Clean Slate is a Win for Working People
At the Clean Slate Initiative, we believe in fairness, opportunity, community and equality. That’s why we’re working to ensure that everyone in America has a fair opportunity to work, have a safe home, take care of their families, and contribute to their community by advocating for legislation to automate the clearance of eligible arrest and conviction records in states and in Congress.
Read more about how Clean Slate benefits working people and unions below.
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✦ 1 in 3 adults in the U.S. have an arrest or conviction record that limits their ability to work, continue their education, or qualify for a lease or mortgage because they can’t pass a background check.
✦ 27% is the rate of unemployment for people with records, far higher than the current general unemployment rate (3.5%) or even historic rates of unemployment over the last two decades.
✦ 52% is the reduction in earnings that people who have been incarcerated face in the workforce. The Brennan Center found that people who have been incarcerated lose nearly half a million dollars in average lifetime earnings. People with criminal convictions face lost wages in excess of $372 billion every year.
✦ Only 6.5% of people get their records cleared within five years of becoming eligible. There are tens of millions of eligible people who can’t get relief because in most states the current process for record sealing is so complex and costly. Clean Slate automatically clears eligible records so that people can move on with their lives and build a better future.
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✦ More than two-thirds of HR professionals who have hired people with records think their quality of work is as high as or higher than the work of employees who don't have a past arrest or correction record.
✦ Clean Slate policies can help employers find the workers they need in today’s labor shortage environment, including unionized industries and trades that have hundreds of thousands of new positions to fill thanks to federal investments in jobs and infrastructure.
✦ 84% of small business owners agree that Clean Slate policies will provide individuals with a fair second chance, open up the job pool and help the economy.
The Clean Slate Initiative brings together community partners, labor and faith organizations, businesses, and impacted people across the country with a shared goal: passing policies that expand eligibility and automate record clearance for millions of people.
Together, we can expand access to good union jobs for workers, build the labor movement and help build a flourishing economy in which everyone has a fair chance to participate.
Union leaders can use their voices to support Clean Slate policies that give millions more people a fair opportunity to work, contribute to the economy and provide for themselves and their families by advocating for Clean Slate policies on the federal and state levels.
CLEAN SLATE IS A WIN-WIN FOR LABOR, GOVERNMENT, AND COMMUNITIES.