Brothers, sisters and siblings,
The session is moving full steam ahead and our legislators have sent a clear message they intend to leave working people in the dust. The good news is, we can do something about it. Here's what you may have missed, and what to do about it.
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Earlier this week, the omnibus anti-worker bill, HB 2127 passed in the House, but our fight is far from over. If signed into law, it will completely strip our local leaders' ability to address the immediate and long term issues of the communities they serve.
Business groups and their allies are the invisible hand behind HB 2127. The proponents of this bill have chosen to prioritize corporate interests over the will of working people, even though it’s clear Texans trust their local lawmakers, the people closest to them, to do what they were elected for.
HB 2127 will leave all working Texans without basic worker protections at the local level, and it will leave many vulnerable in times of crisis, with our local governments unable to respond to the needs of our communities.
We can't let this bill pass and we can’t give up on the working people of our state. Call your Senators TODAY and tell them to vote no on HB 2127.
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In the latest blow to higher education in Texas, the Senate approved a bill to ban tenure in all public universities. Proponents of the bill claim tenure protects professors from accountability, despite the well-documented accountability mechanisms that already exist within university systems.
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The ongoing war against diversity initiatives escalated this week as the Senate approved a bill to ban all diversity programs in public universities.
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The full House approved a bill which the author, Rep. Jared Patterson, claims is meant to keep “sexually explicit” content out of libraries, yet largely targets books that feature diverse, LGBTQ characters. Watch Rep. Venton Jones' speech against the bill here.
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On Tuesday, the families of Uvalde shooting victims traveled to the Capitol to testify in support of HB 2744, which would raise the minimum age to purchase semi-automatic rifles from 18 to 21. The emotion in the room was evident, and the testimony heartbreaking. Rep. Rhetta Bowers told an NRA official who had come in support of the bill that she should have sent written testimony instead of coming in person, out of respect for the families
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- Steelworkers need our help! Hundreds of USW members in Houston stand to lose their jobs if the ownership of the Lyondell refinery choose to shut it down. USW is calling on Lyondell to sell, not close the plant. Sign the petition here.
- The parents of the four Uvalde survivors of room 112 in Robb Elementary have put up a GoFundMe to send their children to Disney Land. Donate here.
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The Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen (BLET) held a rally day on Wednesday. Railroad workers from all over the state came to the Capitol to urge our legislators to support bills that make our railroads, and the working conditions of the people who operate them, safer. Among the bills BLET supports is one that would limit the max length of trains, a change that would dramatically reduce blocked railroad crossings and the myriad dangers they pose to towns across Texas.
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TEXAS AFL-CIO IN THE NEWS
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- Our Deputy Director of Politics and Policy, Ana Gonzalez, spoke about HB 2127 eliminating rest breaks for construction workers, and the other sweeping dangers of the bill, on a recent America's Workforce Podcast episode
- President Rick Levy speaks out against the blatant anti-worker nature of HB 2127 in this must read article from the Texas Tribune.
Texas AFL-CIO
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