Get this: there’s actually a positive development out of Washington, D.C.   Several key senators and representatives have introduced the Schedules That Work Act, a proposed federal law that looks a lot like the breakthrough secure scheduling ordinance we passed in Seattle last year. It recognizes a basic fact that’s been overlooked for far too long: workers are people, we have lives, and our time counts, too.

The Schedules That Work Act would provide more stable and predictable schedules to workers across the country by ensuring:

• Two weeks’ notice of your schedule
• Minimum “report pay” if you’re sent home early from a scheduled shift
• Right to request input into your schedule
• And more…

Tell your members of Congress to support stable & predictable schedules for workers across the country by signing on to co-sponsor the Schedules That Work Act. 

Look, I get it. The balance of power at the moment doesn’t seem all too friendly to advancing workers’ rights.

But that’s not forever.

And workers have made progress before in situations that probably didn’t look all that promising either. The Americans with Disabilities Act passed Congress in 1990 with a near-unanimous vote from members of both parties. The last federal minimum wage increase was passed by a Democratic Congress and then signed into law by a Republican president. Here in Washington State we just passed paid family leavethrough a sharply divided legislature.

We can make secure scheduling happen too.

I’m not going to pretend that it’s a slam dunk. And I’m not going to pretend that this one email on its own is going to make it happen. It’s obviously just a first step, and you’re obviously smart enough to know that.

But it is a step forward. And we do have momentum on our side. Since we passed the landmark Seattle secure scheduling law last year, we’ve seen movements spark up across the nation. New York City workers won a similar law earlier this year. Oregon just passed a statewide version this summer. A new proposal was just introduced in Chicago. And more.

We can harness this momentum and grow the movement by pushing to advance secure scheduling laws at every level, from cities and states to the halls of Congress — because every worker has a right to know when they’re going to work and how many hours they’re going to get.

Your message to Congress keeps us moving forward.

Click here to send a message today.

Thanks for your support,
Sage, Working Washington

This weekend, hundreds of District Attorneys from all over the country are coming together for a summit in the same city where Philando Castile was killed. And Black organizers and activists are coming together for a counterprotest–the Mobilization and Counter-Conference for Safety and Liberation–to hold them accountable to justice over convictions. Because fueling mass incarceration doesn’t keep our communities safer.

The National District Attorney Association plays a major role in shaping the prosecutorial practices that DA offices across the country adhere to–and this upcoming summit is a big moment to influence the message that prosecutors in attendance are hearing. That’s why we’re joining the Black Freedom Cohort, a coalition of Black-led organizations, to deliver 5 critical demands to them in person. Will you add your name?

Tell the NDAA: Stop pushing lock em’ up tactics that fuel mass incarceration and #DecarcerateDA.

Here are the five demands we’ll be delivering to the NDAA:

• Encourage all NDAA members to end the practice of direct file, which automatically places juveniles in adult courts.
• All NDAA members should commit to considering immigration consequences for defendants as part of determining what to charge, and not to prosecute immigrants for minor offenses.
• Advise members to commit to using independent prosecutors to investigate cases of police brutality.
• All NDAA members should support an end to money bail and use a risk assessment system to determine when someone needs to be incarcerated.
• All NDAA members should develop a restorative justice program in their county which will serve as an alternative to incarceration, including for those people that commit violent offenses.

Prosecutors have one of the most powerful positions in the criminal justice system–yet 85% of them run unopposed.¹ Aside from having control over the decisions that can make or break someone’s life, they have executive power over the hundreds of staff and prosecutors running cases in our city and county courts. They have deeply coordinated relationships with the police, judges, and a big influence on legislation. Especially in the Trump era, when we’re seeing a resurgence of racially coded “Law & Order” tactics and violent persecution of immigrant families, the choices District Attorneys make are even more important.

We need more than talk about progressive policies, we need real concrete plans and commitments to stop putting so many Black and Brown people in cages. Because the persistence of high crime in the most heavily policed areas tells us one thing: criminalizing the most vulnerable of us doesn’t keep us safe.

Sign the petition.

Until justice is real,

— Rashad, Arisha, Scott, Clarise, Anay, Malaya, Enchanta, Katrese, and the rest of the Color Of Change team.

References:

1. “Does It Matter That 95% of Elected Prosecutors Are White?,” NPR, 07-08-2015
http://act.colorofchange.org/go/8102?t=8&akid=7683.1174326.kZXs_y