Under current law, a California worker employed full time, year round, will earn $18,000 before taxes at the current rate of $9/hour. This is below the current poverty level and must be changed!

The Trans-Pacific Partnership is a corporate trade deal that would ship U.S. jobs overseas, endanger our environment and even undercut regulations like Wall Street reform. It is being negotiated in secret, and even those who divulge its details could go to jail. Congress is dangerously close to giving the President (and any President for the next six years) “fast-track” approval for the TPP and other trade agreements. Most House Democrats have come out against it, but the rest are under intense pressure from the White House and big business to go along. As the Democratic front-runner for President in 2016, Hillary Clinton can show true leadership on fast track. She has already come out against some parts of the trade agreement, but has to date only said she has been for some agreements—and against others. Hillary Clinton opposing fast-track would be a game changer in helping us defeat it. Sign the petition to Hillary Clinton: Please oppose fast-track for the TPP.

The growing gap between what Americans need for retirement and what they have is in the trillions of dollars. That’s why it’s critically important that those representing different interests have an ample amount of time to submit comments to the Department of Labor on this proposed rule.

Massachusetts Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren has warned that passing Fast Track for the proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement would cost American jobs and threaten U.S. financial regulations. [1] Doctors Without Borders warns the agreement would delay the availability of affordable drugs. [2] Oxfam warns the agreement would undermine efforts to reduce poverty in developing countries. [3] Human Rights Watch warns that current Fast Track legislation would protect trade with Israeli settlements in the West Bank that violate international law. [4] But President Obama says Senator Warren is “absolutely wrong” in her criticisms, claiming “her arguments don’t stand the test of fact and scrutiny.” [5] Urge President Obama and Senator Warren to agree to a televised debate on these issues that will inform the American people by signing our petition. References: 1. http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/10/us/politics/obama-calls-elizabeth-warren-absolutely-wrong-on-trans-pacific-trade-deal.html 2. http://www.doctorswithoutborders.org/help-us-fix-tpp 3. http://www.oxfamamerica.org/press/fast-track-and-tpp-bad-for-development/ 4. http://www.hrw.org/news/2015/05/15/don-t-protect-israeli-settlement-trade 5. http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/10/us/politics/obama-calls-elizabeth-warren-absolutely-wrong-on-trans-pacific-trade-deal.html

Nearly 400 corporations — including four dozen with over $1 million in Oregon profits — paid no 2012 state income taxes. But the names of those companies are not public information. Yet. If you think Oregonians ought to know, sign the petition asking the Oregon legislature to require corporations to disclose how much they pay in Oregon income taxes. It's wrong that working families are paying more in income taxes to support our schools, seniors and health care than some large, profitable corporations. Oregon children sit in overcrowded classrooms and tuition at our colleges and universities continues to climb, while some corporations pay little or nothing to support vital public structures. That’s wrong.

Despite being the first state in the nation to pass an equal pay law, women in Oregon still only earn about 79 cents for every dollar earned by their male counterparts. Here’s a big part of the problem: You can’t ask for equal pay if you don’t know you’re being paid less. Too often, employers discourage workers from talking about pay, benefits, and working conditions – sometimes they even punish or fire them for doing it. That needs to end. Oregon has a chance to lead on the issue of pay transparency. The Oregon House recently passed the Paycheck Fairness Act, which would outlaw retaliation against employees who talk about salaries and working conditions. Now, it’s up to the Oregon Senate to act. Sign the Petition: Tell the Oregon Senate to pass the Paycheck Fairness Act without delay!

As a RVT, I know what my job consists of and I believe we are some of the most hard working, underpaid individuals. We are not just nurses but are anesthesiologists, lab techs, xray techs, surgical techs, dental hygenists, pharmacy techs, and the list continues. The average salary a Registered Nurse makes is $26.65 per hour, while the average salary a RVT makes is $15.24. I believe our salaries should be around the same as RNs. No hate to all the great RNs out there, I personally appreciate you all. Having members in my family who are RNs just made me want to be like them but with animals. We love our jobs but our salaries don't reflect our extensive education and the various titles we hold under one name. I want all the RVTs to be more recognized and more valued for all of the hard work we do.

We, the Casino employees of the State of Ohio, agree to help our state and bring more funds in for many improvements. Let’s allow and legalize gaming for Ohio Casino Employees within the State of Ohio. We, as Ohioans, are forced to take our hard-earned money to the neighboring states to game, taking multi-millions from the State of Ohio. This is money we could use in the State of Ohio to help lower taxes, provide educational funds, and improve the State of Ohio.

My wife and I in retirement are frequent users of Michigan's fast-deteriorating roads and strongly feel that our Governor and Legislature need to assume responsibility for adequately funding infrastructure maintenance & repair.

Texas taxpayers pay $21,390 a year per prisoner. If a parole officer can have a case load of 60, that would save the state $1,262,010 each year times 67 Parole Offices times the number of parole officers in each office. Do the math. Save our money or spend it more wisely.

For decades, the American labor movement has worked closely with the United Way to help raise funds for those in need and help charitable efforts around the world. Recently, staff of the United Way Worldwide sought out union representation of their own to make their workplace a better one. Instead of remaining neutral and allowing workers to chart their own course, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Joe Haggerty embarked on an anti-union campaign to scare employees away from voting in favor of union representation. In his letter he directly said "The answer is that UWW does not believe that a Union would provide added value for the vast majority of our Associates." "First, we do not believe that having a Union will add anything significant to your wages, benefits and working conditions and that anything achieved will be more than offset by Union dues." We need to tell Joe Haggerty to stop disrespecting workers's unions that have helped create and sustain United Way Worldwide.

Connecticut taxpayers subsidize large, low-wage corporations to the tune of $480 million annually because their workers are forced into needed programs such as Medicaid, food stamps and child care assistance programs. Too many Connecticut families receive poverty wages, work 60 to 80 hours per week, and still cannot pay the rent, their car payments, or put food on the table. This has to stop now! Enact the Low Wage Employer Fee--and make corporations pay their fair share.