Union membership has been on the decline for decades. Working people and their families used to be able to live in comfort and dignity with a single paycheck. Now rising costs and stagnating wages force working families to choose between food, medicine, and shelter, due in large part to the declining power of organized labor.

The attacks on labor rights have taken a sharp increase under Trump’s second term. One million federal workers have lost their right to collective bargaining at the stroke of a pen.

To defend and expand the labor rights of the working class in Kansas, I’m calling for a Labor Bill of Rights to be added to the Kansas Constitution with the following provisions:

• Repeal so-called “Right to Work” laws.

• Ban employers from firing workers for organizing at work.

• Ban employers from intimidating or punishing workers for organizing at work.

• Protect the right to strike.

• Establish a state board to defend these newly established rights.

• Protect bargaining rights for state employees.

• Establish bargaining rights for municipal employees.

• Raise the minimum wage to a living wage that keeps up with the cost of living.