FIGHTING FOR OUR FRONTLINE
FOR OUR WORKERS
a livable wage
Workers deserve to make a livable wage to support their families, without having to work multiple jobs or sacrifice necessary healthcare or other expenses to put food on the table.
Meg will advocate for increasing the minimum wage to $17* per hour, starting now and not in 2023 (when current legislation increases the minimum wage to $15 per hour). Meg will also advocate for adjusting the minimum wage for inflation on an annual basis, and eliminating the tipped wage.
A Note About Small Businesses: As a small business owner, Meg understands the impacts that raising the minimum wage will have. Despite the research that raising the minimum wage does not reduce jobs overall, many small business owners may find themselves struggling to pay a livable wage. To support our small businesses, Meg is rolling out a plan to ensure they have the financial resources they need to pay livable wages.
*According to MIT’s Living Wage Calculator, a living wage for a working adult is $16.74.
health care not tied to employment
Our access to quality and affordable healthcare should not be reliant on our employment. In the event of a job loss or the inability to work, too many Massachusetts residents are going without the care they need.
Meg will advocate for Medicare For All, which will decrease health care costs while still providing the same quality health care (and in many cases, increasing the quality and level of services). And this access will not change regardless of employment status.
Universal Child Care
Childcare is increasingly becoming the largest expense families are facing, and Massachusetts is one of the most expensive states for childcare.
Meg will advocate for Universal Child Care, ensuring low (capped at 7% of total household income) or no-cost quality care is available to all working families.
FAIR SCHEDULING LAWS
Too often, hourly workers are forced to wait on call (without pay) or are told last minute when they are expected to work.
Meg will advocate for laws protecting workers: requiring employers to provide 14 days advance notice of hours and at least 11 hours of rest between shifts, protections against retaliation for workers who request specific hours, the right for workers to be offered additional available hours before a new employee is hired to fill them and the right to collect unemployment benefits when the employer’s failure to comply with these laws is the reason for them leaving their job.
Protect unions
Unions represent the voices of the workers and are critical to ensuring workers have the compensation and protections they deserve. Yet there are still attempts, even by our own Governor, to undermine their strength.
Meg will advocate for protecting collective bargaining agreements and expanding eligiblity and protections for workers who want to unionize.
Expand Unemployment Benefits
As we saw during the COVID-19 pandemic, too many workers are left out in the cold when catastrophe hits. The Federal government’s COVID-19 response temporarily expanded eligibility for unemployment benefits to self-employed workers, freelancers and gig workers, but these workers need protections permanently.
Meg will advocate for expanding eligibility for unemployment benefits to these workers permanently.