Labor Organizing
We work closely with our partners at the Louisiana AFL-CIO and its dozens of affiliate unions across the state to serve and support more than 100,000 Louisiana union members and their families through policy, organizing, and communications. Working families are the backbone of our state, and unions are their most powerful tool for influencing politics and policy.
Our team supports the AFL-CIO’s leadership in their statewide work, advises unions and their leaders on political issues, and leads statewide organizing activities that build greater solidarity among working people.
You can learn more about the Louisiana AFL-CIO and its affiliates at https://la.aflcio.org/
Labor Policy Wins
Louisiana’s working families are impacted by many different types of policies, and not all of them are directly related to labor regulations. Fixing the same problems that everyone faces, like excessive fines and fees, over-aggressive public-sector debt collection practices, unnecessary driver’s license suspensions, inefficient government agencies, and difficulty expunging criminal records of minor crimes that might limit job opportunities, can benefit all Louisianans, and especially our working families.
House Bill 544 (2024) by Rep. Delisha Boyd
Require more transparency and accountability at the New Orleans Regional Transit Authority (RTA), and increase worker and rider voice and power in RTA governance.
Partner organization: Louisiana AFL-CIO
House Bill 683 (2024) by Rep. Chuck Owen
Reform debt creation and collection practices at the Louisiana Office of Motor Vehicles (OMV).
Partner organization: Justice & Accountability Center of Louisiana
House Bill 954 (2024) by Rep. Shaun Mena
Remove the vague, undefined term “moral turpitude” from the list of reasons someone can be denied an occupational license.
Partner organization: Justice & Accountability Center of Louisiana
House Bill 89 (2023) by Rep. Denise Marcelle
Require the Louisiana State Police to collect and publish traffic stop data
House Bill 286 (2023) by Rep. Delisha Boyd
Make it easier and cheaper for people with first-time convictions for simple marijuana possession to expunge those arrests from their records.
Partner organizations: Justice & Accountability Center of Louisiana, Marijuana Policy Project
House Bill 447 (2023) by Rep. Vincent Pierre
Require agencies that refer debt to ODR to provide more data/transparency.
Partner Organizations: Justice & Accountability Center of Louisiana
House Bill 129 (2022) by Rep. Richard Nelson
Require a 180-day grace period when someone misses a court date before the Office of Motor Vehicles can suspend their driver’s license, allowing them time to rectify their legal situation without automatically losing driving privileges.
Partner organizations: Justice & Accountability Center of Louisiana, Louisiana Appleseed
House Bill 639 (2022) by Rep. Thomas Pressly
Allow people with criminal records to ask an occupational licensing board if their record disqualifies them from obtaining a license before they begin their educational and/or licensure process, provide for individual consideration of applicants, and set up a framework that licensing boards can use to determine if a person’s conviction is related to the profession in which they are seeking a license.
Partner organizations: Right on Crime, Pelican Institute, Justice & Accountability Center of Louisiana, Louisiana Budget Project, Americans for Prosperity–Louisiana
House Bill 726 (2022) by Rep. Rodney Lyons
Outlaw debt-based incarceration, aka debtors’ prisons, in Louisiana.
Partner organizations: Justice & Accountability Center of Louisiana, Southern Poverty Law Center
House Bill 988 (2022) by Rep. Mandie Landry
Establish workplace protections for certain state workers who have medical marijuana recommendations.
Partner Organization: Marijuana Policy Project
House Bill 568 (2023) by Rep. Tammy Phelps
Create a 5-day grace period the first time someone’s auto insurance lapses before they are assessed OMV fines.
House Bill 553 (2022) by Rep. Scott McKnight
Reduce employment barriers for people with criminal records to work in the medical marijuana industry.