By Center For American Progress
Photos: Wikimedia Commons
Washington, D.C. — Over the past several decades, wages for too many working Americans have stagnated while corporate profits and CEO compensation have approached record highs. Stagnant wages are partly due to workers having insufficient power to negotiate for higher compensation. While federal reforms are necessary to rebalance the scales, state lawmakers can take steps to strengthen worker power. A new Center for American Progress issue brief details eight ways states can continue growing worker power and improving the lives of working people in the U.S. economy.
These policy actions include:
- Bringing workers and employers together in industry standards boards
- Creating good jobs for workers from all walks of life through government spending
- Empowering public sector workers to exercise their rights
- Making worker protections and benefits real through enforcement and outreach
- Supporting collective action for private sector workers
- Supporting partnerships between unions and employers to train the next generation of American workers
- Protecting workers from the misuse of recently developed technologies
- Banning practices undermining worker power and support local innovation to improve workers’ lives
“State policymakers have ample opportunities to strengthen worker power and start rebalancing the scales. These policy options can map a way forward for future federal policy reforms by upholding workers’ rights, improving protections for workers in nontraditional employment structures, giving workers a seat at the table in setting job standards, and more,” said Karla Walter, senior fellow for Inclusive Economy and co-author of the issue brief.
Read the issue brief: “8 Ways States Can Build Worker Power” by Sachin Shiva, Karla Walter, and David Madland
The Center for American Progress is a nonpartisan research and educational institute dedicated to promoting a strong, just and free America that ensures opportunity for all. We believe that Americans are bound together by a common commitment to these values and we aspire to ensure that our national policies reflect these values. We work to find progressive and pragmatic solutions to significant domestic and international problems and develop policy proposals that foster a government that is “of the people, by the people, and for the people.”
