Labor

I am a nurse and a proud member of the New York State Nurses Association. As a union member, I know that we have to organize and fight for a living wage, benefits, and on-the-job protections.

Before I became a nurse, I worked as an Uber driver, in kitchens, and in hospitality. Without a union, I had to deal with sexual harassment, abusive supervisors, dangerous workplaces, and arbitrary scheduling. In any of these jobs, like so many workers, I could have been fired for speaking up and fighting back. I know that we can only live a decent life when we organize and unionize our workplaces.

I refuse all contributions from corporate PACs. I will fight to:

Grant new rights for all workers by:

• Ending at-will employment, and protecting all workers from arbitrary termination with a just cause law.
• Extending the length, maximum weekly benefit, and eligibility for paid parental leave for all workers.
• Creating mandatory three weeks of paid vacation leave for all employees and raising paid family/sick leave to a minimum of two weeks for all employers.

Ensure that all workers have the right to join and participate in a union by:

• Barring companies that violate labor standards and workers’ right to unionize from holding state contracts.
• Ending subsidies for companies that do not offer card check neutrality.
• Passing legislation granting workers excluded from federal labor law (such as those working in rideshare, agriculture and domestic roles) the right to unionize.
• Granting public sector workers the right to strike to improve public services by amending the Taylor Law.

Protect workers in critical, underregulated industries by:

• Ensuring adequate funding of labor standards enforcement statewide.
• Following California’s example, ending the misclassification of “gig economy” employees as independent contractors, which prevents them from joining a union, claiming unemployment insurance, worker’s compensation and family and medical leave.
• Enacting stronger workplace protections for those in the building trades, such as large fines for unsafe workplaces and prevailing wage for any project receiving public money.
• Establishing safe staffing requirements for health care facilities, so that front-line medical staff don’t work overtime every week and jeopardize our health and safety just to keep a hospital’s profit margins inflated.
• Increasing the minimum wage state-wide to $15 and eliminating the sub-minimum wage for tipped workers.
•  Requiring employers to set aside money to pay workers in cases of wage theft or bankruptcy.