Pontiac has earned its place in history as a resilient, working class city. Even though we are no longer one of the most important manufacturing cities in Michigan, continuing our legacy of being a tough, hard working city should be a priority. We need to put more resources towards investing in accessible skilled trades programs and local education to make sure that our current, and next generation of Pontiac residents are strong leaders in the workforce. We should also be connecting our residents to new career opportunities through every possible avenue at our disposal. Our city has a rich legacy of being one of the most important union cities in the state of Michigan, and it is one that I am extremely proud of. To honor this legacy, we should be strongly supporting workers, which includes supporting their ability to bargain in their workplace and fight for better conditions.

As your Pontiac City Councilperson I will:

• Protect the livelihoods of all workers by fighting for living wages, benefits, and aggressively pursuing wage theft.
• Fight to create new living wage, union jobs to address the unemployment and underemployment in our community.
• Work to shift who sets the agenda for our city’s economy so that Pontiac residents get to set our economic policies, have access to dignified work and shared community wealth, and have the support to grow our local businesses.
• Work with our different levels of government, labor unions, and nonprofits to create Pontiac-specific job training, placement and apprenticeship programs.
• Require businesses that receive city tax breaks to put in place hiring quotas to guarantee a certain percentage of those jobs are filled by Pontiac residents.