For immediate release: October 22nd 2014
Contact: Roger Kerson
PHONE 734.645.0535
roger@rkcommunications.net
Land Earns ‘F’s On Issues Important to Michigan’s Working Families
LANSING, October 22, 2014 – The Michigan AFL-CIO today released the Working Family Values Report Card, which grades candidates for U.S. Senate on issues critical to Michigan’s working families. Candidate Terri Lynn Land earned all ‘F’s on issues ranging from increasing the minimum wage to protecting Social Security and Medicare, whereas Gary Peters earned ‘A’s due to his strong support for pro-working family policies.
“Terri Lynn Land is an out-of-touch millionaire who has no idea how real people earn a living,” said Karla Swift, president of the Michigan AFL-CIO. “She’s a one-woman party of “NO”: Against raising the minimum wage, against equal pay for equal work; against support for our auto industry; against protecting our senior citizens; and against tax fairness and closing corporate tax loopholes.”
“Michigan working families need a pro-active, positive agenda in the U.S. Senate,” said Swift. “That’s why we’re supporting Gary Peters. He’s a champion of the U.S. auto industry, and his track record shows he’ll stand with Michigan seniors, women and working families.”
The AFL-CIO Working Family Values report card was created by grading each candidate for U.S. Senate on key issues important to working families in Michigan. Those issues include:
- Increasing the minimum wage
- Pay equity
- Protecting Social Security and Medicare
- Supporting job creation in America and opposing outsourcing of American jobs overseas
- Tax fairness and closing corporate tax loopholes
A look at the U.S. Senate candidates’ positions on these key issues follows.
Terri Lynn Land:
✗ Opposes increasing the minimum wage
- A spokesperson told the Associated Press Land was opposed to a $10.10 minimum wage increase (WOOD TV)
✗ Opposes Pay Equity
- Said she would have voted against the Paycheck Fairness Act, saying, “I don’t think that’s a good idea.” (Wall Street Journal)
- Said women are “more interested in flexibility in a job than pay” (Wall Street Journal)
✗ Agenda would jeopardize Social Security and Medicare
- Lynn voted to reaffirm the RNC’s 2012 platform that called for turning Medicare into a Voucher program (DSCC, New York Times)
- Lynn voted to reaffirm the RNC’s 2012 platform that called for privatizing Social Security (DSCC)
✗ Opposes measures that create/support jobs in America and supports outsourcing of American jobs overseas
- Opposed the auto rescue which saved Michigan’s auto industry and hundreds of thousands of jobs (Huffington Post)
- Supports cutting revenue that’s used to fund vital transportation and infrastructure projects that put people back to work (CBS Detroit)
✗ Opposes tax fairness and the closing of corporate tax loopholes
- Attacked Gary Peters’ plan to fund job-creating transportation projects by closing the tax loophole that encourages corporate Inversions (Washington Free Beacon)
Gary Peters:
✓ Supports Increasing the Minimum Wage
- Issued statement supporting President’s proposal to increase the minimum wage to $10.10 (Congressman’s Website)
- Said the current federal minimum wage is “simply is not enough.” (WKZO)
✓ Supports Pay Equity
- Voted for the Paycheck Fairness Act, to guarantee equal pay for equal work (Congressman’s Website)
✓ Supports Protecting Social Security and Medicare
- Opposes privatizing Social Security, reducing benefits, or altering the cost of living adjustment formula by adopting “Chained CPI” that would limit retirement benefits (Daily Kos Candidate Questionnaire)
- Opposes raising the retirement age for Social Security’s (Social Security Works)
- Opposed the Ryan Budget, which would turn Medicare into a voucher program and jeopardize its future. (Congressman’s Website)
✓ Supports creating jobs in America and opposes outsourcing of American jobs overseas
- Supported the auto rescue which saved Michigan’s auto industry and hundreds of thousands of jobs
- Introduced the Outsourcing Accountability Act, which would incentivize companies to create jobs in America by requiring them to disclose the number of jobs they created in each country to the SEC. (Congressman’s Website).
- Opposes NAFTA-like trade deals that will hurt Michigan’s economy while benefitting wealthy corporations. Peters also opposed including Japan in the TPP because of its history of closing its markets to American cars (Daily Kos)
✓ Supports tax fairness and the closing of corporate tax loopholes
- Voted against the Ryan Budget which would have cut taxes for companies that move jobs overseas (Congressman’s Website)
- Cosponsored the Stop Tax Haven Abuse Act – a bill to make sure corporations are not able to exploit loopholes and use tax havens to avoid paying their taxes (Campaign Website, Americans For Tax Fairness).
- Called for ending corporate inversion and using the profits to rebuild our nation’s infrastructure (Campaign Website)
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The Michigan State AFL-CIO represents over 1,000,000 active and retired members of 42 affiliate unions, as well as 22 Central Labor Councils across the state. For more information, visit https://miaflcio.vote
