John:

You know the history: During the Great Depression, when plumbers and carpenters were struggling with falling wages, Congress passed the Davis-Bacon Act, requiring fair wages, essential benefits, and overtime pay for workers on all federally-funded construction projects. Over the last 88 years, that Act enabled millions of construction workers in the United States to support their families, join a union, save money, buy a home, and move into the middle class.

Today, we must renew our fight for workers and rebuild the middle class — and this time, we'll focus on those workers who commit their labor to care for others.

As U.S. Senator from Maine, I'll immediately propose the Frances Perkins Act to extend those Davis-Bacon wage safeguards to all direct care service workers whose jobs are supported all or in part by federal funds.

(Who was Frances Perkins? She was the first woman to serve as a cabinet secretary, as FDR's Secretary of Labor. Better still: her family roots are in Newcastle, Maine.)

The Frances Perkins Act will protect the rights of home care workers, mental health care direct-service providers, hospital aides, daycare workers funded by Medicaid and Medicare, and countless others. Many of these workers are single mothers with families to support, women of color, people with disabilities, and new immigrants.

Ensuring these federally-funded workers' right to a living wage, paid health and family leave, retirement benefits, and the right to join a union is a critical step in taking our economy back from the special interests and ultra-wealthy and restoring a thriving middle class.

And even better, it'll make a difference in the quality of care to those they serve!

Here's what you can do right now: Share my video statement about the Frances Perkins Act on Facebook. Tell your friends and family why you think it's important that we rebuild the middle class and stand up for workers.

The ability to support our families with dignity, in decent and safe working conditions, and at a living wage is a fundamental promise of the United States of America.

It's time to honor that promise with action.

Betsy