Best Candidates for Working People, 2018: Tim Walz

This November’s elections are shaping up to be among the most consequential in recent U.S. history. Throughout the summer and fall, we’ll be taking a look at the best candidates for working people. Today, we feature Minnesota gubernatorial candidate Tim Walz.

Here are some of the key reasons why Walz is one of the best candidates for working people in 2018:

• As a former educator and union member (Education Minnesota, an affiliate of both the AFT and the National Education Association), he knows that union membership is the surest pathway to the middle class; and he will oppose assaults on the right to collective bargaining, such as “right to work.”
• Walz wants to increase the state’s minimum wage to $15 an hour. 
• He puts his money where his mouth is, as everyone in his campaign is paid a living wage and gets benefits.
• Walz wants to improve and expand safe and sick time laws, including coverage for broader issues, such as domestic violence recovery to long-term care.
• He supports fair scheduling rules that make sure working people receive proper notification about schedules, receive compensation for last-minute changes and have adequate rest time between shifts.
• Walz wants to fight wage theft and expand protections against unscrupulous employers.
• He supports defined benefit pensions and will defend them against corporate attacks.
• Walz supports paid parental leave policies, which strengthen families.
• He will invest $1 billion in infrastructure to rebuild highways, bridges and mass transit and to expand broadband availability.
• Walz wants to fully and equitably fund schools and provide teachers with the support and resources that ensure every student has a caring, qualified, committed teacher.
• He wants to partner with unions and other organizations to connect veterans with programs like Helmets to Hardhats that help them transition to good-paying jobs.
• Walz chose Peggy Flanagan as a running mate. An organizer and longtime advocate for working families, she co-chaired the Raise the Wage campaign, the successful fight to raise Minnesota’s minimum wage for the first time in nearly a decade. 

Learn more about Walz at his website.