“We're ready to take the offense for organized labor. It's time we have a President who didn't choke saying the word 'union.' We need to strengthen our unions by letting them do what they do best --- organize our workers. If a majority of workers want a union, they should get a union. It's that simple. We need to stand up to the business lobby that's been getting their friends in Congress and in the White House to block card check. That's why I was one of the leaders fighting to pass the Employee Free Choice Act. That's why I'm fighting for it in the Senate. And that's why we'll make it the law of the land when I'm President.”

— Barack Obama, Speech in Dubuque, IA, November 13, 2007

Barack Obama's Plan

Worker Rights

• Ensure Freedom to Unionize Barack Obama believes that workers should have the freedom to choose whether to join a union without harassment or intimidation from their employers. Although an estimated 60 million Americans would join a union if given the opportunity, companies too often deny workers the opportunity to organize and improve their lives. Obama cosponsored and is a strong advocate for the Employee Free Choice Act, a bipartisan effort to assure that workers can exercise their right to organize and secure initial agreements with their employers. The act requires employers to recognize a union if the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) finds that a majority of employees have signed cards designating the union as its bargaining representative (a "card check"), mandates arbitration if negotiations over a first contract stall, and imposes penalties on employers that illegally coerce workers not to join unions. As president, Obama will continue to work for EFCA's passage and sign it into law.
  
• Increase Collective Bargaining Rights Across the Economy: Barack Obama believes that employees in many non-unionized sectors should have the right to work together to build stronger and safer workplaces. Obama supports the Public Safety Employer-Employee Cooperation Act, which would provide public safety workers who put their lives on the line every day the right to bargain collectively.
  
• Uphold Overtime Pay: Barack Obama opposes proposals to roll back protections now granted to workers under the Fair Labor Standards Act, including proposals to allow employers to use comp time, whereby employees who work longer than 40 hours a week get added vacation time instead of getting overtime pay. As a state senator, Obama passed a bill to restore overtime pay to 375,000 Illinois workers.
  
• Hold Corporate America Responsible: Barack Obama has joined union efforts to get Wal-Mart to improve working conditions, wages and health coverage.
  
• Address Employer Abuse of Tax Law and Workers' Rights: A loophole in current tax law encourages some employers to classify their employees as independent contractors rather than full-time employees. This allows employers to deny workers basic protections, such as overtime and workers compensation. It also allows them to avoid paying their employment taxes in full. Employers that use this loophole gain an unfair advantage over other businesses that pay taxes honestly and treat their workers fairly. Barack Obama has led efforts to stop this abuse. He introduced the Independent Contractor Proper Classification Act of 2007 to close this loophole, create a level playing field for workers and employers.
  
• Oppose ‘Right To Work’ and “Paycheck Protection” Bills: Barack Obama opposes a national “right to work” bill that would limit union membership. Obama also opposes so-called “Paycheck Protection” Bill that would put burdensome and unnecessary administrative regulations on unions.
  
• Support Davis-Bacon Act: Barack Obama supports the worker protections under the Davis-Bacon Act, which ensures local prevailing wages are paid on federal construction projects and transit employee collective bargaining protections. In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, Obama fought to ensure that Davis-Bacon protections were preserved for response personnel.
  
• Strengthen Occupational Safety and Health: Barack Obama will increase funding for the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, including more job site inspections and grants for safety and health training programs for small business employers, and employees and workers in high-risk jobs such as construction. Obama is also a proud cosponsor of the Protecting America’s Workers Act. The legislation would increase penalties for safety violations that result in a worker’s injury or death, expand Occupational Safety and Health Administration protections to the 8.5 million public workers who are currently left to fend for themselves, protect whistleblowers who expose unsafe working conditions, increase accountability by giving workers greater access to Labor Department investigators and require that employers pay for the safety equipment their workers need.
  
• Fight Attacks on Workers' Right to Organize: Barack Obama has fought the Bush NLRB’s efforts to strip workers of their right to organize. He is a co-sponsor of the Re-Empowerment of Skilled and Professional Employees and Construction Tradeworkers (RESPECT) Act, which will overturn the NLRB's “Kentucky River” trilogy of decisions classifying hundreds of thousands of nurses, construction, and professional workers as “supervisors” who are not protected by federal labor law. Obama believes that the Bush NLRB’s decisions could put millions of workers at risk of losing their rights to organize and bargain collectively simply because they participate in modern managerial approaches like team production or direct others’ work as part of their professional responsibilities. The RESPECT Act reaffirms Congress' original intent to exclude from the NLRA's protections only supervisors truly vested with managerial responsibilities.
  
