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Living Wage

Newsletter – Building Toward Political Revolution

April 9, 2016 Margaret Flowers and Kevin Zeese, www.PopularResistance.org , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
By Margaret Flowers and Kevin Zeese for Popular Resistance. Of course, we also know the Panama Papers leak is about just one tax evasion firm, and not a major one. This is a small tip of a massive tax evasion iceberg. Estimates are that $7.6 trillion in individual assets are in tax havens, about one-tenth of the global GPD. The use of tax havens has grown 25 percent from 2009 to 2015.  Gabriel Zucman, author of The Hidden Wealth of Nations: The Scourge of Tax Havens and assistant professor at UC Berkeley estimates that US citizens have at least $1.2 trillion stashed offshore, costing $200 billion a year worldwide in lost tax revenue and US transnational corporations are underpaying their taxes worldwide by $130 billion. The Panama Papers will escalate demands for transformation of the economy as well as of government; continue to increase pressure on capitalism and result in the growth of the people powered movement for economic justice.

Why The Delay? US Should Pay $15 An Hour Now

April 3, 2016 Jonathan Rosenblum, www.alternet.org , , ,
By Jonathan Rosenblum for AlterNet. Millions of workers across the country have won wage hikes under the banner of $15, and this week many more in California stand poised to join the parade. But three and a half years after the first picket sign was hoisted demanding $15/hour and union recognition, very few minimum wage workers are actually getting paid that much. That’s because among those crafting wage legislation, it’s become an axiom that increases must be phased in over time for the sake of business and economic stability. California Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez reflects a prevailing establishment view that what’s needed is “a reasonable, measured approach that would prevent sticker shock for businesses.” Newly adopted $15 minimum wage laws have been unveiled with great fanfare and media coverage. But lost in the headlines is the reality that because of phase-in schedules, workers won’t actually see $15/hour in their pay for three, five or even seven years.

A $15 Minimum Wage Is Sweeping The Nation

April 3, 2016 Bruce Covert, www.thinkprogress.org , , ,
By Bruce Covert for Think Progress. If 2014 was the year where the majority of states got on board with a higher minimum wage than the federal level of $7.25 an hour, 2015 was the year the rallying cry for a $15 minimum wage gained serious legislative traction. This year, three California cities — Emeryville, Los Angeles, and Mountain View — all passedminimum wage increases that will eventually bring them up to $15 an hour. Meanwhile, New York State enacted an eventual $15 minimum wage for its fast food workforce, while Massachusetts enacted one for its home care workers. Those increases came on top of previous progress: SeaTac and Seattle in Washington and San Francisco in California passed $15 minimums in 2014.

#FightFor$15 Overwhelms Republican Debate In Miami

March 11, 2016 Giovanna Vitale, www.PopularResistance.org , ,
By Giovanna Vitale for Fight For $15. An enormous group of underpaid Floridians busted through police lines in Miami Thursday evening on their way to GOP debate, where they’re calling on the candidates to stand with the nearly four million Floridians who make less than $15. Chanting “we work, we sweat, put $15 in our checks,” the group stormed through the University of Miami campus and up to the front gate of the BankUnited Center--as stunned Republican debate goers looked on. The crowd of hundreds forced police to shut down Ponce de Leon Avenue, the main street in front of the debate venue.

Fight For $15 Update: When Truman Doubled Minimum Wage

February 21, 2016 Giovanna Frank-Vitale, www.PopularResistance.org , ,
By Giovanna Frank-Vitale for Fight For $15. A New York Times editorial, Teresa Tritch details what happened with Harry Truman doubled the minimum wage in 1950 from 40 cents to 75 cents an hour: “By December 1950, when the 75-cent minimum had been in place for nearly a year, [the unemployment rate] had fallen to 4.3 percent. By December 1951, it was 3.1 percent and by December 1952, it was 2.7 percent.” In an editorial Friday, the Times criticizes laws that industry-backed legislators are trying to quietly pass through state houses nationwide to nullify local efforts to raise the minimum wage. The editorial board writes on a situation unfolding now: “In Alabama, a pre-emption effort introduced this month seeks to nullify a law passed last year by the Birmingham City Council for a citywide minimum wage of $10.10 an hour by mid-2017. If enacted, the state bill would also torpedo efforts to adopt local minimum wages in Huntsville and Tuscaloosa.

