Local 1775 Members,
There is a lot at stake in the upcoming elections for you and your family. From safety, to funding, to basic worker rights, it's important that firefighters and paramedics back an experienced candidate with a proven record of fighting for the issues we care about the most. That's why the Marin Professional Firefighters Local 1775 urges you to support Hillary Clinton for President of the United States.
Hillary is the only candidate for President who has demonstrated a commitment to the priorities shared by our members. What sets her apart is her record of accomplishment , her deep understanding of the policies we care most about and her willingness to work hand in hand with us especially when times are tough. She's the only candidate running for President who has stood up for firefighters and paramedics effectively and passionately.
For firefighters and their families, the choice in this election is clear. Hillary Clinton supports the needs of firefighters and the dangerous jobs you do. Meanwhile Donald Trump intends to attack worker rights, roll back your benefits, and cut off funding for training and equipment that helps you do your job safely and effectively.
Hillary Clinton will defend your rights as a worker, protect your benefits and retirement security, and make sure you have the resources you need to keep you safe on the job. She has stood with firefighters and paramedics throughout her entire career, and now it's our turn to stand with her.
Bob Briare.
President, Marin Professional Firefighters
Labor unions built America’s middle class. Today, organized labor remains critical to fulfilling America’s most basic bargain: if you work hard and do your part, you should be able to get ahead and stay ahead.
As President, Hillary will:
- Fight for collective bargaining rights. The right to organize and collectively bargain is fundamental in fighting for fair wages and benefits. Hillary understands that there are real threats to unions, like those posed by Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association, a Supreme Court case that questions the public union’s ability to collect dues. She will continue to stand up against attacks on collective bargaining.
- Push for labor law reform. Hillary supports the Wage Act, which will help workers have a collective voice in the workplace.• Protect workers from exploitation. We need to protect workers against employer misclassification, wage theft, and other forms of exploitation. Hillary understands that many of the millions of workers in this country who rely heavily on tips are often paid less than the minimum wage and receive no overtime. She will enforce existing laws that protect workers from exploitation, and will continue working towards securing fair employment conditions.
- Invest in infrastructure and worker training. Hillary supports expanding investments in our infrastructure in order to create good jobs. She has proposed rewarding high-quality training and apprenticeships—which unions have established for decades, and are proven to raise wages for workers.
- Support working families. Raising incomes so that hardworking families can afford to live a middle-class life is the defining economic challenge of our time. Additionally, equal pay, paid family leave, earned sick days, fair schedules, and quality affordable child care aren’t luxuries—they’re necessities for families. Hillary will get this done, so that every family has the chance to get ahead and stay ahead.
- Make college affordable. Education should be attainable for all. Hillary’s New College Compact will ensure that costs aren’t a barrier to attending college, and that debt doesn’t hold Americans back.
- Fight for comprehensive immigration reform. Hillary will offer hardworking, law abiding immigrants a path to full and equal citizenship. She will crack down on employers who exploit immigrant employees by misclassifying them, stealing their wages, failing to pay them overtime, and violating their basic human rights.
- Expand voting rights. Hillary is committed to implementing universal, automatic voter registration. She will work on setting a new national standard for early voting, which will give more working families the opportunity to vote.Hillary has a record of fighting for America’s working men and women.
As Senator of New York, Hillary:
- Boosted unions. She voted to provide collective bargaining rights for public safety officers, and persistently co-sponsored the Employees Free Choice Act to enable employees to freely form, join, or assist labor organizations.
- Protected overtime pay. When the Bush Administration started changing the rules to deny overtime pay to an estimated 6 to 8 million American workers, she co-sponsored and voted for legislation to block this effort.
- Fostered fairness in the workplace. She supported numerous bills to enforce high standards in the workplace —from reducing workers’ exposure to toxic chemical substances, to combating worker exploitation and helping non-native English-speaking workers. She also introduced legislation to expedite benefits for families of public safety officers who were killed or catastrophically injured in the 9/11 attacks.
- Fought to raise the minimum wage. She co-sponsored or introduced bills to raise the minimum wage in every session of Congress from 2001 to 2008.
- Supported project labor agreements. She supported the Davis-Bacon Act, which requires that workers on federal government construction contracts receive locally prevailing wages and benefits paid on similar projects.
- Strengthened working families. She cosponsored legislation to provide paid family leave, championed the Paycheck Fairness Act, and co-sponsored the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pair Act to help close the wage gap.