Ana María Archila: Low Wage Workers are Paving the Way to Democracy
GRITtv - February 18, 2014, by Laura Flanders - Bill de Blasio campaigned on ushering in a new era in New York City and actively pursued low-wage voters. Now that he is Mayor, what can the...
GRITtv - February 18, 2014, by Laura Flanders - Bill de Blasio campaigned on ushering in a new era in New York City and actively pursued low-wage voters. Now that he is Mayor, what can the people who elected him do to influence what happens next? It is a question grassroots groups grapple with around the country. On GRITtv this week, Ana María Archila shares a few ideas. Archila was a founder of one of the most effective community groups in New York; now she's heading up a regional initiative that seeks to build popular democracy, not only at the ballot box, but in between elections.
From the school to prison pipeline and stop and frisk to immigration reform and workplace safety regulations, New Yorkers are eager to seize the moment for political change, says Archila. For evidence, consider the crowds that gathered at the Talking Transition Tent which was set up in downtown, immediately following last fall's elections.
Mayor Bill de Blasio seems to be listening. Less than two months into his term he has expanded paid sick leave for hundreds of workers around the city, one of the central demands of low wage workers. But how do people ensure that this momentum continues?
"He is only listening because low wage workers are extremely organized," Co-Executive Director for the Center for Popular Democracy Ana María Archila tells GRITtv. "New Yorkers are demanding more."
In addition to paid sick leave, organizers with Make the Road New York (the community organization that Archila describes as her "organizing home") are campaigning for a raise in the minimum wage and increased work place safety regulations. Organizing locally and creating small scale initiatives, like worker or consumer co-ops, can help engage people and address some immediate needs, but ultimately, low wage Americans need to build political power.
"The biggest co-operative we have is our own government and we need to make sure that it works for us," she says.
For more on ushering in a new progressive era, watch our interview with Joo-Hyun Kang on ending the Stop and Frisk regime.
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Immigration Advocates Praise de Blasio's Proposal for Municipal ID Program
Immigration advocates are praising Mayor Bill de Blasio's proposal for a municipal ID program.
In his State of the City address, de Blasio said that the city would make ID...
Immigration advocates are praising Mayor Bill de Blasio's proposal for a municipal ID program.
In his State of the City address, de Blasio said that the city would make ID cards available to all New Yorkers.
That includes people who usually can't get other forms of identification, like the homeless and undocumented immigrants.
On Tuesday, the Center for Popular Democracy released a report analyzing similar programs in other cities.
Advocates say that the program could be a big help to vulnerable populations.
"Without this ID, it can be difficult to register to a child for school. It can be difficult to open a bank account. It can be difficult to even exercise your right to vote, to file a complaint with the police department," said Brittny Saunders of the Center for Popular Democracy.
"We also want to make sure that this card is available to multiple constituencies in this city," said City Councilman Carlos Menchaca of Brooklyn. "There's so many constituencies in this city that can benefit from this card, so we want to make sure that we know all those so we design the best cards that everyone has it."
Menchaca, who is the immigration chair for the City Council, also said that the Council plans to hold hearings in the next month about the best way to design the program.
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What de Blasio's ID Cards Could Accomplish
WNYC - February 12, 2014, by Mirela Iverac - A day after Mayor de Blasio announced the city would issue municipal ID cards to immigrants who don’t have legal status, advocates praised the move.
Even though those immigrants already have access to many services in New York City, advocates said the development was meaningful.
Back in 2007, New Haven, Conn., became the first city to issue municipal ID cards to immigrants who didn’t have legal status. Latrina Kelly-James, the deputy director at an immigrant advocacy group Junta for Progressive Action, said the benefits have been huge.
“We were able to really bring immigrants out of the shadows, help them open bank accounts, help them report crimes and become more at ease in building community and police relations,” she said.
In New York City, the impact of the card may not be as dramatic. Already, city police can’t inquire about immigration status, and many financial institutions as well as other organizations have flexible identification requirements, accepting foreign passports and consular IDs.
