Like many DCYF workers in Washington, Taylor Andrews-Garcelon loves her clients but has felt her job get more stressful and dangerous in the last few years.
WFSE President Mike Yestramski and Congressperson Kim Schrier met this week in Seattle to discuss the swelling wage gap, Americans’ inability to afford soaring drug costs and the workplace violence bill.
“As a former emergency room social worker, this means a lot to me,” said WFSE President Mike Yestramski of H.R. 1309, a bill meant to address workplace violence with new standards and mandated preventative procedures. It passed the House November 21.
The 1965 Voting Rights Act worked. In the years and decades that followed its implementation, the law helped minority voters make their voices heard, especially African Americans who had been discriminated against at the polls. As a result, our democracy became stronger.
But in 2013, despite bipartisan reauthorization of the law by Congress, the Supreme Court gutted it, ruling 5-4 that a key provision was no longer necessary because the Voting Rights Act had worked and the problem was fixed.
Despite high levels of stress on the job, many state and local workers say they highly value serving the public and their communities and feel generally satisfied with their jobs.
