U.S. Government's $1.3 Trillion Purchasing Power Could Lift
8 Million Workers Out of Poverty 
with 
Robert Hiltonsmith, Demos Policy Analyst & co-author of new 
Demos report Underwriting Good Jobs

Eight million workers rely on low-wage jobs supported by the federal government’s $1.3 trillion in annual spending according to a new report by the public policy organization Demos . Building on Pres. Obama’s executive order that raised the minimum wage for hundreds of thousands of federally contracted workers, it calls for raising labor standards more broadly. The Good Jobs Executive Order advocated in the report would apply to the entire workforce of federally-supported employers significantly benefiting women and minorities – who make up a large percentage of low-wage workers in the federal purchasing footprint. It advocates for
spending agencies to incorporate higher workforce standards when 
evaluating and awarding federal contracts including collective bargaining rights, living wages and good benefits, compliance with workplace protection laws and other applicable business regulations, and limits on excessive executive compensation. 

Plus
Army of New Rosie the Riveters on Strike in Nation’s Capital
Low-Wage Women Call on President Obama to Allow Collective Bargaining for Federal Contract Workers

Hundreds of low-wage federal contract workers working for fifty companies doing business at federal sites – like the National Zoo, Pentagon and Union Station – walked off their jobs .  Led by an army of working women dressed like Rosie the Riveter, they marched through the Smithsonian National Zoo, where workers are joining the Good Jobs Nation campaign for the first time.  This is the 8th strike by low-wage federal contract workers in the past year.
And 
Progressive Caucus Supports Good Jobs Policy
with
Rep. Keith Ellison (D-MN) 

Representative Ellison said the progressive caucus of the House supports these actions and plans to submit a proposal to the White House that would focus on low-wage workers employed by federal contractors. Ellison said he is unsure of how the President would respond to a proposal for executive action, but the representative pointed to President Obama’s past actions as evidence that he would likely be sympathetic.Ellison underscored that he supported “Good Jobs Policy” as means of significantly reducing gender 
inequality in the workforce.

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Conyers on Jobs:
"We've Had It." Lays Out Obama, Calls for Protest at White House
With
Representative John Conyers, Founding Member and
Dean of the Congressional Black Caucus

Michigan’s U.S. Representative John Conyers brings us back to
fundamentals, The real crisis in this country is that of unemployment,
the recession &cutbacks. It’s time to explode the myth that budget
deficits are the imminent danger that pervades the rhetoric of Washington
from Obama to the Tea Partyers. The cure is to educate and pressure
them by mobilizations and demonstrations to do the right thing.
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The American Dream is Dying
With
Heather McGhee,Director of Demos' Washington office.

Amongst her many writings, McGhee is the co-author of a chapter on
retirement insecurity in the book "Inequality Matters: The Growing
Economic Divide in America and its Poisonous Consequences" .
Heather McGhee speaks to youth, at a national teach-in, with alarm
that they face potentially less opportunity and greater wealth deprivation
than their parents and the imperative for them to organize, organize,
organize for their interests.

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