But Daniel Coates, a lead organizer with Make the Road New York, said problems still occasionally arise when immigrants enter local government buildings or interact with the police. “Having something that’s explicitly valid for New York City will go a really long way in strengthening that relationship and making these communities integrate better into the city,” he said.
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Immigration Advocates Applaud Mayor Bill De Blasio’s ID Card Plan
CBSNew York - February 11, 2014 - Undocumented immigrants and their supporters are cheering Mayor Bill de Blasio’s plan for creating city identification cards this year. But, as WCBS 880′s Alex...
CBSNew York - February 11, 2014 - Undocumented immigrants and their supporters are cheering Mayor Bill de Blasio’s plan for creating city identification cards this year. But, as WCBS 880′s Alex Silverman reported, they also want to make sure New York gets it right.
During his State of the City address Monday, de Blasio vowed to make municipal ID cards available to all residents in 2014 regardless of their immigration status, “so that no daughter or son of our city goes without bank accounts, leases, library cards, simply because they lack identification.”
“To all of my fellow New Yorkers who are undocumented, I say: New York City is your home, too, and we will not force any of our residents to live their lives in the shadows,” he said.
Aracely Cruz said she’s been waiting 10 years to hear a promise like de Blasio’s.
“I face fear every day,” she said. “I don’t trust anybody.”
Cruz was among the immigration reform proponents who gathered at a news conference Tuesday in lower Manhattan. Also in attendance were a mother who wants the freedom to walk into her child’s school and a day laborer who says he has spent 15 years in Queens with nothing to show to prove he’s part of the city.
City Councilman Carlos Menchaca, D-Brooklyn, head of the Immigration Committee, said members are drafting a bill to create the cards and plans to hold a hearing on the matter within the next month.
“We’re not going to wait for a federal government to give us reform,” he said.
“We’re tired of Congress failing us and failing our families,” said Linda Sarsour, executive director of the Arab American Association of New York. “And what we do in New York is we don’t wait for Congress.”
One concern advocates such as Steve Choi, executive director of the New York City Immigration Coalition, have is “we have to make sure we are ensuring trust, that the city agencies, such as the library and the police, are able to really accept these municipal ID cards without fear that folks are going to be branded somehow.”
Brittny Saunders, a lawyer with the Center for Popular Democracy, said other cities have created an incentive for citizens to also obtain the cards ”by connecting up these IDs with discounts at local businesses.”
Donna Lieberman, executive director of the New York Civil Liberties Union, agreed the ID cards should be used for all New Yorkers, not just undocumented immigrants.
“I, for one, intend to get a municipal ID because I want to use the ID that’s accessible to all New Yorkers,” she said.
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New York City's Undocumented Immigrants Will Get Municipal IDs, Says Mayor De Blasio
Huffington Post - February 10, 2014 - New York City's undocumented immigrants will soon be able to obtain municipal ID cards, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced Monday.
"We will protect the...
Huffington Post - February 10, 2014 - New York City's undocumented immigrants will soon be able to obtain municipal ID cards, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced Monday.
"We will protect the almost half-million undocumented New Yorkers, whose voices too often go unheard," the mayor said during his first State of the City speech. "We will reach out to all New Yorkers, regardless of immigration status -- issuing municipal ID cards available to all New Yorkers this year -- so that no daughter or son of our city goes without bank accounts, leases, library cards… simply because they lack identification. To all of my fellow New Yorkers who are undocumented, I say: New York City is your home too, and we will not force ANY of our residents to live their lives in the shadows."
"La ciudad de Nueva York es el hogar de todos los que vivimos aqui. No dejaremos que ninguno de nuestros residentes viva en las sombras," de Blasio repeated in Spanish, a nod to the city's large Latino population.
A source in the mayor's office told Spanish-language El Diario la Prensa on Monday that de Blasio will officially submit the proposal soon.
The city ID card would not operate as a driver's license, nor would it be accepted as a form of identification by federal agencies.
