Sarita Gupta of Jobs With Justice: My Hopes for 2014

As we approach a new year, Moyers & Company asked some of the people trying to change the world for the better to tell us what made them proud in 2013, and what their hopes and dreams are for 2014. Here’s what Sarita Gupta, head of Jobs With Justice, told us.

If there’s one story that encapsulates where our movement went this year, it’s the incredible courage demonstrated by low-wage workers across the country walking out on the job to demand respect from their employers. Working men and women from across the retail, fast food, restaurant, and care sectors gave real faces to the stories of people who work full-time and still don’t earn enough to feed their families.  These workers in motion sparked a critical discourse on wages in our nation.  This year, we not only saw courage, but actual victories like winning basic minimum wage and overtime protections for over 2 million home care workers.  But for every victory we celebrated, there’s an attack on working people happening somewhere — right to work laws, union-busting employers, and corporate-backed politicians standing in the way of a minimum wage increase, a functioning NLRB, and an immigration reform package that protects immigrant workers.

My wish for 2014 is that we advance the discussion on wages with actual solutions like raising the federal minimum wage and holding private employers accountable for creating good jobs in our communities.  I hope that all the workers that were in motion this year are able to win real improvements in their lives — better wages, working conditions, and access to good jobs.  This will require employers like Walmart, McDonald’s and Darden to begin to negotiate with their employees, not only for the betterment of their individual businesses, but for the good of our whole economy.

Another hope for the new year is that we continue to push for real solutions to our broken immigration system.  We cannot let politicians on both sides of the aisle off the hook for not moving a real immigration reform package in 2013.