Bill 6 · Housing & History

If Your Boss Is Also Your Landlord, How Free Are You?

In Morenci, if you lose your job, you lose your home. Company-owned housing means your employer is also your landlord. This is a feudal arrangement that predates labor law.

The History

Company towns were standard in early 20th century mining. Workers were paid in company scrip, lived in company housing, shopped at the company store. The union movement fought to end these practices.

In Morenci, the unions were broken in 1983-86. Some company town dynamics returned. Employment termination can mean eviction. Workers face a choice: accept any working condition, or lose both income and housing simultaneously.

The Bill

The Worker Housing Freedom Act separates employment from housing — tenancy can't be terminated solely due to job loss, with a minimum 90-day transition. It requires employers to offer fair-market rent or purchase options independent of employment, provides tax incentives for non-employer housing development in company towns, and mandates disclosure of housing-employment linkage at time of hire.

Why It Matters

You can't have worker freedom if losing your job means losing your home. Every other right — to organize, to report safety violations, to speak up — is undermined when your housing depends on your employer's goodwill.

"Lose your job, lose your home. That's not employment — that's feudalism."

"We ended company scrip. We can end company housing coercion."