Democratic Governors, Why Are You Turning Your Backs on Workers?

Another Democrat, Maine Governor Janet Mills, vetoed pro-worker bills three years in a row: a labor whistleblower bill in 2021, a bill to provide farmworkers with collective bargaining rights in 2022, and even aminimum wage for farmworkers in 2023, a move that state labor leaders called “embarrassing and shameful.” This year, she finally relented, signing a farmworker minimum-wage bill—but only after removal of a section allowing workers to file their own wage theft claims in court, rather than relying only on the government to take action.

Several so-called moderate Democrats in the Minnesota legislature supported efforts (ultimately unsuccessful) to significantly roll back paid sick leave protections. And Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser and several allies on the District Council are working to repeal wage protections for tipped workers that District voters overwhelmingly enacted by ballot initiative.

Neglect, too, is a policy decision. As a former New York labor enforcer, here’s my personal bugaboo: seeing Democratic district attorneys and other prosecutors building crack teams to prosecute retail theft, while leaving victims of wage theft with slim-to-no support. In contrast, some elected Democrats, like Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison and Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, created dedicated teams in their offices to enforce workers’ rights.

Working people are currently under extraordinary pressure from inflation, the housing crisis, health care costs, and more. Nearly 40 percent of people in an annual Federal Reserve survey said they couldn’t afford a $400 unexpected expense without borrowing money or selling something. People in Colorado working full-time jobs must show proof of employment in order to sleep in their cars in a parking lot near high-end ski resorts. Workers in America experience wage theft, extreme heat, discrimination, and stagnant wages; few have job security, yet many are bound by noncompete provisions preventing them from leaving for something better. On the merits, supporting workers is critical, both as a matter of values and big-picture economic well-being. Good jobs are the foundation of a strong middle class, which is essential to a stable economy.