Resources

Getting Started:

• How to Outreach to Organized Labor / Working People, January 29, 2025
  • Presenters: Lawrence Abbott and Linda Gillian
• Introduction to organized labor for Move to Amend volunteers (readings and resources)
• Engaging organized labor and labor unions (Labor Caucus kick-off webinar 9/2015 - 1 hr 15 min)
• "Move to Amend Reports" podcast interview with Labor Caucus Chair Mike Ferner (9/2015)
• Slide Presentation to Labor Groups

Making the Calls:

• Labor "rap" for calls to organized labor reps

Making the Case:

• Top reasons labor supports Move to Amend
• Invitation to Collaborate with Labor
• Talking points: why organized labor and Move to Amend have shared interests
• Expand Human and Worker Rights by Abolishing Corporate Constitutional Rights
  • Full Page Handout 
  • Half Page Handout (PDF)
• Labor Organizations in Support of MTA
• Corporate Attacks on Working People and Our Communities program with Afifa Khaliq (SEIU) and Mark Milko (Workers United) (Aug 19, 2020) - video
• Making Sense with Move to Amend program with Linda Gillison and Lawrence Abbott, MTA Labor Caucus (Aug. 28, 2020) - video

Securing Support:

• Model resolution for organized labor endorsing "We the People" amendment
• Sample letter for unions to send to state / federal elected officials urging support for "We the People" amendment

Resolutions in Support:

• Atlanta-North Georgia Labor Council
• Alameda Labor Council Alameda County, CA
• The St.Paul Regional Labor Federation

Recommended Readings:

• Lessons from the Labor Movement: Cultural Change for the We the People Amendment by Greg Coleridge, May 30, 2025
• Janus v. AFSCME Supreme Court Decision Likely to Cripple Unions, Further Empowers Corporations
• ‘Corporate dictatorships’ are subjugating US workers — and stripping employees of fundamental constitutional rights 
  
  

Videos:

• Interview of Lawrence Abbott, Move to Amend Labor Caucus member 
  • Voice of the People, Radio by and For the 99%, September 2, 2025
• Interview of Lawrence Abbott, Move to Amend Labor Caucus member
  • Proposed amendment could remove special interest groups from politics, America's Workforce Union Podcast, May 31, 2024
• Interview of Lawrence Abbott, Move to Amend Labor Caucus member
  • What Constitutional Rights Do Corporations Have?, Heartland Labor Forum, May 9, 2024

Let’s unite labor and community to win the We the People Amendment (H.J.Res. 54) and end corporate rule over our democracy.

What We Need to Do to Win

Corporate power has outgrown democracy. Two Supreme Court rulings — that corporations are people and that money equals free speech — gave corporations and the superrich constitutional “rights” never intended for them. These rulings stripped working people and labor unions of our political equality.

To restore democracy, we must organize — together. The Labor Caucus is where we strategize, act, and build solidarity between labor and the Move to Amend movement.

Check out these examples of Allied Labor Resolutions passed in Support:

Join the Labor Caucus to win the We the People Amendment and an end corporate rule.

Why Labor Matters

Organized labor has always fought for:

• Fair wages and safe workplaces
• Equality and justice across industries
• Peace and democracy for all working people

But corporate “personhood” and unlimited election money have weakened labor’s collective power. The We the People Amendment ends those unjust doctrines and restores the voice of working people in our democracy. 

Our Goal for 2026

Increase solidarity from organized labor for the We the People Amendment

Objectives

• Build relationships

  • Connect with public officials and labor leaders
  • Focus outreach to unions 
  • Engage allies 
  • Review Move to Amend’s original “signatories” for union contacts

• Educate

  • Create and adapt materials for labor audiences
  • Host or attend union programs, conferences, and online events
  • Share updates through presentations, podcasts, and social media

• Take Action

  • Attend and support labor actions
  • Invite union reps to lobby for H.J.Res. 54
  • Secure union endorsements and public statements of support

Get Involved

If you’re:

• A union member
• Connected to worker organizing
• Or a Move to Amend advocate or affiliate member

Join the Labor Caucus today!
Work with others nationwide to rebuild people power and make democracy truly represent us.

