My name is Gertridis Lopez and I work as a cabin cleaner at Newark Airport. I work hard to support my family every day. But making poverty wages for the past 12 years has meant that even when I work full time, it can still be hard to support my family. So my coworkers and I have started organizing with 32BJ and trying to make better jobs and lives for ourselves. Now, for the first time, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey has a proposed policy that could raise 40,000 airport workers out of poverty. There is a lot of talk of statistics and research, but the more personal story is that this proposal to raise airport workers' wages to $19 an hour would transform my life, drastically improve the lives of my children and allow me to fully contribute to my community in Newark. They say engaged parents can make the difference between a child doing well in school or not. But, years of poverty wages at the airport and working a second job in order to support my kids has meant my kids have grown up with me at work instead of having time to be engaged in their lives. My schedule is packed with work but I still found myself behind with expensive bills that cost more than even two jobs would pay. Airport workers are the first line of defense at the airport and we deserve to be paid fairly for this important role. Passengers deserve the experienced workers that a higher wage would create as turnover decreases and airport workers become more skilled at our jobs. And more than anything, our children deserve the benefit of their parents in their lives. Please join me in calling on the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey to support our local communities and airport passengers alike by passing their proposed $19 an hour wage schedule in June! Yours in the struggle, Gertrudis Lopez

Property taxes are wrong and are often applied inequitably, to the detriment of the poor.

I am a retired public school teacher. I worked for 27 years in a public school district Ohio. I am also a widow. My late husband paid into Social Security and was fully vested. Because Ohio is one of the states affected by the Government Pension Offset (GPO), I cannot receive widow's benefits. If I had worked in a state not affected by GPO, I would be eligible to receive widow's benefits. Many retired public employees in the states listed above cannot receive Social Security benefits that were paid for by themselves or their deceased spouses. We are asking the 115th United States Congress to repeal GPO and WEP.

My son has an incredibly rare seizure disorder and autism. The Regional Center in our area has been part of his life since age six months. Because of their help, he's been able to attend early intervention pre-school and receive physical and speech therapy. The regional center will also provide home aides where necessary for his care. Yet in Los Angeles County, where we live, minimum wage is $2.25 more per hour than the state minimum wage. AB 2623 would allow Regional Centers to pay providers at local minimum wage, something they can't currently do. This is crucial for autism families and crucial to continued functioning of the Regional Centers. We need to change this law to keep up with the times.

My petition is to let everyone know that as an CNA We have been talked to with no respect. We are getting the lowest pay ever and there are some places where we can't get a raise or holiday pay. We the Cna's do most the caring for loved ones and feel how the residents feel that hands on care that we give. We make it possible for the family to come see their loved ones looking good and stay clean.

This petition is to show that the United States citizens can stand up for what they believe in. The people of this nation deserve jobs and and the steel tariff destroys jobs. Put an end to this madness. Sign the petition!

The City of Takoma Park is planning to raise the property tax rate (again), add 5 new positions, and increase the total budget from +/- $30 million to $32.5 million on July 1, 2018. Property owners in the City are to provide most of that revenue and at a time when the economic future is indeed uncertain. We simply can't afford it.

About the labor reform that governor Ricardo Roselló and the Fiscal board intent to implement which would only hurt the working class and the poor of PR.

Hard working families and individuals are suffering because of taxation and excessive rent practices. The people's rent shouldn’t be calculated on the gross income, but by the net. Income tax refunds aren't guaranteed to a lot of poor families and minorities. What happens to the families and individuals who don’t get tax refunds because they owe student loans, but yet their rent is still calculated by the gross? The people are fed up; the government and states bail everybody out in these huge corporations, but not The People. It’s time we start listening to The People. Do you know how many working families and single parents this would help as much as the economy if this were to happen? We were not meant to just work and pay bills, but this is what calculating on the gross does. Let’s change this; let’s make this happen and bail The People out. Rent calculated by net, not gross.

