“The ‘living wage’ bill may get a boost soon, according to sources who tell City & State that ‘one or more’ City Council members are going to announce their support for the legislation ‘in the coming days.’”
The retail workers who box the stuff we order online are often treated terribly. Retailers like Walmart use “temporary staffing,” a euphemism for “full time without job security or benefits.” Read more from Mother Jones on today’s Alternet.
“New York City provides hundreds of millions of dollars a year in taxpayer-financed subsidies to private developers. It is only right that the jobs created by those projects pay a decent wage. The Fair Wages for New Yorkers Act, widely known as the living-wage bill, would nudge these employers in the right direction.”
Click here to read the full piece.
The New York Times endorsement is the latest in a string of good news for living wage supporters, writes the Norwood News, citing a recent Quinnipiac Poll which found that New Yorkers support the bill by a margin of 74-19 percent.
As we gear up for the 2012 election cycle, a disturbing trend has emerged that sees powerful forces winning ground in an all-out assault to stifle the voice of American citizens everywhere by suppressing the right to vote.
It’s all part of a right-wing agenda that is seeking to disenfranchise voters and make the U.S. political system an exclusive plaything for the rich. The laws passed in these states-many of them important battleground states that could decide who wins the White House-could cost millions of U.S. citizens their voting rights. Read the full column in the New York Amsterdam News.
Retail employees expect the holiday season to be hectic, but workers at big-box stores report a galling combination: unpredictable shifts but not enough hours to pay the bills or qualify for health coverage.
“I’m working 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Thanksgiving, then coming back at 3 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Black Friday,” reported Johnny Becerra of Duarte, California, on a Walmart workers’ Facebook group. “Thanks, Walmart, for a Thanksgiving to remember.” Read the full story in Labor Notes.
This week, the Retail Action Project (RAP) and the City University of New York (CUNY) released data that shows a dramatic gender gap in wages in the retail industry. The study found that female employees’ median hourly wage was $9.00/hr, while their male coworkers’ was $10.13/hr. Read more about this study in Crain’s New York, Jezebel, Color Lines and Daily Kos.
Heard enough? Sign the petition to demand equal pay for equal work!
United Federation of Teachers President Michael Mulgrew sent a letter to all 51 members of the City Council asking them to support the “Fair Wages For New Yorkers Act,” better known as the “Living Wage Bill.” “Millions of New Yorkers are struggling just to make ends meet, and our members–their teachers and other educators–are seeing the effects of that harsh reality in our classrooms everyday. Children who are not being fed, clothed or housed properly cannot hope to concentrate,” Mr. Mulgrew wrote. Read the full story here.
A new three-year agreement at Flying Foods/Servair in Long Island, New York, protects benefits and raises wages for 500 Local 1102 members at JFK Airport who cater food for airlines. The new pact brings wage increases and job security for the life of the contract, and also secures benefits that are now scarce in the airline catering industry. Read more.
In today’s New York Times, Michael Powell discusses the struggles of low-wage workers and defends higher wage standards for taxpayer-subsidized projects. He humanizes the debate over the living wage bill and offers a powerful account of what is at stake for all of us. Read his column: “In Gilded City, Living Wage Proposal Still Stirs Fears.”
Stirred by rumors that Walmart is considering opening a store on a vacant plot of land at 125th Street and Lenox Avenue, a group of politicians, residents and business owners called Thursday for the retail juggernaut to stay out of Harlem and New York City, according to DNAinfo.
According to a report by Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer, 30 to 41 supermarkets, green grocers, and bodegas that sell fresh produce would go out of business within a year if a Walmart opened there. That’s 25% of area food businesses, writes the New York Daily News.
For more coverage of local opposition to Walmart, check out coverage from NY1, El Diario, the Huffington Post, and DNAinfo. Also listen to a report from CBS News to find out more about Manhattan BP Scott Stringer’s study.
The latest Quinnipiac Poll shows that 74 percent of all NYC voters approve a living wage, saying “it is the government’s responsibility to make sure workers are paid a decent wage.” According to Quinnipiac, support is 56 - 39 percent among Republicans, 83 - 11 percent among Democrats and 67 - 25 percent among independent voters.
“True to its image as a liberal town, New York gives big support to the City Council plan to require a “Living Wage” by companies that do business with the city. Does the government have an obligation to mandate a living wage? Overwhelmingly, voters say yes,” said Maurice Carroll, director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute.
View the poll results, and read more in Politicker, the New York Daily News, the New York Post, New York Times, Gothamist and the Wall Street Journal.
The New York Hotel and Motel Trades Council (NYHTC), AFL-CIO, which represents 30,000 hotel workers, today urged the New York City Council to pass The Fair Wages for New Yorkers Act.
“The debate on this legislation has run its course, and the time has come to raise wages for jobs in taxpayer-subsidized projects,” said Peter Ward, President of NYHTC. “City government should recognize the value of investing scarce public dollars more wisely in order to strengthen our economy and lift more New Yorkers out of poverty. When government incentivizes a higher-wage economy, everyone benefits. The evidence and data are crystal clear on that point. The moment for action has arrived.”
In his testimony at the City Council hearing in November, Jeff Fleming, President and CEO The Amazing Hospitality Group said wage policies like the one New York City is considering will “ultimately help” the hotel industry.
“There are more and more developers that, like our company, recognize the benefits of developing with decent wages and will seek opportunities in the growing number of cities that expect that from their partners,” he said.
Click here to read more about the endorsement in today’s Crain’s Insider, and here to read full press release.
On March 3, 2010, National Grocers’ owner Loblaw Companies Limited announced it was closing its Sudbury warehouse after 60 years, leaving more than 125 people without work. With only eight weeks’ notice, workers had to suddenly face a future without the job they had dedicated themselves to for years.
Adding insult to injury, Loblaw offered the workers the minimum amount allowed by law, going back on a promise to negotiate a fair and equitable severance. At the same time, managers were given an extravagant severance deal.
Protests and political pressure failed to move the company to do the right thing, but in November, and arbitrator’s decision awarded in excess of $120,000 to the laid off warehouse workers.
“This company closed a profitable warehouse and put all these people out of work. While nothing can change that now, at least this arbitration will help ease the transition into new careers for the workers there,” said RWDSU Northern Joint Council President Derik McArthur.
Check out the latest video from Living Wage NYC!
We currently have a majority of City Council Members supporting the Fair Wages for New Yorkers Act, but the only way the bill will pass is if it gets put to a vote. We need YOU to step up and help us make this happen. This is the moment for the City to hear our voices. Please contact us at livingwagenyc@gmail.com to find out how you can help us win this battle!
Workers at Master Food, a supermarket store in Flatbush in Brooklyn, New York, have joined RWDSU Local 338 and ratified a new contract that drastically improves wages and benefits. The successful organizing campaign comes in the wake of a lawsuit settlement that will see the Master Food workers receive $300,000 as a result of stolen wages. Click here to read the full story!
Crain’s New York reports that the number of needy New Yorkers is growing at an “alarming rate,” with soup kitchens and food pantries struggling to keep up with demand. The New York Daily News writes that the city has doled out $3.5 billion in food stamps this year, up $1.5 billion since 2009. Meanwhile, the New York City Coalition Against Hunger estimated that one in six New Yorkers, or 1.47 million people, have trouble buying food, reports the New York Post.
These grim statistics illustrate why New York City needs living wage jobs now!
