We all know a hard days work should pay a decent wage but 300,000 Maryland workers currently earn $7.25/hour - the lowest POSSIBLE minimum wage in the U.S - not enough for a family to survive on. Putting more money into the hands of those who need it most and will spend it quickly on goods and services will create jobs and help rebuild the middle class and our economy. Please sign this petition to call on the Maryland General Assembly to raise the minimum wage to $10/hour over 3 years. Then please forward it to others, learn more, and get involved at RaiseMaryland.org.

Urgent: a budget already approved by the Pennsylvania House inflicts massive pain on working families and the poor—and we only have days to stop it from becoming law. The current budget cuts almost $1 billion from Pennsylvania public schools and slashes $471 million in funding for health care, services for people with disabilities and vulnerable children. It even stashes away $540 million in a “rainy day” fund, while unemployment remains at record levels. But it fails to close corporate loopholes or enact a Marcellus Shale drilling tax—which could help avoid cuts to services for seniors, kids, and other vulnerable citizens, while also helping to mitigate the environmental impact of drilling. (Pennsylvania is one of the only states that does not tax drilling.) We still have a chance to influence the final budget—because negotiations with the governor and Pennsylvania Senate are ongoing. But there isn’t much time. A vote could happen as early as this week.

Pennsylvania is the only state that does not tax drilling. Not only do the Marcellus Shale "frackers" pay no drilling tax, no other drilling is taxed either. Whether you oppose all drilling in the Marcellus Shale, support drilling with restrictions or hold another view, Pennsylvanians agree that drillers must pay their fair share in taxes.

HR 589 was introduced by Representative Barbara Lee in February, 2011. HR 589 would add a 14 week extension to unemployment benefits ( a new Tier). 99ers, many of whom are older workers, were left out of the last extension, leaving them to fend for themselves for over a year. With no jobs and no benefits, not everyone survives.

Stop Pre-Emploment Credit Checks! Many states have already banned the discriminatory practice of checking credit ratings before offering employment but many have yet to catch up. This petition is in effort to raise awareness to Government Officials at all levels in Tennessee that this practice is discriminatory and elitist in nature. It prevents those who have recently fallen on hard times through no fault of their own from joining the workforce again and being productive members of society. I urge you to take a stand for the hard working Tennesseans that want to work. US States That Took Action to Eliminate Credit Checks in Non-Financial Employment * In the Northeast: New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Vermont, Maryland, Pennsylvania. * In the Midwest: Michigan, Missouri, Ohio, Indiana, * In the South: Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, South Carolina * In the South/West: Texas, Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico, Nevada, Arkansas * In the West: California, Oregon, Washington, Montana, Nebraska

Men and Women are being denied jobs and homes or apartments and other important things because of bad credit and other things such as judgements or liens and they are not the ones who signed for the loans. If your spouse or ex spouse does not take care of loans or credit it hurts innocent people that may be resposible in the past but new things hurt the innocent spouse or in the case of divorce ex spouse

Urgent: Gov. Walker and Wisconsin Republicans are calling an “extraordinary session” of the legislature, beginning Tuesday, June 14. By this Friday, they're expected to use this session to slash our education, health care and support systems, and jam through rights-stripping attacks on Wisconsin workers. The people of Wisconsin have stood together for over 100 days in a historic response to the unprecedented assault on the working and middle classes. Wisconsinites have rallied, marched and even set up tent cities to call attention to Gov. Walker’s devastating budget proposals and to stop the attacks on working people. But even with recalls of anti-worker legislators looming, the attacks continue. Even if we don't stop Walker and his friends in the legislature, we need to continue to make sure the governor, the legislature, and the media understand that the people of Wisconsin don't support their radical agenda.

In the state of Oklahoma there are countless men and women who are felons and cannot attain profitable employment due to discrimination by business & industry with restrictions on hiring people with felonies. Leaving many homeless and relying on welfare and generosity of strangers to survive. We need jobs!

NYS homeowners will learn soon enough that unless you accompany the tax levy cap with true local tax relief, and seriously address mandates and other sources of rising costs, the only way is out - out of New York. Pay for Circuit Breaker relief with extension of the Millionaire's tax on true millionaires. Or, re-direct the $1.5 billion property tax revenues - realized by rescinding middle-class STAR - to Circuit Breaker legislation before the legislature right now. Hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers paid 10-50 percent of their income in property taxes this year, last year and the year before. A tax cap, whatever its merits, assures annual increases in those tax bills. The ranks of the overly taxed will grow as the recession continues. NYS's problem is NOT state income tax - or maybe it is. When you and those before you say, "No new taxes," you're talking state income taxes. We at the local level know what follows: increased local taxes. Yes, rein in costs with mandate reform, healthcare reform and intelligent policy - but do something NOW that will honestly help the middle-class stay in their homes and in New York. Please, lead with the facts and good public policy for all.

Support against all odds

On May 13, three of my fellow San Jose Council Members and the Mayor proposed a fiscal and public safety emergency that would strip city workers of their benefits and take away their collective bargaining rights. This bill is substantially similar to the attacks on workers rights that were recently rammed through Wisconsin’s legislature by its rabidly anti-worker governor, Scott Walker. But then, there was a huge backlash. As part of that backlash, thousands of San Jose residents—and thousands more across the country—signed a petition I started to Mayor Reed and the San Jose City Council, urging them to resolve our city’s fiscal situation in cooperation with our workers. Because of our efforts, the bill has been postponed to August 2! Now, I need help to keep my petition growing. If I can get a total of 10,000 signatures by August 2, it will send a really powerful message that attacks on collective bargaining won't be tolerated in San Jose. I will do everything within my power to convince the Mayor and my fellow council members to work with our city’s workers to solve our San Jose’s budget challenges, rather than attacking them. So far, this has been a tough fight. But with the votes postponed, we're winning. On Aug. 2, the city is scheduled up the "fiscal and public safety emergency" proposal, as well as proposals to retroactively reduce pension benefits that our workers have already earned and are contractually entitled to. Measures like these historically have been held to be illegal, and will no doubt lead to lengthy and expensive lawsuits. Instead of using these extreme tactics, we should work with our employees, who have shown their willingness to do their part to achieve fiscal reform. By myself, I am one City Council member. But together, we are powerful. I need your help to make sure our Mayor and City Council know that attacks on workers won’t be tolerated.

We need more Americans to buy American textiles. If we just spend an additional $30.00, per year on clothes made in America we would save hundreds of thousands of jobs! Not to mention the help it would be to our economy and the individual businesses! Most unionmade products available here are made in America!!! Just think of the economic boost it will be to keep all that money here, instead of sending it to China!!!