum wage employee makes each year. Tell Puzder to open his eyes and see that his greed is the real problem.

This petition is being started due to the lack of partnership from management. The union wants the lies, and deceit to cease and desist immediately.

Following the lead of Mayor Ras Baraka, over a dozen mayors from across the country co-sponsored a resolution at the U.S. Conference of Mayors that calls for banks to release delinquent mortgages to community based lenders. This is a major effort to stop our neighborhoods from being raided for profit over by Wall Street. Mayors and City Councils from coast-to-coast are anxiously awaiting your leadership against this crisis and are ready to stand with you in this fight against Wall Street! When Ras Baraka became Mayor a year ago, WE became Mayor! We believe in Newark and in the resilience of our communities. Unfortunately, families in Newark continue to lose homes to predatory lending and illegal foreclosures by banks. Meanwhile abandoned homes and vacant buildings created by the foreclosure crisis sit empty while private equity firms from Wall Street speculate and profit from our neighborhoods. Local elected leaders in cities hit hard by foreclosures, have looked to Newark as a model to get toxic and delinquent mortgages out of the hands of speculators and into the hands of financial organizations that will work to get large scale principle reduction for our communities. Aware of the commitments Mayor Baraka made during his campaign, a growing movement of local leaders stands ready to join the fight against the foreclosure crisis created by Wall Street. Homeowners in Newark are building a movement to push for housing justice in our city – and our work here will blaze a trail for activists and local elected leaders everywhere! We demand aggressive local action by the City of Newark to seize toxic “PLS” mortgages and to move distressed mortgages from banks into the hands of good actors, like community-based investors, who are concerned about the future of Newark families struggling to save their homes and neighborhoods from profiteering Wall Street banks and private equity firms. Mayor Baraka – your leadership on this issue has jumpstarted a national movement of municipalities demanding justice from Wall Street. It is time for Newark to lead the next phase of the battle. Please take the courageous steps that will reset these troubled mortgages and stabilize the housing market in our neighborhoods.

SB 3 will increase the minimum wage in California to $13 by July 1, 2017 [$11 on January 1, 2016]. This bill also includes an innovative provision which adjusts the minimum wage indexed to inflation beginning January 1, 2019. SB 3 (Leno) is currently in the Labor and Employment Committee and has a hearing on July 8th.

Senate Democrats Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell voted yes for fast track authorization of of the TPP trade agreement, betraying organized labor in one of the most union dense states in the nation. The TPP will very likely pass once negotiated by President Obama and corporate lobbyists. Ask the nation's largest representative of organized labor to never again endorse either Senator for any public office again unless they vote down the TPP itself when the time comes!

The Trans-Pacific Partnership will negatively hurt all but the super rich and large corporations. They will not even let the people see it before it is voted on. NOT COOL!

The costs for groceries, transportation, and housing are going up. Wages are stagnant. If we don't increase wages for everyone, then we should invest in higher education. If we as a society expect these lower wage jobs to be filled, then we should pay people enough to live.

I know many workers who can barely get by in this great state. They need to be able to pay for just basic needs, like food and rent. This would allow them to do that. So many employed Oregonians barely get by with the minimum wage, some have to live with parents and many need food stamp assistance just to keep food on the table. Lets make Oregon a place with fair wages for fair work.

Last year, it was Burger King. Now, it's Monsanto. The agribusiness giant Monsanto is considering a plan to buy Syngenta, a European agrochemical company. (1) The move would allow it to declare itself a foreign company for tax purposes. If Monsanto does indeed renounce their status as a U.S- based company, it will mean they will be taxed at a much lower rate than American-based companies, in a scheme that is referred to as "corporate inversion." The crazy thing is, they don't actually have to move their CEO or any of their central offices, they can just claim on paper to be headquartered in the UK, much in the way that Burger King is now, on paper a Canadian company. It would also allow Monsanto to permanently avoid paying taxes on the $4.4 billion of profits it has reported as holding offshore. According to the Center for Effective Government, "Monsanto could owe as much as $1.5 billion in U.S. taxes on these offshore profits, an amount that could be permanently avoided if the new company engages in complex legal and tax transactions following an inversion." (2) We can't let big corporations continue to dodge taxes with high-paid tax lawyers -- everyone should play by the same rules. How can we invest in education or job growth if large, profitable companies are scheming to avoid paying their fair share? We hear a lot of talk about how Congress wants to help the middle class. Well, they can start by stopping the biggest companies from playing a rigged game and passing the Stop Corporate Inversions Act right now, which would save us $34 billion over the next decade. (3) Sen. Bill Nelson has supported closing the inversion loophole in the past, but he is not on record in support of the version of the bill. If enough people weigh in, I'm confident we can add him as a supporter. 1. http://goo.gl/eEMZqV 2. http://goo.gl/BjGSaq 3. http://goo.gl/psrmNp

Last year, it was Burger King. Now, it's Monsanto. The agribusiness giant Monsanto is considering a plan to buy Syngenta, a European agrochemical company. (1) The move would allow it to declare itself a foreign company for tax purposes. If Monsanto does indeed renounce their status as a U.S- based company, it will mean they will be taxed at a much lower rate than American-based companies, in a scheme that is referred to as "corporate inversion." The crazy thing is, they don't actually have to move their CEO or any of their central offices, they can just claim on paper to be headquartered in the UK, much in the way that Burger King is now, on paper a Canadian company. It would also allow Monsanto to permanently avoid paying taxes on the $4.4 billion of profits it has reported as holding offshore. According to the Center for Effective Government, "Monsanto could owe as much as $1.5 billion in U.S. taxes on these offshore profits, an amount that could be permanently avoided if the new company engages in complex legal and tax transactions following an inversion." (2) We can't let big corporations continue to dodge taxes with high-paid tax lawyers -- everyone should play by the same rules. How can we invest in education or job growth if large, profitable companies are scheming to avoid paying their fair share? We hear a lot of talk about how Congress wants to help the middle class. Well, they can start by stopping the biggest companies from playing a rigged game and passing the Stop Corporate Inversions Act right now, which would save us $34 billion over the next decade. (3) Sen. Ron Wyden has supported closing the inversion loophole in the past, but he is not on record in support of the version of the bill. If enough people weigh in, I'm confident we can add him as a supporter. 1. http://goo.gl/eEMZqV 2. http://goo.gl/BjGSaq 3. http://goo.gl/psrmNp

Americans should not have to pay their hard-earned tax dollars to wealthy multinational corporations to conduct business activity abroad. Eliminating the Ex-Im Bank has garnered public support from across the political spectrum, but the largest and most powerful multinational corporations and institutions, such as Boeing and the Chamber of Commerce, have continued to pressure Congress to uphold the subsidies and preserve the status quo. For lawmakers looking to eliminate waste and get our fiscal house in order, the Export-Import Bank should be at the top of the list. With the bank’s charter expiration date set for June 30th, Congress simply needs to do nothing. We need to make sure Congress makes the right choice to let the Export-Import Bank expire, and act in the public interest. (1) http://reut.rs/1umaXLf, http://1.usa.gov/1INucEl