With gas prices finally going down to a level that is affordable, what does our state government do? They are trying to more than double our state gas tax. Lets send them a message in Lansing!

In the recent November 4 elections, voters across the state of Illinois were asked to vote yes or no on whether the state should raise its minimum wage. This referendum passed with a huge mandate: 67% of voters—over 2 million Illinoisans—approved it. Republican and Democratic areas—urban, suburban, and rural—saw overwhelming majorities of support. The question received a majority of yes votes in almost every one of the state’s 118 House districts. Members of the General Assembly: The people of this state have spoken. We need a higher minimum wage, and we need it now. If we raise the wage to $10 an hour, over 1 million working people will get a raise. They cannot wait. Over 100,000 working single parents will get a raise. They cannot wait. One in four African-American workers, one in three Latino workers in our state will get a raise. They cannot wait another day for a paycheck they can actually live on. The will of the people is clear. We urge you to do your job, to serve your constituents, to call a vote on HB 3718 and SB 68 during this upcoming veto session.

Last year, in two executive actions, President Obama raised the minimum wage of federal contractors to $10.10 an hour, and ordered firms to disclose labor law violations when applying for federal contracts. Now, workers are calling on Obama to build on his prior executive actions with something bigger and more comprehensive. A new executive order would prioritize contracting with fair pay, workplace protections, and good safety records. That would have a huge impact. In 2013, the U.S. government spent $437.5 billion on domestic federal contracting. In a new analysis, Demos Senior Policy Analyst Robert Hiltonsmith shows that, $175 billion of those dollars went to contractors with a major workplace violation in the past 15 years. In Demos' original report, Underwriting Good Jobs, we showed such an order would benefit over 20 million Americans. The federal government should follow the American people and prioritize the type of contractors that do the right thing. Treating your workers fairly should be a prerequisite of receiving our tax dollars.

I recently learned of this situation,where many of the Food Buyers, Walmart (2014) Chipotle Mexican Grill (2012) Trader Joe’s (2012) Sodexo (2010) Aramark (2010) Compass Group (2009) Bon Appetit Management Company (2009) Subway (2008) Whole Foods Market (2008) Burger King (2008) McDonald’s (2007) Yum Brands (2005) have ALL signed on, but our very own, home grown grocery store, Publix, hasn't agreed to sign on. Publix is my favorite store, by far, but I'm very disappointed that this Corporation, a Florida Corporation, won't agree to 1 penny more per tomato. And almost ALL the tomatoes in Publix Stores, 90% or more, are grown and picked in the very state, they started their first store in. I will gladly pay an additional penny a tomato, for this cause and purpose. I will go right now and give a dollar to the local store, to offset any loss of profit, from any tomatoes that I will buy for the coming year and given the opportunity, many others will too! I always thought of Publix as a Family business, but even Walmart has signed on, which alone,makes a statement! Publix step up! Let's get our tomatoes locally or even from Walmart!

As the costs of housing, food, health care and other basic necessities continue to rise dramatically, Georgia’s minimum wage has stalled at its 2002 level of just $5.15 an hour -- the lowest of any state in the country. Georgia has one of the highest percentages of minimum wage workers in the country -- 6.4 percent of Georgia workers earn minimum wage vs. 4.7 percent of workers nationally. And about half of all minimum-wage workers nationwide are over the age of 24. In Georgia, a minimum-wage worker at the federal rate of $7.25 an hour would have to work 79 hours per week in order to afford a two-bedroom apartment at fair market rent. A majority of Georgia voters support raising the minimum wage, which would benefit hundreds of thousands of Georgia workers, their children and their families, while giving a huge boost to local economies.

I want to preserve the people's voice in how our economy works, not only for adults like me and my loved ones, but also for the children who need to have an economy they can thrive in. The TPP would devastate jobs, not only internationally, but also within the United States, in ways not seen before. It would even ban "Buy American, Buy Local," an effort that has preserved and grown U.S. jobs for decades. For more information, view these links: Expose the TTP website http://www.exposethetpp.org/TPPImpacts_BuyLocal.html Democracy Now! video clip and transcript http://www.democracynow.org/2014/11/6/obama_mcconnell_pledge_cooperation_will_fast Public Citizen website http://www.citizen.org/Page.aspx?pid=5414

The American working and middle classes have been hit hard financially over the last decade and need some tax relief - a 10% increase in income tax when moving up from the 15% bracket to the next level is too much money out of the pockets of people who are struggling to make a livelihood. A modification needs to be put into effect before our next tax deadline.

Giving tax breaks blindly in hopes of the Corporations creating jobs is NOT a cost effective way to spur our economy. For the same 300 billion dollars the Government could have hired 6 million workers Nationwide to begin re-building our roads, bridges and schools.

I am starting this petition for all those people who don't have any rights who work in retail. My wife and I both work in the retail industry and every year have to give up our time with our families on Thanksgiving day, just to go watch other families having fun and hanging out. What makes people who work in retail any different? Should we not be able to have a day with our family as well? Is waiting one more day really going to change anything, are the sales not going to be there? Besides, every year you hear about another person dying over a sale, or someone getting hurt in a line. Is an object really that more important than a life? Materialistic things will always be there, but time with your family is always more valuable, and doesn't carry a price tag. Please support this and put an end to shopping on holidays.

A great University should be a force for fairness, but that has not been the case with the treatment of the 14,000 Teamsters whose hard work makes the University of California function. The University is all too happy to accept our members’ contribution to its success. But when it comes time to hand out well-earned incentive and bonus awards, the University excludes administrative support workers. To make matters worse, managers dishonestly blame the Union for the University’s decision to exclude our members, falsely claiming that the Union Contract prevents them from including the Teamsters in incentive and bonus programs. The truth is that the Teamsters Contract clearly permits our members to be included in incentive awards. Yet the University has systematically excluded administrative support wrokers from receiving incentive and bonus awards it gives to other employees. Such insidious discrimination has no place at the University of California.

Please tell California State Legislators to STOP approving a second-class system of medical treatment for injured workers and that the laws they approved in 2012 is discriminatory and unconscionable and needs to be changed!

As the Deputy Director of Interfaith Worker Justice, a national organization that engages the faith community in worker rights issues, I’ve encountered my fair share of unscrupulous corporate bosses who strip workers of their rights and dignity on the job. As a faithful Episcopalian and divinity school graduate, whose experience of church and seminary led me to my vocation, I never imagined the day when I’d find myself rallying against leaders of the Church’s oldest seminary, General Theological Seminary (GTS). Today, Oct. 17, the GTS Board of Trustees ruled against pleas — from students, clergy, worker advocates and concerned people of faith — to fully reinstate the eight GTS professors (GTS8) who were recently let go for exercising their legal right to demand fair treatment and a healthy work environment. As custodians and overseers of an institution charged with nurturing the next generation of faith leaders, the Board of Trustees’ decision jeopardizes not just the lives and livelihoods of the GTS8, but also the integrity of an institution founded on Episcopalian values that includes the just and fair treatment of workers. The seminary has failed to live out its religious values, so it's time to look to the Presiding Bishop and Church for leadership and accountability. What the board of trustees has done is wrong. The Presiding Bishop, the Most Rev. Dr. Katharine Jefferts Schori, can make this right. Episcopalians, seminarians, clergy, people of faith and worker rights advocates all over the country are waiting for her to act. The GTS8 deserve nothing less than full reinstatement.