6 Arrested At Logan Airport In Wage Protest

January 19, 2016 Andy Rosen, www.bostonglobe.com , , , ,
By Andy Rosen for Boston Globe - State Police arrested six activists Monday at Logan Airport after dozens of activists flooded into a terminal to protest the treatment of workers at the travel hub, shouting slogans decrying “poverty wages” as some refused troopers’ orders to disperse. The event came as part of a national string of protests to draw attention to the wages paid to people who perform airport jobs like checking bags or cleaning terminals and airplanes. Though the employees have jobs at airports, they generally work for companies hired by airlines.

Fast-Food Workers Plan Wave Of Strikes For 2016 Primaries

January 15, 2016 Giovanna Vitale and Jack Temple, www.PopularResistance.org , , , ,
By Giovanna Vitale and Jack Temple for #FightFor15. Fast-food workers announced Friday that an unprecedented wave of strikes and actions calling for $15 and union rights will hit this primary season to hammer home to candidates that the nearly 64 million Americans paid less than $15 an hour are a voting bloc that cannot be ignored. Workers will also continue to collect signatures on their Fight for $15 Voter Agenda, a five-point platform that launched late last year and calls for $15 and union rights, affordable child care, quality long-term care, racial justice and immigration reform—issues identified by underpaid workers as key factors in whether they will go to the polls for a candidate.

National Labor Board Takes McDonald’s To Court

January 11, 2016 Ned Resnikoff, www.america.aljazeera.com , , ,
By Ned Resnikoff for Aljazeera - Current and former McDonald’s workers who accuse the fast-food giant of illegal union-busting will get their day in court on Monday, when an administrative law judge is expected to begin hearing arguments in a major unfair labor practice suit. The Obama administration's National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) will represent the workers in a case that could have wide-ranging consequences for the McDonald’s franchising model.

Newsletter: After The Crash…

January 9, 2016 Kevin Zeese and Margaret Flowers, www.PopularResistance.org , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
By Kevin Zeese and Margaret Flowers for Popular Resistance. The economic agenda described here would create a radical transformation of the economy from a top-down system designed for the wealthiest, to a botton-up system that creates a foundation for an economy that benefits all. Putting in place this economy would move us from a plutocratic economy to a democratized economy where people have economic control over their lives. It is a radical shift – how can it happen? There is only one path – the people must be educated, organized and mobilized to demand it. We need to change the political culture to one where the necessities of the people and protection of the planet are the priorities of the economy. If predictions are correct, the next economic collapse will deeper and more damaging than the 2008 collapse. It will be a tremendous opportunity to demand radical economic change. It is one the movement for economic, racial and environmental justice should be preparing for now.

Black Friday Protest Puts Pressure On Walmart

November 28, 2015 John Zangas, www.dcmediagroup.us , , ,
By John Zangas for DC Media Group. On Black Friday, one of the busiest shopping days of the year, the Organization for Respect at Walmart (OUR Walmart) and allied groups called attention to Walmart’s low wages and austere working conditions at the downtown Walmart in Washington, DC.Our Walmart DC Black Friday It marked the fourth consecutive Black Friday activists organized against Walmart’s corporate policies, which they say take advantage of workers, while enriching the Waltons, majority shareholders of Walmart Corporation. The Walton family is the wealthiest in the U.S. with over $148 billion, according to Forbes. Their fortune is equal to the combined wealth of 41% of American households. This year about 200 Walmart employees organized a nationwide 15-day fast leading up to Black Friday. The novel tactic was dubbed “Fast For $15,” and began on November 12 to bring attention to Walmart employees struggling to put food on their table.

Raising Minimum Wage Is Smart Politics And Smart Economics

November 15, 2015 Richard Correa, www.blackstarnews.com , , ,
By Richard Correa for Black Star News. Raising the minimum wage makes good business sense whether you are a Republican, Democrat or Independent. It should not be a partisan issue. Across the political spectrum, voters in my home state of Colorado and other key swing states – Florida, Iowa, Nevada, New Hampshire, Ohio and Virginia – strongly support raising the federal minimum wage. This includes 77 percent of Republicans, 87 percent of Independents and 97 percent of Democrats, according to a recent poll by McLaughlin & Associates and Oxfam America. Raising the minimum wage is a personal issue for me – from growing up in a low-income family to running my business today. I know that raising the minimum wage will be a win-win for workers and business. My mom and dad taught me the value of hard work. But their minimum wage paychecks left them struggling to make ends meet. My mom worked in the school cafeteria at lunch and cleaned rooms at night. Minimum wage should cover the basics – not leave workers struggling to put food on the table and keep a roof overhead.