It does fulfill one of de Blasio's many campaign promises. "These identification cards will also help foster better relations between the police and undocumented people, who often choose not to report crimes out of fear they may be deported," reads a section of de Blasio's campaign website from last year. "In New Haven, Connecticut -- which offers a municipal ID to undocumented people -- crime in the largely-immigrant Fair Haven community declined 20 percent in the two years after the IDs were introduced, even as crime-reporting increased."
City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito told Politicker she has “full confidence” that “a universal ID will become a reality as soon as possible.”
Ten other cities across the country including San Francisco, Trenton, and Washington, D.C. have already created their own municipal ID programs.
New York State Senators Adriano Espaillat (D) and Jose Peralta (D), both of New York City, expressed support for de Blasio's proposal in a joint statement. They also took the opportunity to advance another cause: allowing immigrants to apply for drivers licenses. From the statement:
"...it is unacceptable that hardworking immigrants are made to break the law in order to commute to work or take their kids to school," they wrote. "Providing undocumented immigrants the opportunity to obtain drivers licenses will ensure that all New York drivers are properly credentialed, educated and operating registered, inspected and insured vehicles, making our roads safer and benefiting all New Yorkers."
De Blasio himself has previously supported allowing undocumented immigrants in New York to apply for driver's licenses.
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Who We Are: Municipal ID Cards as a Local Strategy to Promote Belonging and Shared Community Identity
One of the paradoxes at the center of the struggle for immigrant rights in the United States is that while immigration law and policy is made at the national level, most of the impacts of those...
One of the paradoxes at the center of the struggle for immigrant rights in the United States is that while immigration law and policy is made at the national level, most of the impacts of those laws occur at the local level. Politicians and bureaucrats in Washington, DC, negotiate and renegotiate a statutory framework that includes some and excludes others, and design and redesign a police apparatus to enforce the framework. Meanwhile, in towns and cities across the country, immigrants and the neighborhoods they are part of experience firsthand the difficult realities of trying to live, work, take care of a family, and participate in community within a set of legal structures that do not always protect their basic rights and freedoms.
In the face of uncertain and incomplete federal immigration reform efforts, cities, counties and states are increasingly looking for ways to address immigration policy issues locally. This is the context in which the idea for municipal identification cards has arisen. Municipal ID cards can help individuals deal with the ongoing struggle to integrate and participate in civic life.
Download the full report here.
Who Needs ID?The ability to provide proof of identity is a basic necessity that many Americans take for granted. Access to widely accepted forms of ID such as passports, drivers licenses and social security cards is a privilege that attends other privileges—privileges of race, of class and of citizenship. But, increasingly, identification requirements gate-keep almost every aspect of daily life. Without the right form of ID you may not be able to open a bank account or even cash a check, see a doctor at a hospital, register your child for school, apply for public benefits, file a complaint with the police department, borrow a book from a library, vote in an election, or even collect a package from the post office. Ironically, the very people who are most in need of such basic services are also those who have the most difficulty obtaining the proof of identity that will allow them to access those services. In addition to serving practical urgencies, identification cards also have a symbolic importance as a sign of membership in the community. Cities that offer ID to their residents regardless of immigration status are making a powerful statement of welcome and inclusion.
Goals of Municipal ID Card Programs Improve community safety by making it easier for those without state-issued ID to interact with local authorities. Improve access to financial services by providing a form of ID that will allow those without other forms of identification to open bank accounts. Mitigate impact of racial profiling. Make symbolic statement of welcome and solidarity to immigrant residents. Promote unity and sense of membership in the local community among all residents.Ten cities have already enacted municipal ID card programs: New Haven, CT; San Francisco, CA; Oakland, CA; Richmond, CA; Los Angeles, CA; Asbury Park, NJ; Mercer County, NJ; Trenton, NJ; Princeton, NJ; and Washington, D.C. Campaigns are underway in several other jurisdictions as well, including Philadelphia, PA and New York, NY.
Newark, NJ Passes Earned Sick Days Bill by 5-0
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: January 28, 2014
NEWARK CITY COUNCIL PASSES PAID SICK DAYS BILL
...
