The Report: Introduction
As a country, we have become out of touch with the needs of the American people. The media reports on the health of the stock market as an indicator of the wellbeing of our economy, but the average worker has little to no financial interest in Wall Street. We need to get back to basics and truly invest our time and resources in the American worker.
This is a principle that we all share. We are four geographically diverse Members of Congress with different backgrounds, but a shared interest in restoring the focus to workers. We are former state and local legislators, labor leaders, and civic and community activists.
In March 2016, after working together on the U.S. House Committee on Education and the Workforce, Congressmen Mark DeSaulnier and Mark Pocan met with Wage and Hour Administrator Dr. David Weil from the Obama-era Department of Labor. At that meeting, the group began to discuss the changing nature of work and its impact on the workforce. That meeting served as the first in a long series and helped launch the Future of Work, Wages, and Labor. Congressmen DeSaulnier and Pocan were soon joined by Congresswoman Debbie Dingell and Congressman Donald Norcross, both of whom were eager to unpack the complex factors at play.
Throughout this effort, we have traveled across the country and met with researchers, experts, academics, and workers to gain insights into the state of American Labor. We have also hosted briefings in Washington, D.C. to share those insights with other interested policymakers. Below is an accounting of the public meetings (a full listing of participants can be found in Appendix A):
September 7, 2016: D.C. Briefing: “Future of Work” with Roosevelt Institute
January 17, 2017: Regional Meeting: Northern California
March 22, 2017: D.C. Briefing: “US Anti-Trust Policy’s Impact on Collective Bargaining, Wage Stagnation, and Economic Growth” with New America Foundation and Washington Center for Equitable Growth
April 20, 2017: Regional Meeting: Wisconsin
May 24, 2017: D.C. Briefing: “Why Have Wages Stagnated” with Economic Policy Institute, Center for Economic and Policy Research, and AFL-CIO
June 19, 2017: Regional Meeting: Michigan
August 4, 2017: Regional Meeting: New Jersey
September 6, 2017: D.C. Briefing: “21st Century Workers’ Rights Forum” with Communications Workers of America, United Mine Workers of America, SAG-AFTRA, Economic Policy Institute, National Employment Law Project, AFL-CIO, United Auto Workers, and AFSCME
September 25, 2017: Regional Meeting: Massachusetts
Our findings solidified what we already knew: America’s workers are some of the most productive in the world and they need our support to see their full potential. We need to learn from the hard lessons of the Industrial Revolution when economic transformation allowed for consolidation of America’s wealth in the hands of very few, along with widespread insecurity for average people, and was followed by slow progress that caused long-term harm to our workforce and put us on the path to the Great Depression. Our workers deserve a faster, more effective response this time. We cannot leave anyone behind. The issues facing the workforce are imminent and need to be addressed now before too much damage is done.
