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Seven essential labor reforms

About the Author
Erin Shannon
Director, Center for Worker Rights

Download file Download the full legislative memo here

Introduction

For eight years businesses owners and working families in Washington state and across the country have been shouldering an ever-increasing burden of arbitrary rules imposed by executive branch regulators.  Often these rules have been imposed without specific approval by either Congress or the state legislature.

The rules have been imposed by regulators at federal and state agencies who want to expand their own power, by controlling when, where, and how people may work and earn an income.  They have also tried to restrict the messages workers may hear about their own legal rights, and they have sought to perpetuate a system of forced payments that serve the financial interest of private labor unions.

These expanded state and federal rules have not only suppressed essential worker protections and denied employees access to information about their legal rights, they are also a primary reason the U.S. economy has failed to grow by more than three percent annually for eight years in a row.

The 7 essential labor reforms

1. Enact right-to-work protections

2. End the transfer of public money to private labor organizations

3. Require workplace democracy

4. Repeal US Department of Labor's unfair "Persuader Rule"

5. End burdensome overtime rules

6. Repeal US Department of Labor's misclassification of "employees"

7. Remove the Obama Administration's gag order against informing workers of their rights under the "Beck" ruling

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