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: January 28, 2014
NEWARK CITY COUNCIL PASSES PAID SICK DAYS BILL
IN 5-0 VOTE, NEWARK BECOMES 2ND CITY IN NJ TO GUARANTEE SICK DAYS
Passage of sick day laws in NJ’s two largest cities back to back spells major momentum for the issue statewide
The following statement can be attributed to Andrew Friedman, Co-Executive Director of the Center for Popular Democracy:
“The rapid spread of paid sick days from city to city across the country shows that the public is strongly supportive of policy that improves the lives of working families. Progressive coalitions are leading the way, hand-in-hand with elected officials who are committed to a robust economy that creates good jobs and expands our country’s middle class.”
Contact:
TJ Helmstetter, the Center for Popular Democracy 973.464.9224, tjhelm@populardemocracy.org
Rob Duffey, NJ Working Families Alliance (973) 273-3363, rob@njworkingfamilies.org
Background:
In a move to protect Newark’s public health and bolster its economy the City Council adopted an ordinance that would allow all private-sector workers to earn paid sick days. The legislation passed by a vote of 5-0, and if signed by Mayor Luis Quintana the ordinance will make Newark the 2nd city in New Jersey and the 7th city in the nation to enact an earned sick days law.
“Tonight is a tremendous victory for 38,000 workers who will never again have to choose between their paycheck and their health or the health of their family,” said Kevin Brown, State Director of SEIU 32BJ. “By extending the right to earn sick days to every single worker in the city, Newark’s earned sick days law will be one of the most comprehensive in the nation. Lawmakers in Trenton and around the state should take notice.”
The Newark bill will allow private-sector workers to earn 1 hour of sick time for every 30 hours worked. Those that work in businesses with 10 or more employees can earn 5 paid sick days per year; workers in businesses with nine or fewer employees would be eligible to earn 3 paid sick days per year. In addition, employees directly in contact with the public would be eligible to earn 5 sick days regardless of company size, and the days can be used to care for themselves or family members.
“When I caught the flu last winter I knew I couldn’t go to work and risk infecting my clients,” said Tamika Hawkins a professional home health care provider who lives in Newark and a member of New Jersey Communities United. “But without pay I fell behind on my bills and even received a shutdown notice from the electric company. This law will make a big difference for me and other hard-working people in Newark, and I’m proud that our city is now a leader in this fight.”
Nearly one quarter of adults in the US have been fired or threatened with job loss for taking time off to recover from illness or care for a sick loved one, and the absence of paid sick days disproportionately affects low-income individuals. For a low-income family without paid sick days, going just 3.5 days without wages is the equivalent to losing a month’s groceries.
As of 2010 Newark's poverty rate exceeds 30%.
“Through our community organizing work we are actively engaging residents on the issues they care most about and workplace issues frequently rise to the top of community concerns,” said Trina Scordo, executive director of NJ Communities United. “We have found that low-wage workers in particular fear losing their jobs if they call in sick to take care of themselves or their children. Passing earned sick days is especially important for residents working in direct care, retail, fast food, or any other industry where workers are in frequent contact with the public. There’s no question that paid sick days improves the lives of working families and the fabric of our communities.”
Health professionals praised the legislation for including special public health protections, including ensuring that workers in regular contact with the public are able to earn a full five sick days.
“By passing this legislation, Newark will join Jersey City as a city in our state that looks to protect workers, consumers, families, and the community as a whole from the spread of contagious illness and from ensuing health care costs,” said Elmer, RN and President of the Health Professional and Allied Employees Local 5089. “Providing earned sick days is a modest policy that will have a big impact."
Advocates also touted the economic benefits of the legislation. Last week the Time to Care Coalition delivered a letter from over 20 New Jersey economists to the Newark Council urging them to support the law, saying it will bring tangible benefits to the local economy. On Tuesday a report from the Institute for Women’s Policy Research confirmed that the city and local businesses will actually save money because of the legislation. Studies of earned sick days laws passed in San Francisco and Seattle showed no negative impact from earned sick days on local economies, and both cities outpaced neighbors that lacked earned sick time protection.
