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PAID FAMILY & MEDICAL LEAVE
At some point all of us will need to heal from a major illness or accident, welcome a new baby home, or care for a family member. We shouldn’t have to beg our employer for days off or worry about losing our jobs while being there for our families. We need laws at the state and federal level that guarantee paid family and medical leave for all working people.
We came close to winning a national paid leave law during the pandemic. State lawmakers have introduced bills in the North Carolina General Assembly to create a paid family and medical leave insurance program three times since 2019. Both the national and state proposals were stopped in their tracks by lawmakers who are more concerned with what big business wants than what the rest of us need.
LOCAL CANDIDATE QUESTIONS
Find opportunities to meet candidates for local offices and ask them about their positions on working people’s concerns. These questions are tailored for local elections, like mayoral, city council and county commission races.
Several cities and counties in North Carolina have granted some form of paid leave to their public employees.
- Do you support this? Why or why not?
- If elected, would you push for paid leave for your city/county’s public employees? Why or why not?
STATE CANDIDATE QUESTIONS
Find opportunities to meet candidates running for state office and ask them about their positions on working people’s concerns. These questions could be used when talking with candidates for the North Carolina State Legislature (both House and Senate).
At some point all of us will need to heal from a major illness or accident, welcome a new baby home, or care for a family member. Several other states have passed guaranteed paid family and medical leave policies, but in North Carolina more than 3.6 million working people have no access to paid leave.
- Would you support a statewide paid family and medical leave policy for working North Carolinians? If not, why?
- Would you support legislation that allows paid family leave through a public insurance program that lets working people pay into the system so that they can take time off with pay when they need it? If not, why not?
- Paid family and medical leave boosts women’s participation in the workforce and benefits both working families and the overall economy. Would you fight to ensure access to paid family and medical leave as part of improving women’s workforce participation?
- If elected, how will you advocate for working North Carolinians’ access to paid family and medical leave?
FEDERAL CANDIDATE QUESTIONS
Find opportunities to meet candidates for federal offices and ask them about their positions on working people’s concerns. These are questions to ask North Carolina candidates running for Congress or US Senate.
- If you are elected, will you fight for a policy that allows working people to access paid family and medical leave when they need it? If not, why?
- Providing paid family and medical leave would boost women’s participation in the workforce and benefit both working families and the overall economy. If elected, will you support efforts to implement paid family and medical leave?
- If elected, would you support the creation of a national paid family and medical leave insurance program? If not, why?
It’s time to elect leaders who will represent US and all working people.
MINIMUM WAGE
We deserve jobs that pay enough to afford the basics for ourselves and our families. Year after year, low-wage workers and organizers have been fighting for a $15 minimum wage. A $15 hourly wage is now widely considered a baseline for what it takes to make ends meet in North Carolina. We know $7.25 per hour is not a living wage, and we also know a living wage is possible, affordable, and beneficial for all.
Other places in the country have already raised the minimum wage to more livable standards, including Florida, West Virginia, Arkansas, South Dakota, and Missouri . Raising the minimum wage would provide a much-needed boost to households facing rising inflation and housing costs.
LOCAL CANDIDATE QUESTIONS
Find opportunities to meet candidates for local offices and ask them about their positions on working people’s concerns. These questions are tailored for local elections, like mayoral, city council and county commission races.
Several cities and counties in North Carolina have raised the minimum wage for local public employees. Doing this puts more money into local economies, while encouraging private employers to raise their wages to stay competitive.
- Do you support the decision by some North Carolina cities and counties to raise their wage floor for local government employees? If not, why?
- If elected, how will you advocate for higher wages for public employees in your city/county?
STATE CANDIDATE QUESTIONS
Find opportunities to meet candidates running for state office and ask them about their positions on working people’s concerns. These questions could be used when talking with candidates for the North Carolina State Legislature (both House and Senate).
States across the country, including some in the South, have raised the minimum wage above the federal level of $7.25/hour. In North Carolina, there have been multiple attempts to pass legislation to raise the minimum wage. None of these have been successful. There has been a demand for a higher minimum wage, especially as inflation drives North Carolina’s cost of living up.
- If elected, how will you work to make a $15 minimum wage a reality for all working people in North Carolina?
- If you don’t think we should have a $15 per hour minimum wage, why not?
- If elected, how will you make sure all working people are able to pay their bills if their jobs don’t pay enough to make ends meet?
- What would you tell working people who aren’t able to afford the basics in North Carolina despite working full-time?
FEDERAL CANDIDATE QUESTIONS
Find opportunities to meet candidates for federal offices and ask them about their positions on working people’s concerns. These are questions to ask North Carolina candidates running for Congress or US Senate.
- This July marked 15 years since the last federal minimum wage increase. Do you support a $15 per hour federal minimum wage for all working people? If not, what should the minimum wage be?
- If elected, how will you help working people who work full-time but cannot make ends meet with their current wages? What would you say to them?
- Would you support a law that includes regular increases to the minimum wage based on the cost of living?
It’s time to elect leaders who will represent US and all working people.
It’s time to elect leaders who will represent US and all working people.
