Local 205 along, with dozens of other unions, community, student, civil rights, and faith groups from all across the state came together on the capitol steps to call on the Tennessee legislature to change its current agenda and make the interests of working people its top priority. The “Workers Day on the Hill” rally was covered by media outlets across the state.

Governor Haslam, the legislature, and their corporate funders, have abandoned everyday people, and pursued an agenda that favors huge corporations and the wealthy.

Under our state’s current leadership, income inequality has soared to an all time high, while good, living wage jobs that provide benefits have disappeared. The legislature has refused to raise the minimum wage, and has attacked basic worker protections like mandatory lunch breaks and overtime pay. It’s an unfair, unequal economy, that values greed and profit over our basic needs. We need good, living wage jobs with benefits. Jobs should keep us out of poverty, not in it.

This coalition has come together because we have a different vision of Tennessee—one that puts “We The People” first.