The Minnesota House passed a bill last night that would strip 150,000 Minnesotans of newly won earned-sick-and-safe-time benefits and block local governments from raising labor standards in their communities.
As debate raged inside the Republican-controlled House, opponents from labor, faith and community groups rallied outside the chamber, calling the bill a corporate power grab and a step backwards in addressing the state’s yawning disparities between white workers and workers of color.
Rosheeda Credit, a McDonald’s worker and who has been a leader for paid sick time and a $15 minimum wage in Minneapolis, shared her frustration with the preemption bill in a press conference before the House session, staged by Neighborhoods Organizing for Change.
“I recently became homeless with my five children because my rent in north Minneapolis more than doubled,” Credit said. “We need to be able to pass laws in Minneapolis that will help people in Minneapolis. We have been fighting for paid sick time and a $15 minimum wage for a long time and now corporate lobbyists are trying to take it away. What are they so afraid of? Why are they trying to silence our voices?”
More than 100 people answered the call to pack the House chamber with opponents to the corporate-interference bill, which could come before the Senate as early as next week. Click here to tell your state senator you oppose the measure, Senate File 580.
Union Advocate 