One Year From Election, Fast-Food Workers Wage Biggest-Ever Strike

November 10, 2015 Jack Temple, www.PopularResistance.org , , ,
By Giovanna Vitale and Jack Temple for Fight for $15 - Fast-food workers will wage their biggest-ever strike Tuesday – one year from Election Day – with walkouts hitting a record 270 cities from Detroit to Denver. The strikes will culminate in protests in 500 cities, where fast-food, home care, child care, and other underpaid workers will amass outside city halls—local symbols of political power— to demand that elected leaders nationwide stand up for $15/hr and union rights. The strikes and protests come as underpaid workers nationwide vow to take their Fight for $15 and union rights to the ballot box in 2016 to show candidates of all political stripes that the nearly 64 million Americans paid less than $15 are a voting bloc that can no longer be ignored. In addition to the strikes and city hall protests, auto parts workers, farmworkers, grocery clerks, FedEx drivers, nursing home workers and others will show their support for the Fight for $15 at rallies planned for 1,000 cities across the country, sending a message to candidates that higher pay and union rights are urgent issues for our country that need to be addressed now.

Direct Democracy For The Minimum Wage In 2016

October 25, 2015 Staff, www.TheFairnessProject.org , , ,
By Staff for The Fairness Project - While Congress and state legislatures across the country remain paralyzed by partisan disagreement, ballot initiatives hold the promise of improving the lives of millions of Americans. The Fairness Project is bolstering state-based ballot initiative campaigns and driving a national narrative to elevate issues of economic fairness.By harnessing the power of successful ballot initiative campaigns, The Fairness Project is empowering voters to take direct action to change their own lives. In 2016, The Fairness Project will focus on ballot-initiative campaigns that seek to raise the minimum wage, working with partner organizations across the country to enact legislation through the ballot box to improve pay for millions of working people. In future campaign cycles, The Fairness Project will work with state-level partners to select a single economic issue aecting a wide number of people, putting it on the ballot in multiple states, and establishing it as a central issue in the national political dialogue of that cycle.

Mock Funeral For Poverty Wages

September 30, 2015 Danielle Sweeney, www.baltimorebrew.com , ,
By Danielle Sweeney in Baltimore Brew - The funeral sendoff was staged New Orleans style with a Dixieland band, Mardi Gras beads, boas and parasols. The deceased was “poverty wages,” symbolized by a black casket and eulogized by a Unitarian minister at a funeral yesterday in front of City Hall organized by Maryland Working Families. A majority of workers don’t earn enough to live with dignity was the take-away message of the afternoon. Their explicit message – Baltimore won’t prosper and move ahead unless wages rise at large institutions like the Johns Hopkins Hospital. About 80 people, many from Service Employees International Union, AFSCME, Casa Baltimore and other organizations, paraded around War Memorial Plaza and listened to speakers who called on city government to support higher wages. A few shared their experiences as low-wage full-time workers who struggle to live in the Baltimore area.

Colorado Coalition Urges Community Rights

September 7, 2015 Simon Davis-Cohen, www.theleap.thischangeseverything.org , , ,
By Simon Davis-Cohen in This Changes Everything - In Colorado, local governments cannot raise the minimum wage, pass rent control laws, or ban fracking. A system of state “preemption”—a favorite tool of the fossil fuel industry—stands in their way. Local activists have long been outspoken about this legal barrier to keeping fossil fuels in the ground. Now, a coalition embodying a range of economic and environmental justice fights is coming together to directly challenge the basis for state preemption: On August 17, a statewide initiative was launched by Coloradans for Community Rights to do just that. It may be the first time that anti-extraction and workers’ rights movements have allied behind a concrete political tactic in modern US history. The “Colorado Community Rights Amendment,” which needs some 99,000 signatures to qualify for the 2016 ballot, disrupts preemption by granting local governments a constitutional right to raise state standards—empowering them to boost the minimum wage, bolster environmental protections, and strengthen tenant rights, for example.
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