PAID SICK DAYS
Everybody gets sick, but roughly 1.6 million of us in North Carolina don’t have any access to paid sick days. That means we’re either going to work sick and putting the health of our coworkers and customers at risk, or we’re staying home and losing income — and maybe our jobs. All working people should have paid sick days because they keep us, our families, and our workplaces safe and healthy.
We’re long overdue for a law that protects working people when they get sick. The leaders we elect must show us that they have learned from the COVID-19 pandemic by making paid sick days available to every working person, so nobody has to choose between their health and the health of their loved ones or their paychecks.
STATE CANDIDATE QUESTIONS
Find opportunities to meet candidates running for state office and ask them about their positions on working people’s concerns. These questions could be used when talking with candidates for the North Carolina State Legislature (both House and Senate).
Several states have passed laws that give paid sick days to all working people. Here in North Carolina, there have been attempts at the state level to pass paid sick day legislation each session for the past 16 years, but none have ever come to a vote.
- Do you support allowing working people to earn paid time off to use when sick, for preventative medical care, or when caring for a sick loved one? If not, why?
- In 2021, two out of three hourly workers reported coming to work sick because they didn’t have paid sick time or were afraid of losing their jobs. If elected, how will you ensure that all working North Carolinians have access to paid sick time?
FEDERAL CANDIDATE QUESTIONS
Find opportunities to meet candidates for federal offices and ask them about their positions on working people’s concerns. These are questions to ask North Carolina candidates running for Congress or US Senate.
- Do you support efforts to guarantee paid sick days for all working people, including those at smaller companies?
- In 2021, two out of three hourly wage workers reported coming to work sick because they didn’t have paid sick time and/or were afraid of losing their jobs. If elected, how will you ensure that all working people have access to paid sick days?
- People working in low-wage sectors are least likely to have paid sick time; these workers can least afford to take time off without pay. Do you feel low-wage, hourly and part-time workers should have access to paid sick time?
It’s time to elect leaders who will represent US and all working people.
UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE
Unemployment insurance (UI) is supposed to be a resource you can rely on to make sure you can still pay the bills while looking for a new job. Unfortunately, North Carolina has some of the shortest, lowest, and stingiest unemployment benefits in the country thanks to a 2013 bill that made dramatic cuts to this crucial program. We cannot wait until the next recession to act. Our state legislators must make sure everybody has a chance to recover from a job loss and get back on their feet.
STATE CANDIDATE QUESTIONS
Find opportunities to meet candidates running for state office and ask them about their positions on working people’s concerns. These questions could be used when talking with candidates for the North Carolina State Legislature (both House and Senate).
North Carolina used to have an unemployment insurance program that was comparable to the programs of other states. But in 2013, cuts were made to our unemployment insurance program, and countless jobseekers across the state lost crucial support. Since then, North Carolina’s unemployment insurance system has been ranked among the worst in the country.
- If elected, how will you work to make North Carolina’s unemployment insurance program stronger?
- Do you think our elected officials in North Carolina should do more to help working people get back on their feet after losing a job?
- If elected, what will you do to support the thousands of North Carolinians who lose their job each year through no fault of their own?
FEDERAL CANDIDATE QUESTIONS
Find opportunities to meet candidates for federal offices and ask them about their positions on working people’s concerns. These are questions to ask North Carolina candidates running for Congress or US Senate.
- Do you support making our country’s unemployment insurance program strong, including increasing the number of benefits given to job seekers and the length of time they can receive those benefits?
- Do you believe that the expansions to unemployment insurance put in place at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 should become permanent?
- If elected, what will you do to help working people across North Carolina and the rest of the country make ends meet after losing a job?
Childcare
Quality, affordable, appropriate, and safe childcare is essential to keeping parents in the workforce. But North Carolina is facing a childcare crisis. Parents are struggling to find and afford care, especially in rural areas, and many childcare centers in our state are at risk of shutting down. We need legislative leaders who will properly invest in our childcare system.
STATE CANDIDATE QUESTIONS
Find opportunities to meet candidates running for state office and ask them about their positions on working people’s concerns. These questions could be used when talking with candidates for the North Carolina State Legislature (both House and Senate).
Quality, affordable, appropriate, and safe childcare is essential to keeping parents in the workforce. But North Carolina is facing a childcare crisis. Parents are struggling to find and afford care, especially in rural areas, and many childcare centers in our state are at risk of shutting down.
- Do you support increased investment in our state’s childcare system? If not, why not?
- If you are elected, how will you work to address the childcare crisis and ensure that North Carolina has a robust childcare system?
- If elected, how will you support efforts to make childcare more affordable for working parents?
FEDERAL CANDIDATE QUESTIONS
Find opportunities to meet candidates for federal offices and ask them about their positions on working people’s concerns. These are questions to ask North Carolina candidates running for Congress or US Senate.
- If elected, will you support increased, recurring federal investments in childcare? If not, why?
- If you are elected, what will you do to address the childcare crisis faced by parents and providers in North Carolina and across the country?
It’s time to elect leaders who will represent US and all working people.
224 S. Dawson St
Raleigh, NC 27601
919-856-2570
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