10 Point Essential Worker's Bill of Rights - Politics Forum.org | PoFo

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#15091368
I definitely believe here in America we NEED a Worker's Bill of Rights. Especially, in light of the COVID-19 Pandemic. Here is a 10 Point Workers Bill of Rights as proposed by Democratic Presidential Candidate Elizabeth Warren and U.S. Representative Ro Khanna:


Essential Worker's BILL OF RIGHTS

1. Workplace-appropriate health and safety protections, including personal protective equipment and an Occupational Safety and Health Administration emergency temporary standard.

2. Fair and substantive premium pay during this crisis that recognizes the higher risks that essential workers are facing, with higher benefits for workers who earn low wages and thus need it most.

3. Protection for all collective bargaining agreements so that they cannot be changed or dissolved by employers during this crisis, including during bankruptcy proceedings.

4. Truly universal paid sick leave and family and medical leave, as outlined in Senator Murray's Providing Americans Insured Days of Leave Act, so all essential workers, without exception, can care for themselves, family members or dependents without being required to submit a doctor's note.

5. Protections for whistleblowers, so workers who witness unsafe conditions can surface concerns without fear of any form of retaliation, including termination.

6. An end to employers' misclassification of workers as "independent contractors" as a way to avoid providing them with the full suite of benefits and protections available to employees.

7. Health care for all workers during this crisis, regardless of immigration status, provided at no cost through public programs, and a full federal subsidy for 15 months of continued health care coverage for employees who lose eligibility.

8. Guaranteed child care to ensure essential workers have access to reliable, safe, healthy and high-quality child care at no cost.

9. A place at the table for workers in setting safety and compensation standards in response to the coronavirus, so policies now and going forward reflect workers' insights into needs and gaps in existing protections.

10. Accountability for corporations so that taxpayer dollars go to help workers, not wealthy CEOs, shareholders or political cronies.

(Warren & Khanna, 2020)



Reference-

Warren, E., & Khanna, R. (2020, May 13). Opinion: 10 worker protections that should be in the US government's next aid package. Retrieved May 13, 2020, from https://www.cnn.com/2020/05/13/perspect ... index.html
#15091423
These are all good proposals. An essential component on the macro side would be a FJG (Federal Job Guarantee). As designed by Levy Institute economist P. Tchereneva, the FJG would establish a base wage rate against which private employers would have to bid to compete for labor, and also fix the true unemployment rate at zero.
#15091455
@late

late wrote:I would want to see the Reagan era undermining of Unions be reversed. Not sure you can make the rest of that stick if the workers don't have someone at the table fighting for them..


I agree late! The legal precedent set by Reagan when he fired the air traffic controllers that is now being applied to private sector workers DOES NEED to be reversed.

@quetzalcoatl

quetzalcoatl wrote:These are all good proposals. An essential component on the macro side would be a FJG (Federal Job Guarantee). As designed by Levy Institute economist P. Tchereneva, the FJG would establish a base wage rate against which private employers would have to bid to compete for labor, and also fix the true unemployment rate at zero.


I am wary of your specific proposal of a Federal Job Guarantee. I know this was a proposal by Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez who used to be a waitress. However, I really worry this might actually do economic damage to the economy instead of ensuring that the economy serves all segments of the population (instead of just only the rich). Have you thought of the trade offs of such a proposal and how that would effect the overall economy?
#15091762
Politics_Observer wrote:@late




@quetzalcoatl



I am wary of your specific proposal of a Federal Job Guarantee. I know this was a proposal by Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez who used to be a waitress. However, I really worry this might actually do economic damage to the economy instead of ensuring that the economy serves all segments of the population (instead of just only the rich). Have you thought of the trade offs of such a proposal and how that would effect the overall economy?


AOC is irrelevant here. Focus instead on the FJG itself, which has 20 years of detailed and exhaustive research to back it up. If the Tcherneva plan is implemented as described, its negative tradeoffs are minimal.

