Good Jobs and Benefits, Modern Economy

Background

Louisiana workers are being left behind. This is not by accident, but by policy choices made in Baton Rouge and Washington. Louisiana's minimum wage has been stuck at the federal floor of $7.25 an hour since 2009. This is 17 years without a single raise, even as the cost of groceries, gas, and other basic needs have increased. In Jefferson Parish alone, the living wage for a single adult is estimated at roughly $22 an hour, a gap of nearly $15 an hour between what the law requires and what it actually takes to make ends meet. A full-time worker earning minimum wage in this district brings home about $15,000 a year. This is below the poverty line for a family of two.

Lauren has spent her career organizing alongside members of her teacher’s union, and she knows what it's like to watch her union brothers and sisters in a “right to work” state fight hard to negotiate contracts that win safe working conditions and strong benefits. She knows the importance of having workers share collective power and resources to bargain effectively. Legislation like the PRO Act fixes that. It closes the loopholes that let employers drag out union elections and retaliate against workers for organizing. Workers must have a real say in our pay and our safety. Scalise has sided with the employers every time. Lauren won't.

This district doesn't need more corporate tax breaks that never trickle down. And it doesn’t need cuts to benefits that were long promised. It needs a representative who has stood in a classroom, not a boardroom and who understands that a modern economy has to work for the people building it, not just the shareholders profiting from it. As a member and leader within her teacher’s union and someone who has stood on picket lines in solidarity with fellow unions, Lauren understands that we must build a future in which all people in Louisiana and the United States have access to good-paying, fulfilling jobs that allow them to thrive, not just survive.

Lauren’s Priorities in Congress

• Raise the federal minimum wage and index it to inflation, so workers never again go a generation without a raise.
• Strengthen the right to organize and collectively bargain, including supporting the PRO Act to give workers real power at the negotiating table, regardless of "right-to-work" laws designed to weaken them.
• Fight to strengthen and fully enforce federal protections against workplace discrimination and harassment based on sex, race, disability, sexual orientation, and gender identity including restoring and expanding EEOC enforcement funding,
• Protect and expand overtime pay protections so hourly workers are compensated fairly for the hours they actually work.
• Support local crawfish, shrimping, and maritime industries with fair trade enforcement and H-2B visa reform to address the seasonal labor shortages hurting Louisiana's working waterfronts. Ensure that seasonal workers on H-2B workers are provided safe and fair working conditions.
• Invest in workforce training and apprenticeship programs tied to the industries actually growing in this district (energy, maritime trades, healthcare, and skilled construction).
• Ensure large employers including new AI data centers moving into the district and state commit to local hiring, fair wages, and safe working conditions as a condition of the tax incentives and infrastructure investment they receive.
• Strengthen whistleblower and anti-retaliation protections so workers can report unsafe conditions or wage theft without fear of losing their job.
• Cosponsor and vote for national paid family and medical leave legislation, such as the FAMILY Act, to guarantee workers paid time off for childbirth, serious illness, or caring for a family member.
• Enact wealth taxes on wealthiest individuals and corporations to ensure that working class people have access to public goods and infrastructure in their communities
• Invest in emerging industries — renewables, technology, clean energy — while also helping small businesses and entrepreneurs seek new opportunities