“Workers coming to work sick actually costs our nation $160 billion annually, far more than the cost of workers staying at home to recover,” said Karen White, Director of the Working Families Program at the Rutgers Center for Women and Work. “When sick workers stay home, the spread of disease slows and workplaces are healthier and more productive. And by letting workers earn sick days businesses put money in the pockets of low-income workers who go out into the marketplace and spend it on goods and services. It’s a win-win for workers, employers, and local economies.”
Support for the law has been overwhelming. The New Jersey Working Families Alliance delivered 10,000 postcards from Newark voters urging the City Council to pass the law, and earlier today New Jersey Citizen Action delivered a letter from over 60 organizations around New Jersey in support of the legislation. A September poll from Rutgers-Eagleton showed a commanding 82% of Essex County residents supported the policy.
“Working families are looking to their elected officials to show leadership in this fight for what should be a basic worker’s right, and today the Newark City Council stepped up,” said Bill Holland, executive director of the New Jersey Working Families Alliance. “After tonight’s vote there’s no denying it: the national momentum for earned sick days laws has broken through to New Jersey in a big way.”
The legislation comes just two months after Jersey City passed the first earned sick days law in New Jersey. Five other cities – Washington, D.C.; San Francisco; Seattle; New York City; and Portland, Oregon – have taken action to help boost the economy by making sure workers can hang on to critical income when ill. On Tuesday Washington, D.C. expanded their existing paid sick days laws to cover all workers. In New York City, paid sick days legislation was a powerful determinant in the outcome of this month’s Democratic primary for mayor, as voters were less likely to vote for Speaker Christine Quinn after she blocked action on paid sick days for three years. Campaigns for statewide sick days laws are moving forward in Vermont, Massachusetts, Oregon and elsewhere.
Looking forward, advocates pointed to a statewide bill introduced this spring by Assemblywoman Pamela Lampitt and Senator Loretta Weinberg that would cover all of New Jersey’s 1.5 million workers who currently lack paid sick days. The bill is being championed by the statewide Time to Care Coalition.
“While tonight’s vote is a huge victory for working families, there are still over a million New Jerseyans who lack the basic security that earned sick days provide,” said Phyllis Salowe-Kaye, Executive Director of New Jersey Citizen and spokesperson for the Time to Care Coalition. “In the coming year we’re going to build on the momentum from our victories in Jersey City and Newark and make New Jersey a leader in this nationwide fight for fairer, healthier, and more prosperous communities.”
Coalition members that supported earned sick days in Newark and Jersey City include the Time to Care Coalition, Center for Popular Democracy, SEIU 32BJ, the New Jersey Working Families Alliance, New Jersey Communities United, the ACLU of New Jersey, the Committee of Interns and Residents SEIU, the New Jersey NAACP, Health Professionals and Allied Employees, AFT, New Jersey Citizen Action, CWA District 1, and AFSCME Council 1.
Additional reaction to Earned Sick Days Passage:
"A healthier and more productive workforce benefits everyone. This Newark ordinance is a win -win for employees, businesses, and our whole economy," said Corinne Horrowitz, business representative of the New Jersey Main Street Alliance.
"Paid sick days is a human rights issue. Families must be able to take care of their love ones without thinking about how they will pay their bills for taking a sick day off," said Virgilio Oscar Aran, Executive Director of Laundry Workers Center.
"This is a proud day for Newark," said Udi Ofer, executive director of the ACLU of New Jersey. "No one should be forced to choose between protecting their health and their job. This new requirement of paid sick days will give Newarkers fundamental protections to keep their families healthy and their jobs secure. We commend Councilman Anibal Ramos for his leadership and the Newark Municipal Council for its passage of this critically important policy. We look forward to continuing to work with allies and lawmakers across the state to ensure all New Jerseyans have the basic protections Newark workers will now have."
“Low income workers should have the same worker benefits as others," said Raymond Ocasio, executive director of La Casa de Don Pedro. "We all can get sick, and having sick days through the Newark Earned Sick Days Ordinance and access to health care under the Affordable Care Act will only make us all better off.”
