The POWER Act is for every worker who has ever been told to sit down and be quiet
The act, which will come to vote in City Council on May 8, creates critical protection for workers who face retaliation and holds accountable employers who have repeatedly violated workers' rights.
We come from different jobs and different workplaces. One of us, has a long history in house cleaning; the other, is a temp industry worker. Despite our different roles, we are united in the same fight: the right to feel safe and respected at work.
Our labor keeps this city running. We care for children. We cook food, we stock shelves and keep businesses clean. We support families and fuel Philadelphia’s economy. But while we honor our work with everything we have, the city we love and call home hasn’t always honored us in return.
That’s why we are organizing for labor justice in Philly, working across industries and neighborhoods on behalf of all mistreated workers who don’t have the protections of a union and rely on the city to enforce our rights.
The Protect Our Workers - Enforce Rights (POWER) Act, which is scheduled to go in front of City Council for its final vote Thursday can change this mistreatment.
Too often, workers in this city are treated like we don’t matter: Working in the shadows, pushed to the margins, taken advantage of, and left without protection because of our race, gender, immigration status, language, or relationship to the carceral system.
It’s hard to describe just how powerless you feel when your job disappears overnight, or when you’re told your hours were cut because you asked a question about pay.
Domestic workers who speak up for better treatment can be fired on the spot. Undocumented restaurant workers can be denied their sick pay and threatened with deportation when they ask for what’s legally theirs. People coming out of incarceration can be discriminated against and illegally denied work when an employer learns that they’ve been involved in the carceral system.
On a number of occasions, we’ve experienced retaliation because we are protecting ourselves at work. In industries like the temp industry, workers do not receive training on the machinery required to do our jobs. And when we stand up and demand training or refuse to use dangerous equipment, we are fired. Sometimes, that firing happens after we are already injured.
These aren’t isolated incidents. They are patterns. Patterns made worse by the fact that for so many workers, there isn’t a clear path to justice. This is despite the fact that City Council has passed groundbreaking labor protections like the Philadelphia Domestic Workers Bill of Rights, Paid Sick Leave Law, Wage Theft Ordinance, and more.
But what is a right if it’s not enforced?
The POWER Act is our chance to fix the gaps in our system and truly protect workers. It creates a new protection for workers who face retaliation. It creates a bad actor database to hold accountable those employers who have repeatedly violated workers rights and refuse to comply with the laws. It sets out critical protections for immigrant workers. It gives our city’s Office of Worker Protections better tools to enforce our existing labor ordinances, critical at a moment when federal worker protections are being systematically dismantled.
This bill is not just about enforcing laws. It’s about restoring trust.
It also requires the Department of Labor to publicly report on the city’s process for taking action on worker claims and holding violating employers accountable. That way, workers aren’t left wondering if their cases just disappeared into a void.
This bill is not just about enforcing laws. It’s about restoring trust. It’s about telling workers across Philadelphia: You matter, your rights matter, and when you are wronged, someone will have your back. Workers, like us, will then feel more secure in standing up for our rights.
Philadelphia has a chance to lead by example: To say that in this city, no worker is disposable, that rights on paper will come with real protections in practice.
On May 8, pass the POWER Act. Not just for us, but for every worker who has ever been told to sit down and be quiet.
We’re done being silent.
Rufina Rodriguez is with the National Domestic Workers Alliance. Craig Horton is a temp industry worker with the Philly Black Worker Project.