Demos

Campaigns

• Do Not Allow Credit Checks to Stop People From Entering the Workforce!

  Credit reports were originally developed to assist financial creditors in considering the degree of risk involved in lending assets to would-be borrowers. Over time, however, employers began using personal credit histories as a means to assess job worthiness and character. Today nearly half of all employers conduct credit checks as a condition of employment, including for a number of non-financial jobs such as home aide services, maintenance, and telephone technical support. Job candidates and employees have limited legal recourse to object to this practice. No definitive body of research correlates the usage of employment credit checks, and poor credit histories specifically, to any real or perceived measure of job performance. Poor credit most significantly reflects one or a combination of three challenges: unemployment, a lack of health insurance, and medical debt. Employment credit checks benefit no one. They do not separate productive versus unproductive workers. They do not speak to employee competence. They cannot predict illegal behaviors while on the job, nor can they assess individual responsibility away from it. The material effects of employment credit checks are nothing for anyone to be proud of. Individual privacy is invaded. Poor and/or minority candidates are disproportionately discriminated against. As a result, able-bodied workers remain excluded from the workforce, which keeps them from earning the very income that they need in order to improve upon the credit histories that impair their job prospects. Employment in America should not operate in this manner. No American should live in fear of being passed over for gainful employment due to circumstances that stand beyond their control and are largely unrelated to their potential job performance. Senator Elizabeth Warren seeks to put an end to the practice of employment credit checks, through the Equal Employment for All Act. Stand in support of this cause by signing this petition today!

  67,083 of 75,000 Signatures

  Created by Heather McGhee, Vice President of Policy & Outreach, Demos
• Progressives: Call out racist dog whistle politics

  In a recent op-ed for the Nation, Demos Senior Fellow Ian Haney López, author of Dog Whistle Politics, and I made the case that our pursuit of economic equality has been strategically undermined by racist dog whistles. For the past forty years, the right wing has had a winning strategy: sell the economic agenda of the 1% to working- and middle-class white voters through a hidden formula: Fear People of Color --> Hate Government --> Trust the Market and the 1% Tax cuts for the very rich, slashed social spending, corporations writing their own rules, unions on the ropes: All sold to the American people through a narrative of racial resentment. We can’t win against economic inequality without addressing the right’s best weapon against a unified 99%. Everything progressives want—debt-free college, universal health care, campaign finance rules, climate change solutions, workers’ rights—requires a belief in government and trust in each other. My pledge: Name and shame. I’ll call out coded racial terms that paint our fellow Americans as undeserving and that lower our aspirations for government: “illegal alien,” “makers and takers,” “people who want free stuff,” “welfare queen,” “entitlement mentality,” “the Food Stamp President”... and whatever they think of next. Racially integrate our movement. Today’s economic populist movement has to include all of us if it’s going to succeed. I’ll work to ensure that our rallies and meetings are racially & ethnically diverse, and knock on doors in neighborhoods that are different than mine. I’ll take solidarity actions with the Muslims, Latinos, African Americans and Native Americans who are currently experiencing waves of hate and derision. By doing so, I commit to creating a multiracial progressive movement that will fight simultaneously for racial and economic justice. For more information, read the Nation article I wrote with my colleague Ian Haney López, UC Berkeley Law Professor, Demos Senior Fellow and director of the Racial Politics Project at the Haas Institute. Ian literally wrote the book on Dog Whistle Politics (http://www.amazon.com/Dog-Whistle-Politics-Appeals-Reinvented/dp/019022925X). Find the Nation article here: http://www.thenation.com/article/how-populists-like-bernie-sanders-should-talk-about-racism/

  5,163 of 6,000 Signatures

  Created by Heather McGhee, Demos
• Tell President Obama: Announce a "Good Jobs" Executive Order During the State of the Union!

