Tanisha Gaskin-Christie, MS, PHR’s Post

"Why Is Your Healthcare Tied to Your Job? A Legacy of Inequity" 💯💯💯 Did you know that tying healthcare benefits to employment in the U.S. has roots in racial inequity? This system, which began during World War II as a workaround for wage freezes, wasn't designed with everyone in mind—and its exclusions disproportionately impacted Black workers from the start. In the 1940s and 50s, industries that employed primarily Black workers, such as domestic and agricultural labor, were often excluded from employer-sponsored benefits, including healthcare. This wasn’t accidental—it mirrored discriminatory policies like those in the New Deal that excluded these same workers from Social Security protections. The result? A system that left many Black families without a safety net while others gained access to crucial benefits. Even today, we see the ripple effects of this inequity. The link between healthcare and employment continues to deepen disparities, especially for marginalized communities in lower-paying or unstable jobs. It's a stark reminder that many of the systems we rely on were not built equitably. As we discuss healthcare reform or reimagine employee benefits, let’s not forget the history that shaped them. Addressing inequities starts with understanding how they began. #EquityInHealthcare #Leadership #SystemicChange #DiversityAndInclusion #HealthcareAccess

A new report from Urban presents policy considerations and offers a framework for addressing racial disparities in the #labor market. Disparities between Black and white workers are evident across a wide range of labor market outcomes: Black workers face higher rates of #unemployment and underemployment, lower wages and earnings, lower rates of access to programs designed to support workers (e.g., unemployment insurance, paid leave), and lower rates of earnings growth. In this report William J. Congdon, Elisabeth Jacobs, and Marokey Sawo review how historical and contemporary policy choices in the US have contributed to these racial disparities and identify a corresponding set of policy changes, suggested and supported by evidence. Review the key takeaways and check out the full report. https://urbn.is/4bhTEUJ

As of April 2025, UK companies with 250+ employees will be required to disclose ethnicity and disability pay gap data. An evolution from the FCA’s mandatory disclosure on gender and ethnicity at Exec level for the FTSE 250 - released back in April 2022. A great step in the right direction to encourage UK businesses to address the disparities for minority groups.

📢 Did you know that ALL 435 US House seats and 33 Senate seats are up for election this November 5th, 2024?! This is on top of the Presidential election. Elections have a HUGE impact on the workplace. The federal and state government can impact pay transparency, parental leave, pay equity, sick leave, the legality of NDAs and forced arbitration, equal employment and affirmative action, non-discrimination, labor union activity, disability inclusion and accommodation and so much more. If you are a supporter of DEI, public policy and down ballot elections are some of the most important tools you have accessible to your work. If you are a DEI leader, make sure you are working with your public policy team and understand (and try to influence) that policy agenda. As a friend said, I’ll be reminding y’all about this often in the coming months.

On Wed. I had a chance to participate in The White House event on Making Care Work. Some context: Emily Peck wrote in the NYT in May 2021: "If the United States treated other elements of infrastructure that are critical to the economy the way it does child care, you could imagine the chaos: Car owners would be left building bridges out of duct tape and scrap iron to get to the office, begging close relatives to come by each morning to hold a traffic light up at the corner." The U.S. has indeed invested deeply in its physical infrastructure - and that is essential. The new jobs will be a boon for the 70% male, 65% white manufacturing workforce. And these laws will create more jobs than there are workers trained to fill them, which could be a huge opportunity for women who work in or want to work in the trades, including many Black, Latina and immigrant women. But this will not happen without investments in care. We need to build #thecareeconomy, including a guarantee of #childcareforall. And we need to leverage the physical infrastructure investments - like CHIPS - to build child care options that meet families' diverse needs in the communities that our building and housing America's manufacturing infrastructure.

Today is #BlackWomen'sEqualPayDay. This is the approximate day a Black woman must work into the new year to make what white, non-Hispanic men made at the end of the previous year.For this year's Black Women's Equal Pay Day, let's urge members of Congress to pass the following acts: Paycheck Fairness Act (PFA) - This act would modernize and strengthen the Equal Pay Act of 1963 to better combat pay discrimination and close the wage gap, by protecting workers from retaliation for discussing pay, banning the use of prior salary history, providing stronger remedies, and codifying pay data collection. https://p2a.co/liUq6uO BeHEARD Act - The Bringing an End to Harassment by Enhancing Accountability and Rejecting Discrimination in the Workplace Act, is a comprehensive legislation to address workplace harassment. This includes extending federal protections against harassment and other forms of discrimination to all working people and promoting transparency and accountability in the workplace. https://p2a.co/ZLUA4Yd   CALL TO ACTION    Click the link to send a pre-formatted email to your elected officials.   

