Dignified Work & Resilient Communities
All jobs should enable workers to have safe, dignified lives.
People are not commodities. Work should be human-centered.
Workplaces should be safe, secure, and provide people with an income sufficient to live with dignity. This includes paid time off to enjoy life, friends, and family, or to heal, care for loved ones, and address all the uncertainties of life. And when someone experiences a job change or loss, employment transitions should be buffered by ample unemployment insurance, worker retraining, and other public systems.
When unable to work, people should have viable and accessible avenues for life’s necessities, such as housing, health care, and food. When people are financially stable enough in their own lives, they can show up for each other, creating more resilient communities across our state.
A wrap-around approach
Because our work and our communities are so interconnected, policy solutions must be human-centered.
Strengthen and expand Paid Family & Medical Leave
At some point, almost everyone needs to take time away from work, whether to care for a new child, help a family member who is sick, or recover from their own illness. The Paid Family & Medical Leave Act offers this support for many working Washingtonians. As a nation-leading program, expanding this benefit and ensuring its long-term financial sustainability will give workers back more of their own lives.
Support future generations with wealth-building opportunities
Many Washingtonians cannot benefit from generational wealth, like inheriting a home, having family members pay for school, or receiving a trust fund. Baby Bonds give young adults “start-up” funds to self-determine their future, ensuring every child gets benefits often exclusively reserved for the wealthy.
How we’re moving toward that future
Every year, during Washington state’s legislative session, we advocate for evidence-based policy solutions that help bring our vision for a more equitable future closer to reality. These practical policy ideas are communicated to lawmakers and everyday Washingtonians as viable solutions to some of our toughest problems.
EOI has helped transform the rights and benefits of workers across Washington.
From leading the charge on creating and expanding Paid Family & Medical Leave to supporting the efforts for pay transparency and other protected leave benefits, we will never stop fighting for stronger workers’ rights.
Paid Family & Medical Leave
In 2017, after nearly two decades of fighting for better paid leave policies, an EOI-led coalition succeeded in lobbying our state legislature to pass Washington’s Paid Family & Medical Leave Act.
We have continued to make the program more equitable and accessible by expanding the definition of family, strengthening job protections, and making other improvements.
Equal pay
We helped lead the effort to pass the state’s Equal Pay and Opportunity Act, which went into effect in 2018. The measure, fought and won by a coalition of organizations and community leaders, ends common pay secrecy policies and requires employers to provide job-related reasons for differences in pay and opportunity.
This policy helps combat Washington’s racial wage gap — among the worst in the nation.
Overtime reform
In 2019, our research findings supported the Department of Labor and Industries’ modernization of outdated overtime rules. As a result, low-salaried employees receive overtime pay if they work more than 40 hours in a week. Work standards like minimum wage and paid sick and safe leave now also apply to them.
This puts money in people’s pockets and prevents employers from misclassifying and thereby underpaying workers.
Reports & Articles
This report provides a series of data snapshots that illustrate our state’s progress toward embedding the values of fairness, care, and opportunity into the foundations of our economy.
Life is unpredictable, and nearly everyone will need to take extended leave from work to deal with uncertainties. HB 1213 provides Washingtonians with what they need to care for themselves and those they love through it all.
These differences illustrate how the structures of our government are partially determinative of the political conversations we have.
Lawmakers can easily close this big tech loophole next legislative session and greatly expand supports for Washingtonians seeking higher education.
More about our work
Progressive Revenue
Washington’s tax code is upside down. We need a balanced tax system where we all pay our fair share, and public revenue sustainably funds the services our communities and economy rely on to grow.
Health care
Washington can make health care more accessible and affordable for all by controlling costs, expanding corporate accountability, increasing subsidies, and eventually shifting to a universal health care system.
About Our Advocacy
Fighting for bold and grounded policy ideas that make thriving possible for all of us takes collective action. Learn more about how we work in the state capitol and in coalitions to advance our mission.