The FJG is a macroeconomic tool designed to anchor wages to a base wage rate & fix unemployment at zero permanently while stabilizing the economy during economic dips. Funded federally and administered locally, it provides a job to any American who applies. As private employment grows the program automatically becomes smaller and as unemployment grows it automatically becomes larger, i.e. it is an automatic stabilizer.

The FJG is sometimes called a buffer stock employment program, because it centers employment as the buffer stock to stabilize the economy. It is the only economic program deliberately designed to permanently eliminate the army of the unemployed as the chief weapon capital uses to discipline labor.

Currently wages stagnate even in boom times. Employers know from experience all they have to do is "wait out" boom periods until unemployment rises again. Employees know that jobs are dear and they can't demand higher wages. The FJG forces the private sector to compete for labor against the FJG pool of jobs - this keeps wages from falling below a base rate.

https://www.pavlina-tcherneva.net/job-guarantee-faq
#15091887
@quetzalcoatl

That's an interesting concept. So, then the next question I have is what army of lobbyists does corporate America have arrayed to defeat this from actually becoming a reality? What is their strategy? Is there a serious political strategy to make this become a reality?
#15091940
I see it as a non-starter. I'm an essential worker, and doing just fine. It's non-essential workers who are struggling. Warren is completely missing the point. Why help people who haven't lost anything, while leaving people who have lost everything out in the cold?
#15091945
@blackjack21

Well here's the rub. Of course, all rich white people are "essential workers." They don't want to lose money and certainly don't care about their employees dying if they are business owners, just as long as they make money is all that matters to them (unless their is liability involved, then on some level they might care because liability issues could potentially become a problem, which is why wealthy businesses are using their lobbyists to push liability protections in Washington, D.C.). These same rich white people who control our government and our society also don't seem to be affected as much by COVID-19 as the REAL and GENUINE essential workers in the slaughter house factories doing REAL essential work like helping to keep society fed by keeping the food supply chain going.

All at the cost of their lives. But I guess some people would consider them "expendable" as long as it's not their own lives that are expendable; right balckjack21? So these other so called "essential workers," like rich white people for example, are eager to get the economy started given their lives are not the ones at stake. Somehow, it seems businesses that are not essential are being classified as "essential" given they have wealth, privilege and the right connections to people in government.

And you know hey, Trump doesn't want to do national testing because to do so would reveal the true number of infections and how seriously he fucked up, which could potentially cost him the election. Thus, why he doesn't ramp up national testing. He only cares about power, rather than the welfare of the people and nation.
#15091948
Politics_Observer wrote:Of course, all rich white people are "essential workers."

Rich people really don't have to work.

Politics_Observer wrote:They don't want to lose money and certainly don't care about their employees dying if they are business owners, just as long as they make money is all that matters to them.

You have a pretty dim view of rich white people along with some non sequiturs in your thinking. Their employees are how they make money. If their employees die, they don't make money.

Politics_Observer wrote:But I guess some people would consider them "expendable" right balckjack21?

Some might. The issue is that so-called 'non-essential' workers are losing their livlihoods and would like to be able to assume the risk of working without government interfering.

Politics_Observer wrote:Somehow, it seems businesses that are not essential are being classified as "essential" given they have wealth, privilege and the right connections to people in government.

Possibly, but I suspect there is more too it. For example, I work in IT and we support the US government, DoJ, FBI, CIA, NSA, military, banks, hospital networks, grocery chains, etc. I'm at low risk of contracting coronavirus from work, since I work at home. I have a private equity placement with a battery concern, and they were sent a letter by the US Navy and US Air Force that since they were part of the defense production infrastructure, they were considered essential. You could call that, "the right connections," but they are also dependent upon certain services and products.

Sure, haircuts are non-essential for leftists. For rightists, they aren't. It's just like showers. Leftists will just bathe themselves in pachouli oil to mask the body odor. Rightists on the other hand will demand a shower and clean clothes.
#15091950
blackjack21 wrote:Rich people really don't have to work.


You have a pretty dim view of rich white people along with some non sequiturs in your thinking. Their employees are how they make money. If their employees die, they don't make money.

