When Yanko Matias and Eluvia Lopez were threatened with foreclosure, they knew they needed to take action in a big way. That’s why, along with the organization New Bottom Line, they started a MoveOn Petition asking the U.S. Senate to end the months-long battle to confirm Representative Mel Watt as the new head of the Federal Housing Finance Agency.
In 2010, progressive champions in the Senate, including Senator Jeff Merkley of Oregon, fought to pass the Volcker Rule firewall, which restricts high-risk trading by big banks. The firewall, which is meant to protect taxpayers if Wall Street’s bad bets blow up, was met with opposition from big bank lobbyists. That’s why Sen. Merkley started a MoveOn Petition telling Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke to keep the so-called “JPMorgan Loophole,” which would blow holes in the firewall, out of the law.
The ingredients that go into cosmetics and personal care products aren’t regulated by the federal government—so it’s up to stores to protect their consumers from toxic chemicals in these products. That’s why Kristin Rowe-Finkbeiner of MomsRising.org started a MoveOn Petition telling retail giant Target to ban poisonous chemicals from the store’s beauty and personal care aisles, expand their selection of safer products, and increase transparency about their progress in addressing safe cosmetics.
Tony Rohr, the manager of an Elkhart, Indiana, Pizza Hut, was fired for refusing to force his employees to work on Thanksgiving. He had worked at Pizza Hut for nearly 10 years—but after he spoke up at a work meeting saying he wouldn’t open his restaurant on the holiday, he was asked to sign a letter of resignation. That’s why Elkhart resident Jeremiah Wade started a MoveOn Petition to Pizza Hut CEO Scott Bergren, telling him to give Rohr his job back.
When the Texas Board of Education started working on its once-a-decade selection of science textbooks for Texas classrooms, an anti-science faction tried to force it to give equal weight to nonscientific beliefs like climate change denial and the idea that humans and dinosaurs coexisted. Kathy Miller and the Texas Freedom Network stepped up, creating a MoveOn Petition that asked the Board of Education to stand up for science.
After utilities companies botched repairs at the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station in San Diego County, California, the plant closed. Unbelievably, the utilities companies demanded that their customers pick up the tab for the repairs—to the tune of $500 million. So California ratepayer John Mattes started a MoveOn Petition to San Diego Mayor Bob Filner and other city officials, asking them to intervene on customers’ behalf.
Since President Obama was elected, Republican senators have been using the filibuster to block critical executive branch and judicial nominations. MoveOn members and progressive champs in the Senate, like Senator Jeff Merkley of Oregon, have been working tirelessly to pass meaningful filibuster reform and fix the dysfunction in Washington.
This year, the Supreme Court gutted the Voting Rights Act and dozens of U.S. states got busy introducing restrictive voting bills that would prevent poor, minority, and elderly voters from making it to the polls. Meanwhile, Massachusetts legislators were working to pass an election modernization bill that would allow online voter registration and early voting. That’s why Sara Brady of the organization MassVOTE started several MoveOn Petitions asking members of the Massachusetts General Court to stand up for the state’s voters and pass the bill.
MoveOn member Cathy Ware was worried about the state of her local community playground at the Beethoven School. Outdated play structures and poor groundskeeping made the playground dangerous for the young children who visited. That’s why she started a MoveOn Petition asking the Boston Parks Department to make the park safer.
When Bain Capital took over the Guitar Center stores in 2005, they cut insurance benefits, increased mandatory sales targets, slashed wages, and made it harder for employees to earn commissions. That’s why Guitar Center workers created a MoveOn Petition asking company executives to recognize their right to unionize and negotiate for a fair contract.