Low-quality jobs are a public health crisis in New Orleans. That’s why we at Step Up Louisiana worked with the unanimous support of the New Orleans City Council to put the Workers’ Bill of Rights on the Nov. 5 ballot. With inaction, people in the poorest, Blackest neighborhoods in our city will continue to die 20-plus years younger than in the wealthiest, Whitest neighborhoods. By amending the city’s home rule charter to support workers’ rights to equal pay, a living wage, health care, paid leave and to organize for better conditions, we are taking action to close this gap.
We were glad to see the paper's editorial board support the ideals laid out in the Workers' Bill of Rights in a recent edition. We also firmly believe that the proper place for those ideals is in our city's Bill of Rights.
As the Board points out, the City Charter “is essentially the city’s constitution,” and constitutions are both the basis of law and also statements of principles that guide a country or community’s laws and civic culture. To judge the Bill of Rights in the U.S. Constitution only by its immediate practical impacts would ignore the far-reaching role it has played in bolstering and shaping every major civil rights and labor protection ever won in this country.
The Workers’ Bill of Rights has the potential to influence policymaking, business decisions and public discourse for years to come. It’s important that the city affirm its commitment to workers’ rights even as we continue to push to find ways to protect them in a hostile state political climate. Workers must have a standard to be inspired by and to invoke as they advocate for better conditions. And New Orleans voters must support this amendment. Change starts with principles.
BEN ZUCKER
co-director, Step Up Louisiana
