For too long, American workers have been undervalued and underpaid. CEO’s and top executives are treated like American kings, but we know the truth: it is the WORKER who drives the economy. And it is the worker who struggles to provide for their families and save for retirement -- two things that are critical to attaining the American Dream, but that are far too elusive in America today.

The reality is that our economy would collapse without blue-collar and middle-class workers. Stagnating wages and increasing powerlessness in the workplace may have become the norm, but these impacts are corrosive economically to all but the privileged few, and are thus dangerous to our democracy. That is why we MUST restore dignity and fairness to workers across the country.

Senator Brown’s newest plan aims to “make hard work pay off again,” and it’s about time. Key to his proposal are:

1. Raising workers’ wages and benefits through raising the federal minimum wage and the salary cap for overtime pay; and mandating up to seven paid sick days and 12 weeks of paid family and medical leave.
2. Giving workers more power in the workplace through requiring advanced notice of schedules; expanding collective bargaining rights; redefining rules on the use of independent contractors and strengthening IRS enforcement; and stopping wage theft.
3. Helping more workers to save for retirement through expanding access and creating more savings opportunities and incentives.
4. Encouraging companies to invest in their workforces through tax penalties when their pay is so low that their employees depend on federal assistance, and incentives when they hire American workers and pay them fairly.

Please join us in supporting his plan, Working Hard for Too Little.