Tom Steyer on Jobs Democratic Presidential Challenger; CEO

Need to stand up for unions & right to bargain collectively

Minimum wage should be $11 to $20, for parity with 1980

Steyer: Senator Sanders is right. There have been 40 years where corporations have bought this government: a 40-year attack on the rights of working people & specifically on organized labor. I was one of the first people on this stage to propose a wealth tax. I would undo every Republican tax cut for rich people and major corporations.

Q: What's your plan for closing the income gap?

Steyer: It's absolutely shameful the way the money gets split up in terms of earnings. As a result of taking away the rights of working people and organized labor, 90% of Americans have not had a raise for 40 years. If you took the minimum wage from 1980 and just adjusted it for inflation, you get $11. It's $7.25.. If you included the productivity gains of American workers, it'd be over $20.

Supports right to a living wage

Most people are denied a fair paycheck, while CEOs get rich

Over the last forty years, I've seen America digress and move away from the forward momentum of progress that we had collectively achieved as a nation. Today, our economy booms but the average budget tightens.

Most people are denied a fair paycheck and the life of dignity it provides. We've gone from a place where workers were considered part of the company, to where workers are considered a cost to the company.

In 1978, CEO pay was roughly 30 times that of typical worker salaries in the United States. These days? It's 271 times. This is wrong--pure and simple. Every American must be guaranteed a living wage, because economic fairness is essential to the freedom to pursue opportunity. No one should be forced to work three jobs just to survive, and no one should see their raise eaten up by the rising cost of living.

Corporations hold down wages; unions get fair return

But our economy is dangerously out of balance. The wealthy and big corporations have rigged the rules so they profit at the expense of hard-working Americans. They hold down wages, take away our right to join together in union, and take advantage of favorable tax laws while working American families struggle just to put food on their tables. It's simple: when all the money goes to the wealthy few, working families struggle to get by.

NextGen America is working to make sure that everyone gets a fair shake, so we all have the freedom to join together in union and negotiate for a fair return on our work, affordable health care, and a fair tax code.

Automatic deductions ok for political usage of union dues

Report on Steyer's stance and spending on ballot initiatives:
• California Proposition 32, the "Paycheck Protection" Initiative (2012)
• Steyer Opposed; Steyer spent $500,000; outcome: Defeated
• Proposition 32, the "Paycheck Protection" Initiative, was on the November 6, 2012 ballot in California as an initiated state statute, where it was defeated.
• If Proposition 32 had been approved, it would have:
• Banned corporate and union contributions to state and local candidates.
• Banned contributions by government contractors to the politicians who control contracts awarded to them.
• Banned automatic deductions by corporations, unions, and government of employees' wages to be used for politics.

Closed tax loophole on out of state business, creating jobs