📧 Contact: Jennie Spanos, Outreach Director – [email protected]

Resources and Tools

Move to Amend · Labor Caucus
Building people power for democracy, justice, and worker rights.

American history moves in waves.

***Click on each hyperlink or graphic to download related templates and/or instructions.

• Congressional meeting request guidance: Campaign Resources - Move to Amend
  

• Sample congressional letter:

  (In-person Letter)

  (Mail In Letter)

• Op- ed template Declare Independence from Corporate Rule

• LTE example Template (250 Years Later) - Google Docs 

• Press release template if you are planning an action 

• Media & Communications Toolkit

• Additional Talking Points (250 Years - Building for People Rule, not Corporations and Billionaire Rule) - Google Docs  
     

• Handbill Flyer (Download and Print)
  
  
   

• Local Organizing Toolkit All in One Place

• Creative action ideas:

DECLARATION SCROLL BUILD (EVENT VERSION) 

DECLARE INDEPENDENCE FROM CORPORATE RULE-Mural Project

• Using Social Media to Promote Events

• Social Media campaign related Graphic/ Posts:     
     

Friends,

I’m writing this not just as someone who works for a more democratic and just America, but as a kid who grew up in public schools, the place where I learned how to question power, and how to find and believe my voice mattered. Much of the ideals of what I know about democracy came from classrooms funded by all of us, accountable to all of us, and open to every child who walked through the door.

Today, those very foundations are under attack.

This has not happened in a vacuum; it's by design.

This May Day, we face a crossroads. The power we built together through organizing, solidarity, and stubborn love for democracy is being tested like never before. For years, we’ve organized, educated, and grown - hundreds of thousands of Move to Amend supporters committed to ending corporate rule and to claim real democracy. But we have yet to exercise that power in full.

That changes now.

Click here: MAY DAY STRONG!

Just this month, the Trump administration announced it will pay nearly $1 billion of your tax dollars to French oil giant TotalEnergies - not to build clean energy, but to stop offshore wind projects off our coasts. They’re pulling that money from an account not even authorized for this use, a backroom raid on the public purse that benefits fossil fuel billionaires while our communities choke on pollution and struggle to pay rising bills

At the same time, the justice Department is going after our allies at the Southern Poverty Law Center, essentially, defending groups like the Ku Klux Klan and other white supremacist hate groups, while ICE continues its terror campaigns in immigrant neighborhoods - breaking up families, detaining workers, and suppressing dissent with an iron hand. Authoritarian power is consolidating through economic coercion and state violence.

But people power has always been the antidote to tyranny. When ordinary people stood together and refused to cooperate with injustice, they’ve shook empires.

Everywhere we look, the corporate billionaire class is tightening its grip — on our economy, on our politics, and even on our imaginations. Prices soar while wages stagnate. Corporations dodge taxes while our communities fight for schools, housing, and healthcare.

And through it all, the same few voices call the shots - because the system was built for them.

That’s why this May 1, 2026, Move to Amend is joining people across the country in the Workers Over Billionaires day of action organized by May Day Strong. Together with hundreds of labor unions, community groups, and national networks, we’re taking a stand for a simple but urgent truth: a democracy that serves the many cannot coexist with an economy rigged for the few.

Democracy Is on the Line - and So Are Our Lives

Every demand for democracy is also a struggle for economic justice. When corporations have constitutional rights and money is treated as speech, billionaires can buy political access and block the policies that working people need to survive, from living wages to housing to healthcare.

Corporate power isn’t an accident of capitalism; it’s a constitutional arrangement. The courts have granted “personhood” or "inalienable rights" to entities that were never alive, never voted, and never bled. Those same rights have been used to crush unions, poison communities, and silence dissent.

