☕️Happy Wednesday.
⚡️Rising Threat ... Members of the U.S. House reintroduced the Protecting the Right to Organize Act (PRO) Act last week. The PRO Act proposes sweeping changes to national labor laws including repealing and banning right-to-work state laws. It would also impose a version of California’s job-killing law Assembly Bill 5 (AB5) on the entire nation. Go deeper.
- The war on the side hustle ... if you watched the Super Bowl, you might have caught a new ad featuring country music icon Dolly Parton flipping the lyrics to her iconic song from “9 to 5” to “5 to 9.” The country music legend came under fire for being a capitalist who celebrates hard work and the pursuit of the American dream. Read more.
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"I felt like I had a heart for serving and I appreciated the opportunities that I had when I was in the state legislature. I joined the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) right away and was able to connect with a lot of like-minded people who were working on policies that were good for the country, good for the state."
— Rep. Yvette Herrell (NM-02)
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Massachusetts just did something powerful for black women in the state: Recently, lawmakers repealed the licensure requirement for hair braiders, a change that will set these enterprising and skilled women free from unnecessary regulations. Learn more here.
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Happy Black History Month!
- Overall poverty for black Americans is down by more than 35% over the last several decades. 🎉
- Median household income is up from $24,700 (1967) to $45,438 (2019), according to Pew Research Center.
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WHAT YOU CAN DO
Last Chance To RSVP!
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Don't miss your chance to join us for the #IWFReads Author Chat with Allie Beth Stucky, where we will be discussing her book, You’re Not Enough (And That’s Okay): Escaping the Toxic Culture of Self-Love. This is a relevant read on the repercussions of falling into the toxic culture of today that “you are enough.”
Sign up to join us tomorrow @ 1pm ET.
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 Just In
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Senator Joni Ernst and IWF President Carrie Lukas co-authored an oped this week for FoxNews.com: Coronavirus and the economic shutdowns have affected everyone, but it hasn’t impacted everyone equally. Women have been among the hardest hit by the economic fallout from COVID-19, losing nearly 2.2 million jobs between February and November 2020. Women-owned businesses, which had been on the rise in recent years, have certainly had a rough go during the pandemic as well. In a recent survey, more than half of female small business owners feared they will have to permanently close their businesses. Share this story.
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 Spotlight
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Which of the following statements is not true about the Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act?
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A. Forces independent contractors to be reclassified as employees or end up jobless.
B. Forces non-union workers to pay union dues against their will.
C. Protects non-union workers from being harassed or retaliated against if they don’t join a union.
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 She Thinks Podcast
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- New Episode: Hear Caroline Sunshine, former Disney Channel actress and White House press assistant, discuss her career and the treatment of conservative women by the media. Listen to it here.
Or listen on your favorite podcast app:    
- Next Episode: Don't miss Director of Economic Opportunity at Stand Together Erica Jedynak as she discusses threats to independent contracting and worker freedoms (2/12) at 9 a.m. ET. Listen to it here.
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IWF's Dr. Qanta Ahmed in Newsday: Medical Professionals Must Squarely Face Vaccine Fears Share this story.
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On a strict party line vote, Democrats in the Senate defeated an amendment that would withhold money from schools that refuse to reopen even after teachers are vaccinated. That not a single defector was willing to stand up for reopening schools is further evidence of the political influence of teachers’ unions over the debate that has pitted public school families, and sometimes even school boards, against teachers’ unions
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The Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) has long claimed that schools are unsafe and that teachers simply cannot be forced to return to work. Unfortunately for them, the science, as well as simple common sense, doesn’t support their alarmist claims. Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot and Chicago Public Schools CEO Janice Jackson could learn a lesson from Ronald Reagan and stop the nonsense that is playing out in Chicago public schools. Enough is enough.
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CHAMPION MESSAGE
