Restore local democracy in Louisiana
Candidates for Louisiana Legislature
In May 2019, hundreds of Louisiana workers, business owners, faith, labor and municipal leaders packed the Labor and Industrial Relations Committee of the Louisiana House to support a bill that would have allowed parish and city governments to set their own minimum wage and paid leave policies. Dozens of concerned citizens testified about the harms of poverty wages and the state law that makes it impossible for local leaders to do anything about them. Two corporate lobbyists testified in opposition and the majority of the Committee fell in line and voted to keep local policymakers' hands tied.
We need representatives who represent us. We need representatives who believe in local democracy. Sign the petition to let every candidate running for the State Legislature this year know they need to commit to standing up for workers to earn our votes.
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Louisiana families are falling further and further behind. In 2019, a single parent working minimum wage jobs would have to work 93 hours per week to afford a 2 bedroom apartment for them and their kids. With workers facing rising housing costs and the longest stretch in history without a minimum wage increase, it’s no wonder Louisiana ranks last in child poverty, pay equity and a host of other measures.
Our local elected representatives see this reality every day and are ready to take action, but state lawmakers have tied their hands by banning local minimum wage and paid leave laws. Eighty-one percent of Louisianans support higher minimum wage laws, and yet year after year we’ve watched state lawmakers not only refuse to set a state minimum wage but refuse to let cities and parishes set local policies to fill the void.
We don’t need all of our representatives to agree about what the minimum wage should be in every community in our state. But we do need our representatives to respect the overwhelming consensus of the people of Louisiana and to allow our local elected representatives to do their jobs. City and parish councils across the state have passed resolutions in support of overturning the state ban on local wages and paid leave policies, with Democrats and Republicans coming together in defense of local democracy. As a candidate to be one of our representatives, we ask you to commit to honoring this consensus and voting to lift the ban on local minimum wage and paid leave policies.
Please show your support by signing the Unleash Local Pledge at unleashlocal.org/pledge.