Last Thursday evening, 3/21, we and E.A.T. held a Racial Unity Dialogue with Black and Brown workers at the Westside Justice Center, 601 S. California Ave. Twenty workers gathered together - twelve Black workers and eight Latinx/immigrant workers heard each other's stories, connected, & reflected on our common oppression. They listened to a brief presentation on the issue of jobs by Kevin Johnson, Lead Organizer of Working Family Solidarity (WFS) and Maurice Woodard (Organizing Director of E.A.T.) to begin the Dialogue. Four participants formed a panel and responded to the presentation, which was followed by an open dialogue. Some of the points that were touched on during the evening: --Low-income Black and Latinx/immigrant workers are both desperately struggling to survive, but we rarely view each other as allies. --We compete with each other for low-wage jobs with no benefits. --A few participants noted that it's the first time they sat down and heard other workers' (from other races/ethnicities) stories, & got to know others a little bit. --Black workers are usually locked out of certain jobs, while Latinx workers are often preferred for especially difficult and dangerous work. --Several participants said they are willing to find ways to support workers of other races and ethnicities. --Numerous WFS members asked if they can participate in our next Racial Unity Dialogue. WFS & E.A.T will continue with these Dialogues in 2024, bringing together Black and Latinx/immigrant workers to talk with each other, learn from each other, and find ways to be stronger together as we struggle for economic stability and against racism. Working Family Solidarity would like to thank the Grand Victoria Foundation, and Healing Illinois (via the Field Foundation). Links to websites: Equity And Transformation (E.A.T.):  www.eatchicago.org Grand Victoria Foundation:  www.grandvictoriafdn.org Healing Illinois at the Field Foundation:  https://lnkd.in/eTTHbes8

Voter suppression makes the racist and anti-worker Southern model possible - Rooted in Racism and Economic Exploitation: Spotlight https://lnkd.in/grETmGVQ From the abolition of slavery until now, Southern white elites have used a slew of tactics to suppress Black political power and secure their economic interests—including violence, voter suppression, gerrymandering, felony disenfranchisement, and local preemption laws. Black voter disenfranchisement remains a key feature of the racist and anti-worker Southern economic development model today. However, periods of progress toward Black political empowerment, such as during Reconstruction and the Civil Rights Movement—though met with fierce suppression—show that targeted policy action has the power to dismantle racist barriers to political participation and disrupt the cycle of political suppression and economic exploitation. While significant advances have been made over the last century, a resurgent backlash underscores the need to strengthen civil rights protections and ensure all Southern workers and their families can enjoy political and economic equality. any states across the Southern United States1 employ an economic model that prioritizes business interests and the wealthy over ordinary citizens. This model—which we refer to in this report as the “Southern economic development model”—is characterized by low wages, low taxes, few regulations on businesses, few labor protections, a weak safety net, and vicious opposition to unions. The model is marketed as the way to attract businesses into Southern states, with the implicit promise that this will lead to an abundance of jobs and shared economic prosperity for all Southerners. The reality is this economic development model is fundamentally flawed as a strategy for improving living conditions for most Southerners. In fact, the Southern economic development strategy was never designed to help the vast majority of working Southerners; rather, it reflects efforts to ensure continued access to the cheap labor of Black people following emancipation. Today the cheap labor sought is increasingly diverse, yet it is still overwhelmingly made up of Black and brown workers across the region. In this report, we use empirical data to show that the Southern economic development model has failed to provide economic security for workers and families across the South. In fact, the South lags other regions of the country on most indicators of economic health.2 We also show—through historical context and case examples—how the Southern economic development model continues to serve as a means of maintaining racial hierarchies across the South.3

In the 25 years since the historic #OlmsteadDecision, federal agencies, including the U.S. Department of Labor, the Department of Education, the Department of Health and Human Services, and the Social Security Administration have recognized that they often serve job seekers with disabilities jointly. Access an FAQ on "Competitive Integrated Employment and Blending, Braiding, and Sequencing Resources (Services and Funding)," to learn more about how to achieve a federally shared goal: for each job seeker with a disability to receive effective, efficient, and seamless government-funded services. bit.ly/3dM1yNI