Minimum Wage

The federal minimum wage is currently an unacceptable, unlivable $7.25 an hour. The earnings at this wage are well below the cost of living in every part of the country, forcing many people to take a second, or even third job to survive.

• ● Making the Raise the Wage Act law and raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour over five years.

Equal Pay

Women in America are only paid 80 cents for every dollar a man earns. Even though the Equal Pay Act has been law since the Kennedy administration, the disparity in pay between men and women in the workplace is still present. Friends of Intelligent Democracy supports:

• ● Making the Paycheck Fairness Act federal law.
• ● Authorizing the Department of Justice and Department of Commerce to penalize and fine companies that commit wage discrimination.

Paid Leave

The United States is the only developed nation in the world without some form of paid maternity leave. New parents, especially mothers, have been forced to navigate a patchwork system combining unpaid leave and vacation days so that they can have the time to recover postpartum and take care of their newborn child. Paid leave is only available to those who work for corporations that permit it, which only 13% of Americans have access to. Such a system is unjust, and only reinforces a culture that makes parents choose between work and family. This inefficient system of maternal leave forces mothers to encounter systematic, long-term disadvantages in pay also known as the "motherhood penalty". Friends of Intelligent Democracy supports:

• ● Granting 6 months of paid leave to each parent of a new child, newborn or adopted.
• ● Preventing companies from firing expecting parents because of future time off.

Labor Unions

Unions and union workers are essential to American economic success. From an eight-hour work day to humane work conditions, unions have been on the front lines protecting employees for years. Friends of Intelligent Democracy is an organization committed to the success and support of unions and their members. Friends of Intelligent Democracy supports:

• ● Protecting workers who try to start new unions whose employers threaten retaliation.
• ● Preventing companies from dissolving pension funds and leaving retirees without an earned livelihood.
• ● Repealing the Taft-Hartley Act that allows anti-union states to try and dissolve unions using falsely named “right to work” laws.