Working families are facing many of the attacks by state lawmakers on their livelihoods, voting rights and ability to collectively bargain for a middle-class life this year as they did in 2011. Here are a few examples.
- The rights of public employees to collectively bargain for a better life are under attack in several states, as are their health care and pension rights. Politicians in many states are rewarding corporate contributors by privatizing public services.
- Right to work for less laws—backed by the extreme American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) and other anti-worker groups—are on the radar screens in several states. Indiana Republicans rammed a right to work for less bill through the legislature in early 2012.
- Republican lawmakers want to mute the voice of workers in elections with paycheck deception laws and ballot initiatives
- Workers’ wages—especially those of construction workers—are threatened by attacks on project labor agreements and prevailing wage laws.
- New voting restrictions aimed mainly at young and minority voters could disenfranchise millions of voters in the critical elections.
- More states are considering extreme anti-immigrant laws like those in Arizona and Alabama.
Here’s a closer look at some of these issues.
