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Greetings, EARN Community!
What’s in a rain shower? Hydration, life sustaining elements, interruption from the activities of a warm day you planned? More importantly, is what is in the April rain shower that is watering the ground for May. More than a fifth of legislatures have recessed or ended for this year while many are in their most torrential season. Across the EARN network we’ve seen progress with repealed right to work laws, increased state employee pay (with much room to grow), advanced (albeit compromised) adoption of a higher minimum wage and defeated attempts to lower youth minimum wage. Still, we’ve also seen horrible setbacks such as suppression to the unemployment insurance trust fund, legislators taking legislative time to expel their colleagues instead of voting to protect children, and instituted Jim Crow Era divisions of courts.
Sometimes rain cleanses, sometimes it nourishes and other times it just hurts. Throughout the legislative session we all have experienced at least a moment of each of these phases. As some bills stall, we as a network demonstrate how April is a time of perseverance. Whether it manifests through carrying that last bill over to the governor’s pen, preventing others from crossing over or picking up after a hard session and still training advocates after you exerted your last bit of energy to get better provisions for paid leave, minimum wage or pay equity.
March has sprung, April has watered, and May has the seeds to budding progress- your efforts and persistence water growth and take oxygen from harmful attempts against workers. Thanks for your work and partnership. We look forward to harvesting with you!
In solidarity,
Jasmine Payne, Senior State Policy Coordinator- EARN in the South
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