Sure, haircuts are non-essential for leftists. For rightists, they aren't. It's just like showers. Leftists will just bathe themselves in pachouli oil to mask the body odor. Rightists on the other hand will demand a shower and clean clothes.


I wonder about you Relampaguito. You make your own meals, you stay at home and work. No woman you love cooks for you three meals a day. You make up stereotyped generalized statements of all Leftists don't bathe.

I protest. I bathe twice a day. And I exfoliate. And I put on lotion and a soft perfume and i wash and dry my clothes thoroughly. I use Ariel laundry detergent, Oxi Clean and Suavitel fabric softener, and I dry in the sun and then iron with lavender water my clothes. I fold and put away like today. i am scrupulously clean. I paint my nails and wax and pick my jewelry and wear heels and am a girly girl and resent all these assumptions of stink bomb leftists. The Puerto Rican women I hung out with are all very much clean and groomed.

Leftists with body odor. I would say mochileros from California fit that description of yours. I am insulted!

Relampaguito I am going to slap you! Generally insulting with lefties smell bad. Huh. Speak for yourself.
#15091952
Gee, a rich guy insulting poor people. How novel. :roll:

Leftists shower like everyone else, and even eat, and drink like them, too. Liberals are not leftists, though, so maybe you need to insult more people to make yourself feel better.

The USA needs an Essential Workers' Bill of Right... badly.
#15091954
Tainari88 wrote:I wonder about you Relampaguito. You make your own meals, you stay at home and work. No woman you love cooks for you three meals a day. You make up stereotyped generalized statements of all Leftists don't bathe.

That was humor. Yes, I know leftists bathe--sometimes. I'm a better cook than most of the women I know, except my older sister perhaps.

Tainari88 wrote:I protest. I bathe twice a day. And I exfoliate. And I put on lotion and a soft perfume and i wash and dry my clothes thoroughly.

He he he! I was kidding. You know that right? I just do it with a straight face to get a reaction from you.

Tainari88 wrote:Relampaguito I am going to slap you!

Too funny!

Godstud wrote:Gee, a rich guy insulting poor people. How novel. :roll:

Leftists shower like everyone else

Not all leftists are poor...

Godstud wrote:The USA needs an Essential Workers' Bill of Right... badly.

We need more help for people deemed "non-essential." They are the ones who have been hurt badly.
#15091960
blackjack21 wrote:We need more help for people deemed "non-essential." They are the ones who have been hurt badly.
No argument there. In fact, this Workers Bill of Right would be good across the board.
#15091972
Politics_Observer wrote:Well here's the rub. Of course, all rich white people are "essential workers." They don't want to lose money and certainly don't care about their employees dying if they are business owners, just as long as they make money is all that matters to them (unless their is liability involved, then on some level they might care because liability issues could potentially become a problem, which is why wealthy businesses are using their lobbyists to push liability protections in Washington, D.C.). These same rich white people who control our government and our society also don't seem to be affected as much by COVID-19 as the REAL and GENUINE essential workers in the slaughter house factories doing REAL essential work like helping to keep society fed by keeping the food supply chain going.

See here's a classic example of the anti WIG (anti White, anti Infidel, anti Gentile) racism that so pervades, infects and infests our societies. This could have come out of a Nazi tract its just that the Jews have been replaced with White people.
#15091975
@Rich He is mostly anti-Rich asshole. That's not racist. That's fact.

It's sad that you feel you have to stick up for rich assholes. They're the real victims, after all, right?
#15091994
blackjack21 wrote:That was humor. Yes, I know leftists bathe--sometimes. I'm a better cook than most of the women I know, except my older sister perhaps.


He he he! I was kidding. You know that right? I just do it with a straight face to get a reaction from you.


Too funny!


Not all leftists are poor...


We need more help for people deemed "non-essential." They are the ones who have been hurt badly.


You say you are a better cook than most women you know? You must know some lousy women cooks!

