During the COVID-19 pandemic, Amazon became a trillion-dollar corporation, with Bezos becoming the first person in history to amass $200 billion in personal wealth. Meanwhile, Amazon warehouse workers risked their lives as essential workers and only briefly received an increase in pay. Now, we're demanding Amazon pay its fair share to workers, communities, and the planet. Sign the petition to join workers, activists, and citizens from across the globe coming together to Make Amazon Pay its workers fairly, pay for its impact on the environment, and pay its taxes. Together, we'll demand Amazon and lawmakers implement policies to improve the workplace, provide job security, respect workers, operate sustainably, and pay back to society.

In September, the Department of Labor (DOL) proposed new regulations for the H-2A guest worker program that would reduce abuse, exploitation and trafficking of farm workers. Transparency and accountability in the H-2A program will in turn improve the wages and working conditions of US workers. The 327 pages of complex regulations by the Biden administration would improve the lives of the hard working men and women who harvest our food and reflect the recommendations that the farm worker movement have been making for years. The public comment period will be open until November 14th. Please help us do all we can to make sure these changed regulations go into effect by sending your email to make sure the final regulations are as strong as possible and improve workers' conditions, wages, and ability to organize. The proposed DOL regulations would improve conditions for H-2A farm workers by: * Strengthening workers' right to advocate, form a union & have key services in employer-provided housing * Protecting workers from unjust firing, retaliation, and other violations by employers * Prohibiting employers from confiscating travel documents to prevent human trafficking * Targeting unlawful fees, fraud, and other abuse in the recruitment and hiring of workers These changes are urgently needed. Just last year, a federal investigation uncovered how H-2A employers ran a human trafficking ring, described by prosecutors as "modern day slavery" in Florida, Texas, and Georgia. In Utah, the former President of the Utah Farm Bureau is now subject to a human trafficking investigation after physically assaulting H-2A workers on his farm. Wage theft, abuse and exploitation are commonplace in the H-2A program and displace US workers while employers profit. This can't keep happening. The current system is broken and oversight is urgently needed and the regulations must be changed. Take action to send us your comments, add a personalized comment on the box on the share page and we can submit them en masse and save you the difficulty of navigating through the government website.

Our institutions, and quite frankly, just general normalcy are at stake. Chaos will ensue if MAGA leaders like Jordan or Scalise get picked as Speaker of the House and extremists likeMatt Gaetz and Marjorie Taylor Greene will only be emboldened. As the GOP circus continues, the American people are the ones who will continue paying the price for their chaos, as House Republicans continue to avoid governing and advancing progress. Sources: 1. "Freedom Caucus likely to play a bigger role in new GOP-led House. So who are they?" Pew Research Center, January 23, 2023 https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2023/01/23/freedom-caucus-likely-to-play-a-bigger-role-in-new-gop-led-house-so-who-are-they/ 2. "Jim Jordan's rapid rise has been cheered by Trump and the far right. Could it soon make him speaker?" ABC News, October 16, 2023 https://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/jim-jordans-rapid-rise-cheered-trump-make-speaker-104002789 3. "Jim Jordan U.S. Representative from Ohio," GLAAD, October 6, 2023 https://glaad.org/gap/jim-jordan/

No one should have to bury their loved ones because of someone else’s lack of concern.

Housing can be a particularly cruel method of racial oppression and Home Owner Associations (HOAs) are often the tool. Green Valley Ranch HOA -- and many other HOAs -- have far too much power over residents and are motivated entirely by profit, often on the backs of low income people of color looking for the American dream of owning their first home. HOAs should never restrict anybody's right to shelter. Nowhere is this more clear than in Denver at the Green Valley Ranch properties. We can stop Green Valley Ranch and other HOAs by joining together and making change on the local, state and national level. The Redress Movement works in deep partnership with local communities to repair the harm caused by intentional policies to segregate communities and we do our work by educating, mobilizing, shifting the narrative, and winning redress victories. Our starting point is housing but we work in solidarity with others who are facing the facts of history, redressing harms of the past, and healing our nation by dismantling the barriers that divide us.