We, the undersigned, members and retirees of Teamsters Joint Council 42 participating in the Western Conference of Teamsters Pension Trust Fund (WCTPT) urge you to oppose the Give Retirement Options to Workers (GROW) Act (H.R. 4997). This legislation weakens the entire multiemployer pension system, putting our retirement security, and that of millions of other Americans, at risk. WCTPT is the largest and most successful multiemployer defined benefit pension plan in the nation. WCTPT provides retirement security to over 600,000 families in all 50 states and nearly every congressional district. We rely on the WCTPT and the current multiemployer pension system as critical components to support the financial well-being of our families. The GROW Act would change the rules for multiemployer pension plans in a way that weakens the system as a whole and threatens our retirement security: • First, the bill would drain contributions from existing multiemployer plans to fund new composite plans—setting up both plans for failure and putting our retirement benefits at risk. • Second, the bill would permit draconian cuts to workers’ promised benefits and subject retirees to devastating cuts to their pensions. • Third, the GROW Act would make it easier for employers to withdraw from pension plans without paying their fair share of the plan’s liabilities. • Fourth, the bill undermines the solvency of the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) because composite plans would be exempt from paying premiums, despite creating significant new liabilities for the PBGC due to the plan failures that would result from weakening plan funding. • Finally, under the GROW Act, workers lose the safety net of PBGC insurance coverage and face the prospect of total benefit loss in the event of a plan failure. We strongly urge you to oppose the GROW Act and to instead support efforts to sustain and strengthen the multiemployer pension system in a way that protects the retirement security of millions of American workers and retirees, including those of us who depend on a healthy WCTPT for our financial future.

When $100 can make or break you, parking tickets can set off a series of events that completely destroy your life. I've seen vulnerable people forced into even more extreme vulnerability by Oakland's exploitative parking enforcement system.

Lobbyists from Handy, an online gig economy platform, are trying to rush through a bill that would give them - and other online platforms - special treatment when it comes to how they treat their workers. Georgia lawmakers are only in session until March 29th, so we need to act now to stop this bill! A similar bill in Florida recently passed after less than 10 minutes of discussion by lawmakers , and in Tennessee it has passed both houses even though the Senator behind the called the gig economy the "gigabyte economy" in his testimony. Similar bills have already been introduced in 9 states by Handy, a company that just announced a partnership with Walmart, has the same lobbyist as Uber, and is facing five lawsuits for employee misclassification. The bill allows gig economy companies to treat workers as independent contractors, even if they don't receive the benefits of being an independent contractor, such as setting their own rates. Independent contractors should be just that -- independent. And if a worker doesn’t receive the benefits of being independent, they should receive the rights and protections of being an employee. Handy is pushing this legislation because it will save them from the lawsuits they are facing in five states for employee misclassification. Handy CEO Oisin Hanrahan is on record saying that changing the laws "would definitely help with some of the litigation that's in play." Lawmakers should be looking for solutions to extend rights and benefits to gig workers, not trying to save tech companies from lawsuits. There is a long history of excluding domestic workers from rights and protections, which is rooted in the legacy of slavery. Workers' voices need to be heard in these debates, but instead lawmakers are only listening to those like Handy lobbyist and venture capitalist Bradley Tusk. Tusk recently confessed that Handy chose Georgia and other states to introduce these bills because they believe they can pass them faster here than in states with stronger labor protections. With Handy pushing these bills across 9 states, we have a chance to stop the legislation in Georgia, stand up for workers, and be an example for the rest of the country. Sign today to tell your state legislators that Handy shouldn’t get special treatment. Sources: http://www.tampabay.com/florida-politics/buzz/2018/03/12/florida-lawmakers-approve-last-minute-change-on-behalf-of-powerful-lobbyist/ https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2018/03/19/594792952/in-push-for-convenience-walmart-wants-to-help-shoppers-assemble-furniture-mount- http://money.cnn.com/2018/03/14/news/economy/handy-gig-economy-workers/index.html https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-01-10/it-s-a-new-game-for-uber-drivers-if-new-york-passes-this-law