In April 2017 Sanders introduced a bill that would raise the minimum wage for federal contract workers to $15 an hour – an increase over an earlier Democratic $12 an hour proposal – which was co-sponsored by two other progressive Democrats.[143]
On May 9, 2018, Sanders introduced the Workplace Democracy Act, a bill that would expand labor rights by making it easier for workers to join a union, ban right-to-work laws and some anti-union provisions of the Taft Hartley Act, and outlaw some union-busting tactics. It was endorsed by several Democratic senators, including Elizabeth Warren, Kirsten Gillibrand, Tammy Baldwin and Sherrod Brown. Announcing the legislation, Sanders said, "If we are serious about reducing income and wealth inequality and rebuilding the middle class, we have got to substantially increase the number of union jobs in this country."[144]
On September 5, 2018, Sanders partnered with Ro Khanna to introduce the Stop Bad Employers by Zeroing Out Subsidies (Stop BEZOS) Act, which would require large corporations to pay for food stamps and Medicaid benefits their employees receive, rather than shifting the burden onto taxpayers.[145] Khanna said, "if you bag groceries, you should be able to buy groceries." Sanders said, "Taxpayers in this country should not be subsidizing a guy who's worth $150 billion, whose wealth is increasing by $260 million every single day," referring to Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos.[146][147] The bill has received some support from conservatives; Fox News pundit Tucker Carlson endorsed the proposal on air.[148] On October 2, 2018, Bezos raised the minimum wage at Amazon to $15, effective November 1; Sanders commended him.
This post was edited by WM BARR . =ABSOLUTE TRASH at July 9, 2019 2:31 PM MDT
B.H.Wilson 