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Anna Alvarez: On Why We Need to #FightFor15 and Protect a Worker’s Right to Start and Join a Labor Union

February 9, 2020

Anna Alvarez is a working mom and grandmother — one of my constituents from the Texas 29th Congressional District. She is an example of working-class Americans who are struggling to make ends meet and are urging Congress to enact legislation to increase the federal minimum wage to $15 per hour and strengthen the country's labor laws to ensure a worker's right to start and join a labor union.

Read her story below:


Anna is a wheelchair attendant at George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston. For nearly 20 years, she has worked hard helping people with disabilities and elderly travelers get to their destination safely. For all of that hard work and dedication, Anna's pay has remained stagnant at $7.25 per hour for nearly two decades. She has never received a raise. Not one penny!
Anna has had to work double shifts or multiple jobs her entire life to provide for her five daughters. Since she started at the airport, rent and many other living expenses have increased, while wages have remained unchanged. Anna is fighting for $15 per hour minimum wage and a union so she and her co-workers can be treated with respect, put food on the table, and spend time with family.


She started organizing her fellow co-workers because she believes, as do I, that one job should be enough to support your family, pay rent, and put food on the table. She is standing up because she believes that working people deserve to be treated with dignity and respect.
On Tuesday, February 4th, she attended the President's State of the Union (SOTU) address as my guest. This was an opportunity for her to share her story and the story of so many of her co-workers that are "just trying to stay above water," as Anna puts it. Too many families across the country know too well what it's like to have to decide between putting food on the table or paying for utilities or buying prescription drugs. This is not only wrong. It's immoral.


Before the start of the President's address, she did several interviews with English and Spanish news outlets and recounted the stories of many of her co-workers, including the following story:


After Anna was announced as Congresswoman Garcia's State of the Union guest, she was stopped in the airport by a woman she recognized as an employee at Bush Intercontinental Airport.
She asked Anna, "you're the one going to Washington with the Congresswoman? To which she responded, "yes."


The woman then told Anna to please give Congresswoman Garcia a message: "I had to give my kids to my mother because I could not afford to support them. I am now homeless and sleep in my car because I cannot afford to pay rent. I am working hard to get my kids back, but there is no way I can support a family on minimum wage." All Anna could say was, "that is not right. All of us in the airport work hard. We don't commit crimes. We don't steal. We play by the rules. We just want to be able to provide for our families!"

Anna was able to share her story with the Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi.


During the State of the Union Address, President Trump said that the economy is doing great and fortunes are rising; however, this is true only if you are in the top 1% of wage earners in America. For people like Anna, this is not true. "The economy is not working for ‘average Joes' like me. People like me are working longer hours and multiple jobs, and still struggling to make ends meet. The economy is not working for us," said Anna.


She shared this message with everyone who would listen, including Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Under the Speaker's leadership, the House has passed hundreds of bipartisan bills that would make a difference in the lives of working people; however, Senate Majority Leader McConnell and President Trump refuse to act. Last July, I joined Democrats and Republicans to passed H.R. 582, the Raise the Wage Act, which would increase the federal minimum wage to $15 per hour by 2025. According to the Economic Policy Institute, this bill would benefit over 181,900 workers like Anna in my district alone.


And just last week, the House of Representatives passed H.R.2474, the Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act of 2019, which restores fairness to the economy by strengthening the federal laws that protect workers' right to join a union. This bill protects the basic right to join a union by:


1) Introducing meaningful, enforceable penalties for companies and executives that violate workers' rights;


2) Expanding workers' collective bargaining rights and closing loopholes that corporations use to exploit workers; and


3) Strengthening workers' access to fair union elections and requiring corporations to respect the results.


In America, no one should have to work several jobs or double shifts, and still be unable to make ends meet. For far too long in America, corporate profits have soared, while many hard working Americans have struggled to keep pace with the rising costs of housing, childcare, education, and other basic essentials. Workers no longer receive a fair share of the profits they produce.
It is time for Senate Majority Leader McConnell to schedule a vote on the bipartisan Raise the Wage Act and the PRO Act of 2019, which would raise the federal minimum wage, help put more money in the pockets of hard working Americans like Anna, and make it easier for them to start or join a union.


I have always been a strong supporter of organized labor and I won't stop fighting for people like Anna. We must uplift stories like Anna's because it is unfortunately far too common in America. We must fight for working people like Anna so that they can be part of a union that will fight for their rights and only have to work one job.
In America, one job should be enough.