No, Relampaguito, since I was very young I was interested in the culinary arts and have taken classes on almost all cuisines. I would say over the years I have taken professional classes for about twenty years. As a hobby and then finally in 2004 I started competing n cooking. I won first prize very consistently as a hobby. Then at work they would ask me to cook for some emergency situation. Then, people kept wanting me to do professional catering. I said no. I love writing more. So I had not enough time. Then I had the baby and all that had to go on the back burner. I had one famous chef taste my cooking and proclaimed it "Spectacular" and that was Jacques Pepin and his daughter. And then I competed for top paella. Mine won first place and I made some money off of that recipe. No, Relmapguito, it's not an accident that the Yucatecans here were migrating to my house every day at dinnertime and pressuring me to cook for them. A Tabascan woman neighbor by the name of Pilar just told me over the phone. I want to go into business with you selling whatever the hell comes out ot that kitchen of yours because I know it will be delicious. Lol. Relampaguito with your ideas of cooking. It is an art form if you study it deeply Relampaguito. Your colors and palette of possibilities are all there in food. You play with food and it ie edible art when you think about it. If you love it like I do. Human beings can be endlessly creative. Running a restaurant is extremely hard. I won't do so. I love my family life and free time now too much. And fighting with you on PoFo too. ;) :D

You continue to say leftists don't bathe all that often eh? Sin verguenza.

I should give you a double slap!

You like getting reactions out of me? I love doing a lot of things Relampaguito, like: Dancing, and cooking, and swimming, and reading and writing and learning history and collecting music, and cooking for my friends and neighbors, and taking care of people. I like that a lot. Nurturing people and being a hostess and buying people gifts and seeing their faces light up when they are with me. That I love. I have always loved the domestic arts and always admired women and men who knew how to make beautiful things to share with others. Artists are at heart. There is nothing more human than an artist creating original art that leaps from their soul and their corazon. Corazon Relampaguito. it is vital! I am warming up to you too much. I must keep you at a cold distance and stop wanting to spar with you. You will just tease me mercilessly. ****Tapping my foot*****What do I do about this @blackjack21 shameless one eh?

We do need a worker's bill of rights for workers all over the world. Safety, security, and decent wages and also considerations for national emergencies and periods of layoffs and unemployment.

I say el Relampago man gives up his free time and helps out his neighbors who are not rich and are not well off eh? :D
#15091997
Godstud wrote:@Rich He is mostly anti-Rich asshole. That's not racist. That's fact.

It's sad that you feel you have to stick up for rich assholes. They're the real victims, after all, right?

So is the King of Thailand included in your list of rich arseholes? Should ordinary Thais be allowed to hear about how he is spending the lockdown?
#15091999
Rich wrote:So is the King of Thailand included in your list of rich arseholes? Should ordinary Thais be allowed to hear about how he is spending the lockdown?
Completely irrelevant to the topic, but typical of someone who always wants to distract someone from a topic when it isn't going their way.

I don't give a rat's ass about any rich assholes, so why ask me? You seem to care a lot more about him, than I do. :lol:
#15092005
Godstud wrote:Completely irrelevant to the topic, but typical of someone who always wants to distract someone from a topic when it isn't going their way.

I don't give a rat's ass about any rich assholes, so why ask me? You seem to care a lot more about him, than I do. :lol:


Godstud, for me? Thailand is a rich and beautiful, ancient culture and it has depth galore. It also has wonderful traditions and a great climate and your wife gave you that beautiful son I saw. Why would anyone even question the reason you are in Thailand. You are happy there. The end. That is all anyone who has half a brain should accept.

I really like those bikes of yours. No wonder you like them so much! :)

Why have a worker's bill of rights? Because some employers will never treat their employees with respect. I had one employer delay paying me for weeks. His excuse? I did not have the time to sign the checks. Yeah right. Assholes.
#15092008
It's just some Florida Man who doesn't like royalty, doesn't understand the culture and bases his information from blogs and such. I don't defend the Thai royalty. I don't have to. I dismiss it outright as an attempt to change the subject.

Thailand and Mexico have many things in common, actually. Both have very open, friendly, and ancient cultures.

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