• Protect Striking Workers: Barack Obama supports the right of workers to bargain collectively and strike if necessary. The system of collective bargaining is out of balance when workers who exercise their right to strike can be permanently replaced, effectively losing their jobs. As President, Obama will work to ban the permanent replacement of striking workers, so workers can stand up for themselves without worrying about losing their livelihoods.
  
• Prevent Workplace Discrimination: Barack Obama would increase funding for the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, and would fight to eliminate racial and sexual discrimination. He also would strengthen whistleblower protections.
  

Jobs & Trade

• Raise the Minimum Wage: Barack Obama believes that people who work full time should not live in poverty. Before the Democrats took back Congress, the minimum wage had not changed in 10 years. Even though the minimum wage will rise to $7.25 an hour by 2009, the minimum wage’s real purchasing power will still be below what it was in 1968. As president, Obama will further raise the minimum wage to $9.50 an hour by 2011, index it to inflation and increase the Earned Income Tax Credit to make sure that full-time workers can earn a living wage that allows them to raise their families and pay for basic needs such as food, transportation, and housing -- things so many people take for granted.
  
• Provide a Tax Cut for Working Families: Barack Obama will restore fairness to the tax code and provide 150 million workers the tax relief they deserve. Obama will create a new “Making Work Pay” tax credit of up to $500 per person, or $1,000 per working family. This refundable income tax credit will provide direct relief to American families who face the regressive payroll tax system. It will offset the payroll tax on the first $8,100 of their earnings while still preserving the important principle of a dedicated revenue source for Social Security. The “Making Work Pay” tax credit will completely eliminate income taxes for 10 million Americans. The tax credit will also provide relief to self-employed small business owners who struggle to pay both the employee and employer portion of the payroll tax. The “Making Work Pay” tax credit offsets some of this selfemployment tax as well.
• Reform Corporate Bankruptcy Laws to Protect Workers: Workers risk losing everything when their company goes bankrupt. Too many employees have worked hard, played by the rules and contributed to private pensions only to find themselves left in the lurch when their companies went bankrupt. Current bankruptcy laws are designed to protect banks before workers by helping companies get capital to get back on their feet, but in so doing it has made it easier for bankrupt companies to shed pension and health care obligations to retired workers. Barack Obama has supported efforts to force firms to put more money into their pension funds and make them solvent so workers aren’t left with a bunch of worthless IOU’s after thirty years of service. As president, Obama will:
  • Put promises to workers higher on the list of debts that companies cannot shed.
  • Ensure that the bankruptcy courts do not allow companies to demand more sacrifice from workers than from executives when companies fall on hard times.
  • Protect the jobs and benefits of workers and retirees when corporations file for bankruptcy by telling companies that they cannot issue bonuses for executives during bankruptcy while their workers watch their pensions disappear.
  • Increase the amount of unpaid wages and benefits workers can claim in bankruptcy court against their employer.
  • Limit the circumstances under which retiree benefits can be reduced.
• Support Job Creation: Barack Obama believes we need to expand federal funding for basic research, expand the deployment of broadband technology, and make the research and development tax credit permanent so that businesses can invest in innovation and create high-paying, secure jobs. And Obama will make long-term investments in education, training, and workforce development so that Americans can leverage our strengths – our ingenuity and entrepreneurialism – to create new high-wage jobs and prosper in a world economy. As president, Obama will also work to bring additional high-skilled manufacturing jobs to regions across the United States where workers and communities have specialized knowledge from decades of manufacturing experience.
• Amend the North American Free Trade Agreement: Barack Obama will work with the leaders of Canada and Mexico to fix NAFTA so that it works for American workers. Obama believes that NAFTA and its potential were oversold to the American people. It has not created the jobs and wealth that were promised. He believes that we can, and must, make trade work for American workers by opening up foreign markets to U.S. goods and maintaining strong labor and environmental standards. As president he will work to amend NAFTA so that it lives up to those important principles
• Fight for Fair Trade: At 7 percent of Gross Domestic Product, our trade deficit has never been higher. Barack Obama will fight for a trade policy that opens up foreign markets to support good American jobs. He will use trade agreements to spread good labor and environmental standards around the world and stand firm against agreements like the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) that fail to live up to those important benchmarks. Obama will also pressure the World Trade Organization to enforce trade agreements and stop countries from continuing unfair government subsidies to foreign exporters and nontariff barriers on U.S. exports. Obama will fight for stronger protections for U.S. intellectual property, and – in the case of China in particular – an end to an artificially devalued currency that puts U.S. companies at a perpetual disadvantage.
• Oppose the South Korea Free Trade Agreement: Barack Obama is opposed to the South Korea Free Trade Agreement. Obama believes that while the agreement would be a boon for banks, telecommunications firms, and some in corporate agriculture, it fails to ensure that U.S. products – especially our cars and trucks, rice and beef – receive fair treatment in the Korean market. We have an $11 billion deficit in automotive trade with Korea. Last year, Korea sold 700,000 vehicles in the U.S.; the U.S. sold only 4,556 in Korea. It's not just that Koreans do not like American cars, the South Korean government has set up a centralized regulatory and tax structure that discriminates against our cars. The U.S./Korea Trade agreement does not do enough to change these discriminatory practices or to enforce commitments by Korea to open up its market. Obama believes that American workers can compete against those everywhere in the world, but they should not be exposed to systematic discrimination by foreign governments.
• Improve Transition Assistance: To help all workers adapt to a rapidly changing economy, Barack Obama would update the existing system of trade adjustment assistance by extending such help to service industries, creating flexible education accounts that workers could use to retrain, and providing retraining assistance for workers in sectors of the economy vulnerable to dislocation before they lose their jobs.
  
