Democratic challenger says benefits should move with workers

Progressive Democratic congressional candidate Lisa McCormick is proposing a new, mobile employment benefits model to keep pace with Americans on the move in a changing economy and evolving jobs market.

McCormick said the average American worker is likely to be engaged in as many as 15 different jobs over the course of a career, so benefits like pension, health care and vacation or sick time should be as portable as the workers are.

"When you leave one job and take another, you should be able to transport the benefits you earned along with your paycheck," McCormick said. "People are experiencing upheavals and disruptions that have not been an ordinary course of events in the last generation but they are predictable if not preventable."

"Workers deserve to maintain their pension, health care, vacation and sick time when they change jobs," McCormick said. "These are tangible and valuable benefits, so working people should not be forced to leave them behind when they make a change in employment."

"Americans believe in freedom of choice, we believe in a competitive economy, and we believe in keeping what you earn," McCormick said. "There is no reason why workers should lose something they earned and no reason why employers should profit off these departures, which are becoming common and will probably increase with time."

Lisa McCormick, 51, is a progressive Democrat who is challenging Bonnie Watson Coleman, 75, for the right to represent New Jersey's 12th district in Congress.

Voters will decide between them in the upcoming primary election and the Democratic nominee is almost certain to prevail in November, since the district gave Hillary Clinton a plurality of more than 30 percent.

Bonnie Watson Coleman is the first African American woman elected to Congress from New Jersey, according to a her official biography, but the population of the district is only 17.9 percent black.

According to the US Census Bureau, the remaining population in the district is 59.3 percent white, 18.4 percent Hispanic, and 16.8 percent Asian.

The district also includes some of New Jersey's richest and poorest communities and it is known for its research centers and educational institutions such as Princeton University, Rider University, The College of New Jersey, Institute for Advanced Study, Johnson & Johnson and Bristol-Myers Squibb.