  According to the Washington Post, the president is considering announcing a "Good Jobs" executive order in his State of the Union Address next week. It is critical that we call on the White House to take this important step forward. Demos' research has found that the federal government is the nation's leading low-wage employer, with nearly two million private sector employees paid through federal contracts, grants, loans, concession agreements and property leases were paid $12 or less per hour. Meanwhile, taxpayers spend an estimated $20.8 to $23.9 billion a year to compensate top executives of federal contractors. Despite a proud history of efforts to ensure that employees working on behalf of America are treated fairly on the job, and that companies that have the privilege of doing business with the United States are upholding high standards of employment practices, many federally funded jobs today have been subject to the same race to the bottom that has lowered standards for other work. By signing such an order, President Obama would not only improve conditions for low-paid contract workers, but would also give greater momentum to the fight for a federal minimum wage increase that would benefit everyone. Tell President Obama to announce the "Good Jobs" Executive Order during the State of the Union on Tuesday night.

  2 of 100 Signatures

  Created by Heather McGhee, Demos
• Bring Secret Corporate Spending Out of the Shadows! (Comment on SEC File Number 4-637)

  Senator Elizabeth Warren says that secret corporate political spending is “fundamentally wrong. It undercuts the basic notions of corporate democracy, and ultimately all of democracy.” Stand with Senator Warren—demand that the SEC require disclosure of secret corporate political spending. Citizens United opened the door for corporations to inject unlimited money into our politics—but the Supreme Court assumed it would all be disclosed to shareholders and the public! Instead there’s been an explosion of dark money in our elections. Without a disclosure rule from the SEC, corporations can spend entirely behind closed doors. That’s why a record breaking 660,000 comments have called for the SEC to act to require disclosure of corporate political spending, from investors, public officials, securities experts, and citizens like you. Americans overwhelmingly oppose the rise of secret corporate political spending and understand that the SEC must act now to stop this new threat before even more dark corporate money floods our elections. However, SEC Chairwoman Mary Jo White rejected these appeals and removed the rule from the SEC’s 2014 agenda. She’s getting pressure from powerful business groups who prefer to use shareholder money to exert political power without any accountability. Stand with Senator Warren and tell the SEC to act on the corporate political disclosure rule now! It is up to us to let the SEC know we need the corporate political disclosure rule back on their agenda to stop secret corporate political spending.

  49,374 of 50,000 Signatures

  Created by Demos
• President Obama: Sign a Good Jobs Executive Order

  Our new report, Underwriting Good Jobs, finds that a Good Jobs Executive Order could give a raise to over 20 million Americans by lifting up the eight million Americans who work in federally-supported low-wage jobs. Women make up nearly 70% of that low-wage federally-supported workforce, and people of color make up nearly half. Building on the success of his executive order in January raising the minimum wage for federal contractors to $10.10 an hour, which benefited hundreds of thousands of workers, the president take executive action to institute a Good Jobs Policy today. The Good Jobs Executive Order advocated in the report would apply to the entire workforce of federally-supported employers and would significantly benefit women and minorities – who make up a large percentage of low-wage workers in the federal purchasing footprint. It builds on state and local precedents, advocating for spending agencies to incorporate higher workforce standards when evaluating and awarding federal contracts. These standards should include collective bargaining rights, living wages and good benefits, compliance with workplace protection laws and other applicable business regulations, and limits on excessive executive compensation.

  13,117 of 15,000 Signatures

  Created by Heather McGhee, Demos
• Support Senator Warren's Bank on Students Emergency Loan Refinancing Act

  Demos is a public policy organization working for an America where we all have an equal say in our democracy and an equal chance in our economy. Student debt is a core issue of ours, and we support Senator Warren's bill. For more on the bill: http://www.warren.senate.gov/documents/BankonStudentsFactSheet.pdf

  19,411 of 20,000 Signatures

  Created by Heather McGhee, Demos
• Tell President Obama: announce a "Good Jobs" executive order during the State of the Union!

