Brothers, sisters and siblings,
There are 17 days left in the legislative session, and the stakes have never been higher. Our fight this session is the fight for democracy, for the future of our state, and for our lives as working people. Every moment matters.
Here’s what you may have missed, and what to look out for next week.
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HB 2127, the "Death Star" anti-worker bill that would undo decades of local worker protections and put the future of our state at risk, was not taken up in the Senate today, but it could be at any moment next week.
It can not be overstated how much we all stand to lose if this bill passes. Our time to act is now. Our legislators need to hear from working people, tell them to vote NO on HB 2127.
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Today, at midnight, any bills that have not already been heard will be barred from consideration by the full House, and considered “dead.” It is not unusual for legislators to add parts of their dead priority bills into active bills through amendments. In other words, the bills we want to be killed may come back as zombies under different names. We’ll be keeping an eye out for them.
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BILLS WE'RE WATCHING - THE GOOD
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This bill would allow Unemployment Insurance benefit eligibility to workers who are temporarily unable to work as a result of a strike taking place outside Texas, within the same company. HB 1055 has been a huge priority for our UAW siblings, who in the past have not received benefits even though they did not initiate or participate in a strike that prevented the GM plant in Arlington from staying open, which resulted in layoffs.
HB 1055 now heads to the Senate.
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The misclassification of construction workers as contractors instead of employees, runs rampant in Texas. Employers who engage in this practice are ultimately engaging in tax fraud, as classifying workers as contractors gets companies off the hook for paying employer taxes. When workers are misclassified as contractors, they are denied the regular benefits of employment, but perform all the same work as their correctly classified peers. This issue particularly affects immigrant workers, who often are intentionally misclassified and without recourse to correct it. This bill would impose a penalty on employers per each misclassified worker, and an increased penalty for repeat offenses. In a huge win for the workers who build our state.
HB 1045 passed on 3rd reading today.
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HB 5151 would offer insurance-related protection for rail employees when they get rides to their worksites — often in the middle of the night. In a surprise turn of events, BNSF joined unions in backing the bill.
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BILLS WE'RE WATCHING - THE (VERY) BAD
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Late on Tuesday night, after a day full of protests against HB 20 and HB 7 in the Capitol, HB 20 was killed on a point of order. Unfortunately, the core of HB 20 was then immediately slipped into HB 7 through parliamentary maneuvers, and HB 7 passed. This bill will create a separate border patrol force that has the power to apprehend and detain migrants seeking safety anywhere in our state, with no oversight or accountability.
HB 7 is a state-sanctioned racial profiling system that will ensure tragic violence in our state.
The Texas labor movement must stand united in rejecting the cruel, continued attacks, scapegoating, and incarceration of immigrant workers and their families
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SB 14, the hateful, cowardly bill that risks the lives of trans children, returned to the House floor this afternoon. Our trans siblings have fought hard against this bill every step of the way and we stand in unwavering solidarity- an injury to one is an injury to all.
You can follow the debate here.
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On Tuesday night, after an incredible amount of public pressure led by Texas AFT, a 65 to 76 vote in the Texas House blocked the Public Education Committee from meeting to vote SB 8, the omnibus voucher bill, out of committee.
Legislators heard from so many working Texans, they had to turn their phones off. Even though it is abundantly clear Texans have rejected vouchers in all forms, our fight against is not over. Vouchers would drain our already struggling public schools, at the cost of subsidizing private education for the privileged few.
SB 8 will be up again next week in a hearing that will have only invited testimony. No actual teachers were invited to speak.
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This bill would introduce a new, exclusive court of appeals that is almost certain to favor business and corporations in labor disputes. SB 1045 is wasteful, and ultimately unnecessary. This bill is just another demonstration of our legislators putting corporate interest over the common good.
SB 1045 will be taken up in the House on Monday.
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A new article from Gus Bova with the Texas Observer outlines in meticulous, incredibly human detail, exactly the cost of our states unacceptably insufficient worker protections. The story details the life and death of Antelmo Ramirez, who died building the Travis County Tesla Gigafactory with an internal body temperature of 106.4 degrees due to working in extreme heat without rest or water breaks.
"In almost every respect, then, Ramirez’s case was archetypal. He was a Mexico-born man, working construction in high temperatures, in Texas, with no legal right to rest breaks, who was new on the job. All that, along with one other typical feature: As with each of us who goes to work, some loved one somewhere was expecting him to get home safe that day."
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Immigrant community advocates from all across Texas gathered inside the Capitol to oppose HB 20 and HB 7 before they were debated on Tuesday.
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There may not be many calendar days left in session, but we've got a long road ahead. We must keep one thing in mind- when we fight, we win.
In solidarity,
Texas AFL-CIO
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