This May Day, we are taking those struggles for justice to the streets

March is Women’s Month — a time to celebrate the people who’ve worked for generations to bring us closer to true equality. So first, a huge shout-out to our friends and allies with the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) Coalition, who are still leading the way to making equal rights a real part of our Constitution.

Here’s something that might surprise you: women still don’t have guaranteed equal rights under the Constitution. And you’re not alone if that’s news — 76% of people in the U.S. think we already do, and 97% agree we should.

The ERA (the 28^th Amendment) was first approved by Congress in 1972 and needed 38 states to ratify it. It took longer than expected, but thanks to Nevada (2017), Illinois (2018), and Virginia (2020), that 38-state milestone has finally been reached. Now, we just need Congress to stop dragging their feet and remove an outdated deadline so equality can officially become the law of the land.

Corporate dark money is drowning out the voices of everyday people.

The Election Integrity Initiative (AKA the Montana Plan) is a citizen‑driven push to stop it. By rewriting corporate charters and stripping corporations of the state‑granted power to spend in our elections, this measure cuts off corporate political spending at the source. Without that power, corporations can’t hide behind the Citizens United decision to buy influence.

This Initiative won’t solve every problem, and it doesn’t touch individual donation - but it delivers an immediate, powerful blow to corporate political dominance. It also builds the momentum we need to win a constitutional amendment that finally ends corporate constitutional rights and the idea that money equals speech.

Sign to show your support for a more transparent, democratic election and to help pave the way toward the broader We the People Amendment, before another election is drowned in dark money.

By signing, you agree that your contact information may be shared with our Election Integrity Initiative partners in your state.

On March 28, millions across the country will rise in nonviolent action, demonstration, and protest for the next No Kings Day — a nationwide declaration that we reject authoritarianism, reject oligarchy, and reject a system that concentrates power in the hands of the few.

This is more than a protest - it’s a historic moment to stand up against the legal and corporate foundations of power that have enabled state terror, unchecked federal force, and an oligarchical regime that protects corporations over communities.

We honor the long history of collective action in this country - from the original Declaration of Independence’s promise of self-government to every movement that has ever demanded equity, dignity, and freedom. And now it’s our turn once more: to name the root of power, to dismantle the laws and systems that let corporate rule justify violence, and to build something better from the ground up.

Click here Organize or join an event near you

The flagship action will gather at the Minnesota State Capitol in St. Paul — a powerful site of resistance where Minnesotans continue to demand justice after federal agents killed Renee Good and Alex Pretti. Across the country, communities will mobilize in solidarity.

But this moment is about more than protest. It is about vision.

Two hundred and fifty years ago, people had the courage to say enough.

They didn’t politely ask an empire for reform. They didn’t wait for permission. They took direct action against concentrated corporate power and declared independence from a system that extracted wealth while denying self-government. The Boston Tea Party wasn’t just rebellion... it was resistance to corporate rule.

Today, we are living under a new empire.

Our unalienable rights are being stripped away in real time - not by monarchs or wannabe kings, but by corporations empowered through courts. Through judicial fiat, corporations have been granted constitutional rights they were never meant to have. These fabricated rights now serve as armor - shielding corporations from accountability while allowing them to dominate elections, write policy, poison communities, and extract wealth with impunity.

Meanwhile, We the People are told to accept shrinking freedoms.

Voting rights are under attack. Political equality is a myth when money determines whose voices are heard. The promise of democracy is hollow when artificial entities wield more power than living, breathing human beings.

Each January, we are asked to remember Roe v. Wade not only as a Supreme Court decision, but as a hard-won recognition of women’s sovereignty over their own bodies — a recognition rooted in decades of organizing, risk, and sacrifice by those who refused to accept control by the state, by churches, or by economic elites.

Today, that promise has been systematically dismantled.