  According to the Washington Post, the president is considering announcing a "Good Jobs" executive order in his State of the Union address next week. It is critical that we call on the White House to take this important step forward. Demos's research has found that the federal government is the nation's leading low-wage employer, with nearly two million private-sector employees paid through federal contracts, grants, loans, concession agreements, and property leases paid $12 or less per hour. Meanwhile, Demos finds that taxpayers spend an estimated $20.8 - $23.9 billion a year to compensate top executives of federal contractors. Despite a proud history of efforts to ensure that employees working on behalf of America are treated fairly on the job, and that companies that have the privilege of doing business with the United States are upholding high standards of employment practice, many federally funded jobs today have been subject to the same race to the bottom that has lowered standards for other work. By signing such an order, President Obama would not only improve conditions for low-paid contract workers but would also give greater momentum to the fight for a federal minimum wage increase that would benefit everyone. Tell President Obama to announce the "Good Jobs" executive order during the State of the Union on Tuesday night.

  629 of 800 Signatures

  Created by Heather McGhee, Demos
• Tell Congress to Strengthen, Support & Pass the Voting Rights Amendment Act!

  Last year, the Supreme Court gutted the landmark Voting Rights Act of 1965. Since then, state legislatures across the country have raced to implement new restrictive laws that would do exactly what the Voting Rights Act was meant to protect against. We have a golden opportunity to stop that. Right Now. On January 16, 2014, Representatives Jim Sensenbrenner (R-WI) and John Conyers (D-MI) and Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT) introduced new bi-partisan legislation—the Voting Rights Amendment Act of 2014—that would strengthen the Voting Rights Act. This bill isn't perfect, but is the best vehicle we have for restoring the rights struck down by the Supreme Court last year. Improving and passing this bill won't be easy. Already, opponents are gearing up to derail its passage. Despite the fact that the bill is bi-partisan, it's not guaranteed to pass. Join us in calling on members of Congress to improve and co-sponsor this vital bill.

  53,570 of 75,000 Signatures

  Created by Heather McGhee, Demos
• Restore the Voting Rights Act

  Congress must act soon to restore the Voting Rights Act in the wake of the Supreme Court decision, Shelby County v. Holder, handed down on June 25th.

  1,363 of 2,000 Signatures

  Created by Demos
• Mayor Gimenez: Don't deny Miami-Dade voters the right to free and fair elections

  Last week, New Florida Majority and its partners turned in over 127,000 petitions in Miami-Dade County calling for an initiative on the ballot this November to reduce the power of big-money interests and give ordinary people a stronger voice in our elections. While this fight is local, its success could strengthen the movement to get big money out of politics across the country. Wealthy special interests have too big a say in who gets to run for office and what laws get passed. Political donations have a large amount of influence over the political process, and the vibrant diversity of communities around the country, such as Miami-Dade County, isn't represented in the donor class. For example, Black people make up one-fifth of Miami-Dade County's population, but only two percent of donors to mayoral candidates. The donor pool for county commission candidates includes more Black donors but is still not representative. The ballot initiative in Miami-Dade, which successfully gained 127,000 petition signatures, would encourage a more diverse donor pool and empower the county's Black population, and it could pave the way for similar legislation around the country. The initiative would lower contribution limits, prohibit contributions from big county contractors and their lobbyists, and strengthen enforcement and update the county's public financing program to replace the large donations from wealthy special interests with small donations from ordinary people. The people of Miami-Dade have spoken, and they want this initiative on the November ballot. Will you stand with them and make sure their voices are heard? All the rules regarding petition circulation and delivery were followed in Miami-Dade, and now it is time for the Elections Department to fulfill its duty to count and verify the petitions in time for the 2016 election. Mayor Carlos Gimenez and the county commissioners cannot ignore the voices of 127,000 people and deny the right to free and fair elections to Miami-Dade's residents.

  10,021 of 15,000 Signatures

  Created by Jodeen Olguín-Tayler, Demos