“This is a great day for Newark and for its working caregivers. We know that nearly 2 out of 3 workers ages 45 to 74 have caregiving responsibilities for an aging or other adult relative. And caregivers without earned sick days have historically been forced to make some really hard choices. Now, as a result of this measure, if they or one of their close family members get sick, they won’t have to choose between keeping their jobs or taking the time to get well or care for loved ones,” said Dave Mollen, AARP New Jersey State President.
"This Earned Sick Time ordinance is designed for my patients who must choose between taking care of themselves and preventing the spread of viruses or making sure they don't lose a day's wages or even their job," said Dr. Ahmed Yousaf, Vice President for the Committee of Interns and Residents-SEIU. "Because of the realities of urban life, the health of one can very quickly affect the health of all of us. By moving this bill forward, the Council is standing up for the health of all Newarkers."
"Newark's passage of paid sick days reflects a turning point for these policies in this country," said Ellen Bravo, executive director of Family Values @ Work, the national network of 21 city and state coalitions, including the Time to Care Coalition in New Jersey, working on these issues. "In 2013 alone, the number of cities who have passed paid sick days has more than doubled, underscoring the overwhelming public support and momentum for common-sense policies that value families at work. We applaud our member coalition in Newark, which moved quickly to implement legislation that will grant 38,000 workers with access to paid sick days, including 'carving in' workers involved in direct service food, home care and child care, and which will pave the way for similar victories in Trenton and beyond."
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Occupy the Minimum Wage: Will Young People Restore the Strength of Unions?
The Guardian - January 26, 2014, by Rose Hackman - Alicia White, 25, defied the odds of a poor background by attending college on a partial scholarship and going to graduate school. While she...
The Guardian - January 26, 2014, by Rose Hackman - Alicia White, 25, defied the odds of a poor background by attending college on a partial scholarship and going to graduate school. While she spends her days applying for jobs, the only work she has found so far is face-painting at children’s birthday parties.
“By going to college and graduate school, I thought I was insulating myself from being broke and sleeping on friends’ couches and being hungry again. The big, scary part is that I am going to end up where I was, but now I am going to be in that awful situation with $50,000 of debt,” White says.
White’s story is no exception. One in two college graduates are now either unemployed or underemployed. Millennials – even those from the middle class – are experiencing income inequality and America’s failed dream of upward mobility first-hand. The mismatch of college-educated young workers with low-wage, unskilled, precarious jobs is creating a new face of the once-dwindling American labor movement: young, diverse, led by millennials in their twenties and thirties, and fighting what they see as an unfair labor market. Their modest cause? Pushing for a higher minimum wage.
Because of too many young people interested looking for work, these millennials reason that the labor movement is the only way to address large-scale poverty and income inequality – starting with their own.
The "Fight for 15" movement is the most visible of these. Designed by the SEIU to raise the minimum wage from $7.25 an hour to $15 an hour, the effort has been driven by young activists. Last fall, the movement claimed its first legislative victory with residents in SeaTac, Seattle’s airport carrying suburb, voting to raise its minimum wage to $15 an hour.
“There’s more enthusiasm than there has been probably in our lifetime for this,” says Ady Barkan, a 30-year-old Yale Law graduate and staff attorney at the Center for Popular Democracy in New York, indicating that the "Fight for 15" movement is picking up where Occupy Wall Street left off. He calls it “part of a similar cultural moment”.
It doesn't hurt the movement that the difference in pay between unionized and non-union jobs is pronounced. The median weekly earnings of union members in 2012 was $943, compared to $742 for those not in a union, the Bureau of Labor Statistics said in its recently released annual survey of labor.
“The dismal prospects for young workers are underscoring the fact that you can’t rebuild an economy on low-wage jobs and that inequality has reached a point where it really is an existential crisis for America,” says Annette Bernhardt, UC Berkeley's visiting sociology professor, whose work has focused on the low-wage economy and inequality.