• End Tax Breaks for Companies that Send Jobs Overseas: Barack Obama believes that companies should not get billions of dollars in tax deductions for moving their operations overseas. Obama will also fight to ensure that public contracts are awarded to companies that are committed to American workers.
  
• Reward Companies that Support American Workers: Barack Obama introduced the Patriot Employer Act of 2007 with Senators Richard Durbin (D-IL) and Sherrod Brown (D-OH) to reward companies that create good jobs with good benefits for American workers. The legislation would provide a tax credit to companies that maintain or increase the number of full-time workers in America relative to those outside the US; maintain their corporate headquarters in America if it has ever been in America; pay decent wages; prepare workers for retirement; provide health insurance; and support employees who serve in the military.
  

Health Care

Rising health care costs are a tremendous drain on our economy, making American companies less competitive than those in other nations with better health systems.

• Increase Access and Lower Health Costs: Barack Obama is committed to signing universal health legislation by the end of his first term in office that ensures all Americans have high-quality, affordable health care coverage. His plan will save a typical American family up to $2,500 every year on medical expenditures by providing affordable, comprehensive and portable health coverage for every American; requiring that employers contribute to the health coverage of their employees; modernizing the U.S. health care system to contain spiraling health care costs and improve the quality of patient care; and promoting prevention and strengthening public health to prevent disease and protect against natural and man-made disasters.
• Expand Paid Sick Days: Today, three-out-of-four low-wage workers have no paid sick leave. It is fundamentally unfair that a single mom playing by the rules can get fired or lose wages because her child gets sick. Barack Obama supports efforts to guarantee workers seven days of paid sick leave per year, a moderate proposal that will not impose an onerous burden on employers.