This week, Live Nation announced it would stop taking merch cuts at some of its venues. While it’s a start, there are nearly 100 Live Nation venues this does not apply to and many, many more venues nationwide owned and operated by other companies. Every venue and promoter must follow suit. Venues and promoters—often one and the same, given Live Nation’s effective monopoly on the live music industry—do not design, manufacture, ship, transport, load, or unload, and in most cases sell an artist’s or band’s merchandise. Fans are already price-gouged by junk fees on ticket sales. Taking a cut of merchandise sales from artists not only drives up the cost of merchandise for fans, it also creates a situation for musicians where making ends meet is even more difficult in an already predatory industry. These cuts have such a negative impact on some artists, they are forced to consider leaving the industry altogether because they cannot afford to continue with their careers. The fans come to the venues for the artists, not for the venue owner or promoter. They buy merchandise to support the musicians they love, not because they’re fans of a corporation. Their money should go directly, and entirely, to the artists.

Our neighbors are losing their homes, and sometimes even their lives, to fires, floods, and extreme heat. Cities and states are spending billions to respond to non stop climate disasters and extreme weather events. But instead of paying their fair share for the damage they’ve caused, fossil fuel companies continue to rake in massive profits at our expense. It’s time to make polluters pay for the damage they’ve done. There’s now a growing global effort to use our legal process to hold Big Oil accountable for their climate disinformation and the damage they’re doing. Cases in South Africa, the Netherlands, the United States, and beyond are already making their way through the courts. Together, we can build a global movement that supports these lawsuits and other mechanisms to hold Big Oil accountable. These lawsuits aren’t a solution to the climate crisis – we need governments to do their part – but they’re a powerful tool for us to finally hold this industry accountable. Join us and sign the petition.

For many parents, making ends meet each month is already a tremendous challenge. The end of crucial pandemic relief has resulted in a cascade of difficulties, including rising grocery and gas prices, the resumption of student loan payments, and unexpected Medicaid disenrollments. Losing access to affordable and reliable childcare is a burden too heavy to bear. We cannot afford to let our childcare system collapse. It's not just about providing a safe space for our children; it's about ensuring the well-being of families and our economy. Sign the petition to protect our children's future, support working parents, and strengthen our communities. Congress, the time to act is now.

The right-wing Republicans driving the agenda of the House of Representatives are threatening to shut down the government. This means that essential services—from making sure our drinking water is clean to keeping our national parks open to ensuring Social Security checks go out on time—could be in jeopardy. There have been federal shutdowns in the past. They hurt the economy, they punish federal workers, and they take a toll on Americans across the country. Why would the so-called Freedom Caucus and the likes of Marjorie Taylor Greene want this? To push their radical-right agenda with a wish list of demands they know there's no legislative mandate or popular support for. Their demands range from making our immigration system more abusive to stopping the government from holding Trump accountable for his attacks on our democracy to voting on an absurd impeachment of President Biden. Their goal is to prevent President Biden from being able to govern—and to demonstrate that they don't think the federal government should function. We know better. And we know how many services and programs we rely on. That's why we're asking all members of Congress to say no to a politicized, partisan, reckless agenda to shut down the government. Credit: CNS/Reuters

It starts with a handful of people and small businesses that the state government thinks it can cut out and run out of business, but where will it stop? They can not be allowed to get away with unfairly competing with small business in the state and causing more problems.

A fight over the future of Maui is coming. Opportunists are already seeking to capitalize on Lāhainā and Maui’s crisis to profit as Maui rebuilds. The Big Money special interests who have held back progress in our islands for too long and helped create the conditions for our current mess can not be the ones to profit or lead us on the way out. We know that as we rebuild, we need to return the power, and rights to our land and water, to the people who give life to Lāhainā. Government and developers need to empower us to decide what’s next, and if they don’t, we will rise up together to fight for what's ours. Image credit: Tiffany Kidder Winn | AP

Each year, more than 500 million plastic bags are discarded. Most people do not think about where this plastic goes, but the truth is, it never goes away. The amount of plastic on the planet is growing. It clogs up the rivers and oceans, chokes animals, enters the air, and contributes to pointless mass production. A simple 5 cent tax on single use plastic bags may seem like a small effort, but it would benefit the environment greatly. It would help people to only take what they really need, and stop over production ie double bagging, if there is a price involved.