 Across the country, we are witnessing coordinated attacks on bodily autonomy, reproductive freedom, access to health care, and the very idea that people — not corporations, politicians, or courts — should have the final say over their own lives. These attacks do not happen in isolation. They are fueled by big-money political systems that elevate corporate interests and ideological power over human rights and community well-being.

At Move to Amend, we understand that struggles for reproductive justice, racial justice, environmental justice, worker rights, and real democracy are deeply connected. They all ask the same fundamental question:

Who decides — the people, or concentrated wealth and power?

But we also know that living in this constant state of political crisis takes a real toll. Many of us feel overwhelmed, exhausted, angry, or discouraged — even as we remain committed to justice.

That’s why we’re inviting you to join us for a new 6-part learning and support series:

 The Way Through: Building Resilient, Sustainable Activists

 A 6-part series from Move to Amend’s Movement Education Program (MEP)

Speaker -- David Orr

Thursday, September 11, 5pm PT, 6pm MT, 7pm CT, 8pm ET

REGISTER HERE

The lack of authentically democracy in the U.S. has permitted corporate entities to pursue their own economic and political interests virtually unchecked. This includes plundering the earth and poisoning land, water and air - resulting in the climate crises. What inadequate regulations existed before the Trump regime are now being systemically eliminated. 

The dual crises of democracy and climate change are not separate, but are one interrelated threat to the human future.

That’s the theme of Democracy in a Hotter Time, edited by David Orr, which calls for reforming democratic institutions as a prerequisite for avoiding climate chaos and adapting governance to how Earth works as a physical system.

To survive in the “long emergency” ahead, we must reform and strengthen democratic institutions, making them assets rather than liabilities. The collection of essays proposes a new political order that will not only help humanity survive but also enable us to thrive in the transition to a post–fossil fuel world.

On August 18, 1920, after 75 years of relentless struggle, the 19th Amendment was finally ratified. It boldly declared:

“The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or any State on account of sex.”

It was a watershed moment — the fruit of organizing, sacrifice, and persistence across generations. But history teaches us: rights won are never rights guaranteed.

Today, more than a century later, women are still demanding to be fully recognized as equals under the law. The Equal Rights Amendment (ERA)—first introduced in 1923— is currently in a unique legal position. Although it has been ratified by three-fourths of U.S. states, it has not yet been formally codified in the Constitution as the 28th Amendment, leaving women vulnerable to rollbacks on hard-won rights. 

Even more disgusting, corporations have been granted sweeping constitutional rights—the rights of “persons” under the law. This distortion of democracy is why corporations can pour unlimited money into our elections, poison our communities, and put profits over people without accountability.

The contradiction is stark:

• Women fought 75 years for the vote.
• We’ve struggled for over 100 years for constitutional equality.
• Corporations have amassed more rights than people.

That’s why we’re building a movement for the We the People Amendment (currently HJR54) — to affirm that only human beings have constitutional rights and that money is not free speech. Our movement is about creating a genuine democracy free from corporate rule and finishing the work that generations before us began.

And we know this truth: change has always come from people coming together — refusing to be silent, refusing to be divided, and refusing to accept injustice as normal.

On this Juneteenth, we pause to honor the end of slavery in the United States—a defining milestone in our collective pursuit of justice, liberation, and true democracy. But while Juneteenth marks freedom delayed, it also reminds us: the struggle for equality is not over.

At Move to Amend, we believe Juneteenth is not just a day of remembrance—it is a call to action.

Juneteenth symbolizes the long fight to end systemic oppression. At its heart, it echoes the very mission of our movement: to dismantle the structures that continue to uphold inequality, to ensure that democracy serves all people—not just the wealthy and powerful.

As you may know, Move to Amend is a national grassroots coalition committed to passing the We the People Amendment (H.J.Res.54) — an amendment to the U.S. Constitution that would:

- End corporate personhood, because corporations are not people and should not enjoy the same rights as living, breathing human beings.

