Pat supports efforts to increase the rights of people to organize at work and to remove obstacles to joining and building strong unions in Massachusetts.

Pat’s commitment to the rights of workers began at UMass Amherst when she was a graduate student in the Sociology department. She became an active member and officer of her union at the time, UAW Local 2322, and organized against massive budget cuts to public education financing- participating in workplace organizing and actions aimed at protecting our public education system.

Pat supports legislation that both benefits workers and also hold employers accountable to their obligations to follow all workplace regulations:

Increasing penalties for employers engaging in worker wage theft. 
Strengthening our existing prevailing wage laws and opposes any attempts to
weaken these prevailing wage guarantees. 
Requiring a good health and safety record for any state contractor to be
awarded contracts. 
Protecting workers from retaliation when they exercise their rights at work
Expanding eligibility and expanding benefits of our unemployment system
Stabilizing unemployment agency trust and making it solvent
Supporting the rights of Public Defenders to collectively bargain