On Labor Day, let’s renew our commitment to Iowa’s working families.

When you put in a 40-hour work week, your contributions should be valued enough that you can make ends meet and provide opportunities for your family.

Hard-working Iowans have faced a lot of challenges in recent years—wages that don’t keep up with inflation, a lack of child care options and a pandemic that has upended everything. Statehouse Republicans have added to worker woes with attacks on bargaining rights, workplace health and safety protections, and resources for out-of-work Iowans.

The result? Workforce challenges, a child care shortage, a maternal health crisis, small businesses that still have not recovered from the pandemic and more.

Iowans continue to fight for an economy that works for all of us. This year, you succeeded by fending off multiple proposals to reduce help for Iowans who lost jobs through no fault of their own during a global pandemic and record-high unemployment.

Working Iowans, the engine of our economy, said, “We deserve better,” and defeated this mean-spirited legislation.

A Build Back Better plan that I supported this year made a variety of proposals to help all Iowans get back on their feet, return life to normal as quickly and safely as possible, and rebuild our economy. The plan included an Essential Workers Bill of Rights and would have positioned Iowa for long-term economic growth. Unfortunately, Governor Reynolds and Republicans in the legislature chose not to work with us on these common-sense proposals.

We still have a lot to do to ensure a fair shake for Iowans who punch the clock every day.