- Make clear that money is not speech, so political power can no longer be bought and sold to the highest bidder.

Here’s why this is so relevant today:

The 14th Amendment, ratified in 1868, granted citizenship to all persons born or naturalized in the United States, including formerly enslaved people, and prohibited states from infringing upon the fundamental rights of citizens. The Amendment has been hijacked, exploited by corporations to gain rights and power never intended for them. Supreme Court cases in the 1880's set the stage for this betrayal of justice—using the language of equality to serve corporate interests.

This perversion of justice is a direct affront to the spirit of Juneteenth.

We believe reclaiming the 14th Amendment is essential to fulfilling its original promise—and to confronting the economic and political systems that continue to harm Black, Brown, Indigenous, and working-class communities. Corporate influence fuels policies that perpetuate poverty, environmental destruction, mass incarceration, and voter suppression.

This is bigger than political disagreement. They’ve defied our courts, deported American citizens, disappeared people off the streets, and slashed our services—all while orchestrating a massive giveaway to their corporate allies. Enough is enough. For anyone who thinks it's gone too far, this moment is for you.

NO KINGS is a National Day of Action and mass mobilization in response to the increasing authoritarian excesses and corruption of the Trump regime. We’ve watched as they’ve cracked down on free speech (of people, not corporations), detained people for their political positions, threatened to deport American citizens, and defied the courts. They’ve done this all while continuing to serve and enrich their billionaire and corporate allies. They think they rule—but we are bigger than even their worst aspirations.

• Donald Trump is planning a military parade in Washington, D.C. on June 14. This display of might is intended to intimidate opponents and solidify his image as a strongman on our dime—we won’t stand by while that happens.
  
  
• Instead of allowing this military parade to be the center of gravity, we will make action everywhere else the story of America that day: people coming together in communities across the country to reject strongman politics, corruption and the ongoing Corporate Coup.
  
  
• Alongside local organizers, partners, and leaders from across the pro-democracy & pro-worker movement, we will demonstrate organized people power that outpaces any authoritarian aspirations.
  

   

  Join or organize a local no King's Day Event (CLICK HERE)

According to the White House, Executive Order 14087 has been signed — rolling back critical medication price decreases for seniors that were negotiated just one year ago. This executive action is a blatant gift to Big Pharma, once again proving that corporate power holds more sway over our government than the voices of the people.

You can see for yourself — the White House News page lists all executive orders numerically. Scroll to #14087 to see the order that rescinds lower drug prices for Medicare recipients. Please share this information with anyone you know who could be affected.

White House Executive Orders List- 14087

How did this happen? Follow the money.

Big Pharma and other giant corporations have never held more political power than they do today. This is thanks to the disastrous Citizens United Supreme Court decision, which further codified the insane notion that a corporation is a person and money equals speech.

This allows corporations to spend unlimited amounts of money to influence elections and policy, drowning out the voices of everyday people. This executive order is just the latest example of corporate rule in action.

Every day, corporate influence tightens its grip—drowning out the voices of everyday people and shaping policies that put profits over our communities, our environment, and our future. Billionaires and corporate lobbyists flood elections with dark money, drowning out the voices of everyday Americans. Big Pharma blocks lower prescription drug prices while raking in record profits. Oil and gas giants bankroll politicians to stall climate action while wildfires rage and floods devastate communities. Corporate polluters poison our water—just ask the people of Flint and East Palestine—yet they face little to no accountability.

Together, we can change that! Join us for “Organizing for the We the People Amendment” on March 10.
(RSVP below)

The We the People Amendment (H.J.Res. 54) is the solution. It will put an end to corporate constitutional rights and overturn Citizens United, ensuring that our government is led by people, not corporate interests. This amendment will make it clear: only human beings have constitutional rights, and money is not speech.

This is our moment to take back our power to create a genuine democracy—but we can’t do it alone. Every dollar corporations pour into elections is a dollar spent silencing you. Every day we wait, corporate power grows stronger.