Guaranteed income rebalances power in favor of workers.
With cash, workers can demand fairness and have the freedom to make decisions that support themselves and their families.
Latest Resources
The Power of Cash: How Guaranteed Income Can Strengthen Worker Power
05. 01. 2023
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Roundtable Discussion: Guaranteed Income Policies & Labor Power
03. 30. 2023
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A New Tool to Improve Jobs and Empower Workers
03. 02. 2023
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The Potential of Guaranteed Income to Empower Workers and Improve Job Quality
12. 17. 2022
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How Cash Helps Workers Strike Back
05. 10. 2022
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Guaranteed Income and Worker Power Roundtable
10. 26. 2021
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A just economy means workers, rather than just corporations, enjoy the benefits of their labor. By providing an income floor through which no one can fall, guaranteed income can further boost workers’ power to demand better wages and working conditions from their employers, switch jobs, and opt out of taking bad jobs. Unions and effective public programs work together to rebalance power in our economy.
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We envision an economy that ensures everyone has what they need to thrive like safe housing, good food, and time for rest. This economic foundation is long past due. Yet corporations have structured our current economy to benefit the wealthy few rather than workers and their families. While corporate profits have been soaring, workers’ wages have been stagnant for the past 65 years, not keeping pace with the productivity of workers or the rising cost of living. With a current federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour, many workers work multiple jobs and still cannot cover their bills.
Recognizing the untenable position many Americans faced during the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, the federal government and many state governments expanded public investments and provided workers and families with cash supplements, including unemployment insurance (UI), paid sick leave, stimulus checks and the Child Tax Credit. With this support, workers’ demonstrated their power. In 2020, 65% of all Americans said they would join a union if they could, up from 45% in 2018. In the first half of fiscal year 2022, workers filed 58% more union representation petitions with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) and 16% more unfair labor practice charges as compared to the same time period in fiscal year 2021. By giving workers a permanent “strike fund”, a permanent guaranteed income could reduce the amount of control employers have over workers’ basic survival and further empower workers to organize and demand better pay and working conditions.