Ameya Pawar, 47th Ward alderman and Democratic candidate for Illinois governor taking questions from the audience at an event on May 8, 2017.

Over the last forty years, our economy has changed dramatically. Automation and trade deals have drained solid middle class jobs with living wages, and benefits out of our small towns and big cities. Many of the jobs we created over the past thirty years pay lower wages and often don’t have the same basic dignities or benefits that hard, honest work should provide. As a result, nearly half of adults in the United States will experience poverty in their lifetimes and achieving the American Dream is becoming further out of reach.



But we can turn that around. We can make life better for working people. And in Chicago, we’ve started to do that.



Since July 1, 460,000 workers across the the city and hundreds of thousands more throughout Cook County are able to take paid time off work because of personal illness or because of an illness in the family, without hurting their pocketbook or facing retribution. Before Chicago’s Paid Sick Leave Ordinance was implemented, the only option many workers had if they or a family member became sick was to either suffer through the work day or take off work and lose a day’s wage. It was an unjust and often cruel system, and that’s why I sponsored the ordinance and the Chicago City Council unanimously passed it.



While this ordinance is significant because it provides much needed benefits to working families in Chicago, it’s not enough. More progressive legislation is needed that protects working families and invests in communities across our state, and across the country, so everyone is afforded the same opportunities to get ahead.



I’m running for governor so that workers in Peoria and Macomb and East St. Louis to have the same rights as those in Chicago. Everyone deserves the opportunity to be rewarded for their work without having to relinquish their responsibilities as a partner, parent, or caretaker.



Paid sick leave and paid family leave must be a reality for all working people. To me, we are one Illinois, so the basic rights afforded to workers in Chicago and Cook County should be given to workers in every corner of our state. However, the current state law only applies to workers who are already covered by their employer’s sick leave policy, if they have one. In other words, it doesn’t require all businesses in Illinois to have a sick leave policy or to provide paid sick leave.



What's good for businesses and workers in Chicago and the suburbs is good for the rest of the state. We should require all employers who do business in Illinois to offer paid sick leave and paid family leave to workers. But there is so much more we can do to help working families.

Fight for $15 And Beyond: How To Protect Working Families

The single most important piece of legislation for improving the quality of life for all working people in our state is the bill currently on Governor Rauner’s desk which would increase the state’s minimum wage to $15 an hour. The minimum wage is too low as it is, and many people in our state are forced to work multiple jobs just to make ends meet.



Studies show that in places like Danville, East St. Louis, and rural Illinois, a single worker without children will need $15 an hour or more by 2022 just to cover housing, food, transportation and other basic costs. In higher-cost areas, like Chicago, a single worker with no children will need to make nearly $18 an hour by 2022 to afford the basics.



Workers with families will need even more than $15 an hour. In Rock Island, for example, which has the lowest cost of living in Illinois, for a two-worker family with two kids to be able to afford a cheap apartment and cover simple living costs, each parent will need to earn nearly $19 an hour.



Raising the minimum wage would give 2.3 million Illinois workers a raise. That’s more than 40 percent of the state’s workforce that would receive at least $4,000 to $5,000 more a year in their pockets. It would pump billions of dollars into our struggling economy to provide much-needed revenue to fully fund services, and it will help stop Illinois’ population drain. This is a common-sense solution that would directly help nearly half of all women and African American workers and more than 60 percent of Latino workers .



Another way we can support working families is by providing universal access to child care. If we say we have family values, we have to start valuing families. Universal child care is an investment in children that frees parents from the choice of spending a huge chunk of their income on babysitters or simply not working at all. This investment would bring in $7.30 for every dollar spent.



Illinois has one of the highest levels of household income inequality in the country, which has a direct impact on the development of children in lower-income families. Strengthening the Earned Income Tax Credit for lower and middle-income families gives working people more money to spend in the economy. In 2015, it lifted 6.5 million people out of poverty. This is an investment. Regulations requiring fair scheduling practices provide stability and predictability to families. This, too, is an investment.



The Progressive Message Resonates With Everyone

I don’t believe we should write people off based on who they voted for in the past election. As Democrats, as progressives, we can’t do that. Our message, one that protects the dignity of work and the sanctity of family, can resonate with everyone. We’re not imposing big government or onerous regulations. We’re letting people live their lives without the constant fear that they could lose everything.



America is at its strongest and most prosperous when we recognize, celebrate, and fight for the rights of all working families. Illinois will be at its strongest when we strengthen both sides of that equation: the rights of workers and the day-to-day lives of families. We can boost the economy, invest in our future, and enrich Illinois families by passing common-sense laws that allow them to work without being punished for getting sick or spending half their income on childcare. Everyone should have that basic right.