In 2020, I decided to run for the Missouri House in part because I wanted to bring a worker’s perspective to the General Assembly. As a woman who has been paid less than a man for the same position, has worked multiple jobs to make ends meet, and has been without healthcare at times, I knew that workers in Missouri deserve better.
Now, the stars seem to have aligned for those of us eager to achieve that goal. Union membership is increasing across the country as new sectors find the unified voice of collective action. Popular support for labor unions and trade unions reaching historic levels, we have the momentum to make real change for workers in this state. And with the upcoming infrastructure projects coming to Missouri thanks to funding from the Biden Administration’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Act, the trades will need even more skilled workers who can build roads and bridges, lay pipes for clean drinking water, and put down lines for broadband access across the state, among so many other projects.
Workers in Missouri deserve solutions that empower them so we can meet this moment, and I believe I have two bills this session that will make things better for all workers in the state, including those who enter the trades.
First, House Bill 2037 will make it illegal for employers to discriminate based on gender when it comes to compensation. Equal work and equal responsibility deserves equal pay and benefits, and the fact that we do not meet that basic standard is downright shameful. This bill would also prohibit employers from firing employees for talking about or disclosing their wages and other forms of compensation, making it easier for workers to organize and understand their worth.
My second bill, House Bill 2049, aims to help those workers who find themselves between jobs by extending unemployment benefits to 26 weeks, instead of the 20-week period put into statute by Republicans in 2015. Additionally, this period would no longer utilize the unemployment rate to calculate how long. Democrats know that no one wants to be on unemployment benefits, but that they want to be working. Having a stop gap that helps seasonal workers, or folks between jobs, make ends meet can be a literal lifesaver. Giving workers this scaffolding can also help them find not just a job, but the right job.
I believe this legislation could do great things for workers, but these bills may never get heard in committee explicitly because they do great things for workers. The Republican supermajority tried to push right-to-work and failed but they continue to look for ways to disenfranchise and weaken workers in our state.
But we’re stronger than that, and Missouri workers still deserve policies that protect their rights in the workplace. I’m proud to sponsor these pieces of legislation, because workers build and sustain our state, our country, and our world.
Representative Emily Weber, a Democrat, represents Jackson County (District 24) in the Missouri House of Representatives. She was elected to her first two-year term in November 2020.
Born in South Korea, Weber was adopted and raised in rural Kansas. She attended Butler Community College and the Kansas City Art Institute. After graduation from KCAI, Weber made Kansas City her home.
In addition to her legislative duties, Weber built a career in communications and marketing, and she is a graphic designer. Weber is a member of the Greater Kansas City Women’s Political Caucus, Women in Politics Foundation and serves on the policy committee for Climate Action KC.
