Portal:Wage Crushers/ALEC and ACCE
Through the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) and its local government offshoot the American City County Exchange (ACCE), lobbyists and politicians vote behind closed doors on 'model bills' that benefit the corporate bottom line. They are then introduced in state houses and city halls, stripped of their true origins. More than 100 major corporations have stopped funding ALEC due to controversy over its extreme agenda which includes, anti-worker bills, voter suppression bills and climate change denial.
A plethora of ALEC bills crush wages, limit workers' rights, and privatize key government services. Some of the wage-crushing "model bills" pushed through ALEC include:
- The "Minimum Wage Repeal Act;"
- A resolution in opposition to any increase in the minimum wage;
- Living wage preemption, which allows state governments to prevent local governments from choosing to set higher wage standards for their own communities;
- Repeal of prevailing wage for government projects;
- A "Paycheck Protection" bill to bust unions and lower wages;
- So-called "Right-to-Work" legislation that limits the kinds of contracts for which workers can bargain;
- Changing public workers' pension rights; and
- So-called "Free Trade" agreements that make it easier for corporations to ship jobs to countries with lower wages and fewer worker protections.
For a full list of ALEC bills affecting worker rights, click here.
Visit ALEC Exposed, a project of the Center for Media and Democracy, for more information about ALEC and ACCE.