Retirement Security

• Strengthen Social Security: Barack Obama recognizes that Social Security is indispensable to workers and seniors, and it is probably the most important and most successful social program in our nation's history. Obama is committed to making sure Social Security is solvent and viable for the American people, now and in the future. He will be honest with the American people about the solvency of Social Security and the ways we can address the real, but manageable, funding shortfall. Obama will make it a top priority of his administration to protect Social Security benefits for current and future beneficiaries alike. And he does not believe it is necessary or fair to hardworking seniors to raise the retirement age. Obama will also continue his long record of opposing the privatization of Social Security. Barack Obama believes that the first place to look to strengthen Social Security is the payroll tax system. Currently, the Social Security payroll tax applies to only the first $97,500 a worker makes. Obama supports increasing the maximum amount of earnings covered by Social Security, and he will work with Congress and the American people to choose a reform package that will keep Social Security completely solvent for at least the next half century.
• Create Automatic Workplace Pensions: Currently, 75 million working Americans Ð roughly half the workforce Ð lack employer-based retirement plans. Even when workers are given the option of joining employer-based plans, many do not take up the option because it requires considerable work to research plans and investment portfolios, and enroll in the plan. Barack Obama's retirement security plan will automatically enroll workers in a workplace pension plan. Under his plan, employers who do not currently offer a retirement plan, will be required to enroll their employees in a direct-deposit IRA account that is compatible to existing direct-deposit payroll systems. Employees may opt-out by signing a written waiver. Even after enrollment, employees will retain the right to change their savings levels, reallocate investment portfolios or end contributions to the account. Obama's plan will give options to the self-employed and new small businesses to access new easy-to-enroll savings plans and direct the IRS to deposit tax refunds into those savings plans for people who choose to save some of their refunds. Under the Obama plan when employees change jobs, their savings will be automatically rolled over into the new employer's system to ensure continued savings. Experts estimate that this program will increase the savings participation rate for low and middle-income workers from its current 15 percent level to around 80 percent.
• Expand Retirement Savings Incentives for Working Families: Barack Obama will ensure savings incentives are fair to all workers by creating a generous savings match for low and middle-income Americans. Obama will expand the existing Savers Credit to match 50 percent of the first $1,000 of savings for families that earn under $75,000, and he will make the tax credit refundable. To help ensure that this proposal actually strengthens retirement investments, the savings match will be automatically deposited into designated personal accounts by using the account information listed on IRS tax filings. Coupled with the automatic workplace pension plan, this proposal will stimulate tens of millions of new Americans to invest for retirement. Over 80 percent of the savings incentives will go to new savers, and 75 percent of people eligible for the incentives who are expected to participate in the new program do not currently save.
• Require Full Disclosure of Company Pension Investments: Barack Obama believes we must ensure private companies properly fund their pension plans so taxpayers do not end up footing the bill. However, even when companies fund their pensions, many do not disclose their investments with the employee's pension dollars. This lack of transparency can make it easier for fund managers to make imprudent or even fraudulent investment decisions. Obama will ensure that all employees who have company pensions receive annual disclosures about their pension fund's investments, including full details about which projects have been invested in, the performance of those investments and appropriate details about probable future investments strategies. This measure will provide employees and retirees important resources to make their pension fund more secure.
• Eliminate Income Taxes for Seniors Making Less Than $50,000: Lower and middle income seniors are struggling as their expenses on health and energy skyrocket while their incomes do not keep pace. This strain has been greater since 1993, when taxes on social security benefits were raised. Millions of seniors saw their net benefits go down. Seniors also had to take on the added strain Ð and sometimes cost Ð of filing a complicated tax return. And after going through all of these complicated calculations, many seniors find that they owe little or no tax, meaning that all of the hassle was for naught. Barack Obama will eliminate all income taxation of seniors making less than $50,000 per year. This will provide immediate relief to 22 million American seniors who will not need to file an income tax return, and will eliminate any income tax for nearly seven million seniors at a savings of roughly $1,400 each year. For many seniors, this will eliminate the need to hire a tax preparer, resulting in even larger savings.

Education

• Make College More Affordable: Barack Obama will make college affordable for all Americans by creating a new American Opportunity Tax Credit. This universal and fully refundable credit will ensure that the first $4,000 of a college education is completely free for most Americans, and will cover two-thirds the cost of tuition at the average public college or university. And by making the tax credit fully refundable, Obama's credit will help low-income families that need it the most. Obama will also ensure that the tax credit is available to families at the time of enrollment by using prior year's tax data to deliver the credit at the time that tuition is due, rather than a year or more later when tax returns are filed.
• Improve Public Schools: From the moment our children step into a classroom, the single most important factor in determining their achievement is their teacher. Barack Obama values teachers and the central role that they play in education. He will work to ensure competent, effective teachers in schools that are organized for success. Obama's K-12 plan will expand service scholarships to recruit and prepare teachers who commit to working in underserved districts. To support teachers, Obama will foster ongoing improvements in teacher education, provide mentoring for beginning teachers, create incentives for shared planning and learning time for teachers. To retain teachers, Obama will support career pathways that provide ongoing professional development and reward accomplished teachers for their expertise. This Career Ladder initiative will help eliminate teacher shortages in hard-to-staff areas and subjects, improve teacher retention rates, strengthen teacher preparation programs, improve professional development, and better utilize and reward accomplished teachers.