Happy Labor Day, Georgia!
Labor Day is a time to reflect on the values that unite us as Georgians. Across our state, there is a shared belief that it’s PEOPLE who drive our economy.
We believe that our state government plays a vital role in sustaining our economy, and that businesses can thrive—but only when safeguards are in place to protect workers and the public.
At GBPI, we advocate for policies that protect and dignify labor, without weaponizing it against the very people it should uplift.
Protect Labor
To protect labor in a people-driven economy, Georgia’s Unemployment Insurance (UI) system must be resilient enough to withstand the next recession. The UI Trust Fund, which supplies temporary UI benefits to workers who lose their jobs through no fault of their own, plays a crucial role in this. To ensure its strength, we must fully fund our Department of Labor and the state’s UI Trust Fund, rather than passing legislation like SB 160, which suppresses Trust Fund reserves, or proposing bills like SB 475, which sought to ‘find’ rather than eliminate UI fraud to boost revenue.
Protecting labor also means removing barriers that prevent working Georgians from thriving. In Georgia’s criminal legal system, fines and fees, even for minor infractions, disproportionately impact low-wage workers, trapping them in cycles of debt and hindering their ability to upskill and advance. This approach doesn’t enhance public safety—it undermines it.
For businesses to thrive in a people-driven economy, we must protect labor by incentivizing businesses to collaborate with worker representation rather than punishing them, as was done with SB 362. States with pro-worker policies have healthier, more productive, and better-skilled workforces.
When we use the criminal legal system against workers organizing for better working conditions, as seen with SB 63, we weaken protections for all Georgia workers. Furthermore, targeting migrant workers, who are vital to our workforce and economy, deters them from reporting unsafe conditions, reducing their access to occupational safety and health protections.
Dignify Labor
Our economy does well when our workers and families do well. That means ensuring people have access to quality jobs that offer dignity and livable wages. The federal pandemic recovery investments gave workers historic, but temporary, leverage. This helped reduce wage gaps between Black and white workers and allowed more people to find higher-paying jobs, boosting the typical pay for many low-income Georgians by 26% from 2019 to 2023. However, inflation reduced their actual buying power growth to just 6%.
To close persisting wage gaps by race, ethnicity, and gender, we must raise and index our state’s minimum wage, expand access to overtime pay, invest in workforce training, and empower local governments to address the unique needs of their workforce.
Dignified jobs also mean paid family medical leave, paid sick time, safety protections, and freedom from harassment.
Don’t Weaponize Labor
When we stop using labor as a weapon against people through employment-tied benefits and in our prison system, more people will have the opportunity to thrive. More Georgians will reach their full potential when we undo policies that:
- Judge a person’s value, deservingness, or access to healthcare based on their work participation;
- Subsidize jails, prisons, and business profits by coercing incarcerated Georgians into unpaid and unprotected labor; and
- Prevent formerly incarcerated Georgians from earning a living doing the same jobs—like firefighting and agricultural work—that were unpaid and unprotected and that reduced demand for Georgia’s civilian workforce.
Let’s honor Georgia workers this Labor Day by committing to these values and working together to ensure a prosperous future for all.