Demographically, even the modest interest millennials have shown in the labor movement recently is a reversal of decades of disinterest. Unions have been ageing out of the economy along with their members, with nearly one in six union members aged 55-64, according to the BLS. Amid other trends – offshoring, automation, the growth of a service-centered economy – the share of national income that comes from labor unionshas been steadily falling since the 1970s. Union membership is at its lowest point in recent memory, with only 11.3% of Americans in unions. Critics, including the Center for American Progress blame those trends for the decline of the middle class.
Membership in unions is low for millennials – with only 11% of union members falling in the 25-34 age group, compared to 16% for workers between 55-64 – but their political views tend to align with the labor movement. A Pew poll this June showed 61% of Americans 18-24 in favor of unions, with strongest support coming from women and minority groups.
Diversity is more evident in the newer labor movement among millennials, reflecting the dominance of black and hispanic workers in unions nationally.
Jose Lopez, 27, is an organizer who works with Make the Road New York, mobilizing fast food and car wash workers. His previous work within the same organization involved pairing up young community members and artists with local businesses to paint storefronts, raising awareness about police brutality and stop-and-frisk. Lopez plans on bringing the same type of creativity to mobilize people around issues of inadequate income and wage theft, he said.
Protestor Janah Bailey, 21, of Chicago, currently works two fast food jobs: one full-time at Wendy’s, which she says pays $8.25 an hour, and one part-time at McDonald’s, which pays $8.40. On one day last year, Bailey walked out on both jobs for strikes against low pay. She says $15 an hour would change her life “tremendously”, expecting she would only have to work one job to make ends meet and help support her family, and spend her newly acquired spare time on studying to open up her own business.
The persistence of low wages is also mobilizing millennials who have never known a healthy job market. David Meni, 20, says he has held down a plethora of unpaid positions, internships and temporary jobs since his sophomore year of high school. His George Washington University chapter of the Roosevelt Institute’s Campus Network recently joined other local organizations in successfully pressuring the Washington DC city council to vote for an increase in the minimum wage to $11.50 an hour by 2016 from its current level of $8.50 an hour – despite the opposition of large corporations including Walmart.
That is not to say that young people will revolutionize the labor movement immediately. Millennials have an uphill battle in turning around the decline of labor. Studies show that while millennials support unions, until now, they have rarely joined them, perhaps in the belief that their low-paying jobs were temporary.
That perception may be changing as it becomes evident that lower wages are likely to be the norm for a long time.
Many economists predict that low wages are likely to continue into 2014, as pressure continues from corporate executives eager to return profits to their shareholders – namely by keeping a lid on expenses like pay. In a research report this week, influential economist Jan Hatzius of Goldman Sachs directly ties the 6.5% rise of corporate profits to the nearly inert 2% growth of US wages.
"The bottom line is that the favorable environment for corporate profits should persist for some time yet, and the case for an acceleration in the near term is strong," Hatzius wrote. "Eventually, the pendulum will swing back in the direction of lower profit margins and higher wages, but this still looks fairly distant."
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Paid Sick Leave Now Mandatory for Most Businesses in Jersey City
The Jersey Journal - January 24, 2014, by Terrence McDonald - When Jersey City in September 2012 became the first New Jersey municipality to mandate that most private businesses provide paid sick...
The Jersey Journal - January 24, 2014, by Terrence McDonald - When Jersey City in September 2012 became the first New Jersey municipality to mandate that most private businesses provide paid sick leave for its workers, Mayor Steve Fulop predicted a legal fight.
Four months later, and no lawsuit filed, the measure is now law.
Fulop called today “very exciting.”
“I think it’s going to help tens of thousands of working families in Jersey City,” he said at an event at Saint Peter's University.
Jersey City is the sixth city in the nation to force private businesses to provide paid sick time. The law affects employers with 10 or more workers, and was opposed by state- and countywide business groups.
Paid sick time laws have become a favored cause of liberals and labor unions. Both groups hailed Jersey City when Fulop first proposed the measure last year, and they extolled the city again today.
“This law respects the dignity of workers, protects the public health and will mean savings for businesses big and small. When workers can earn sick days, everybody wins,” said Phyllis Salowe-Kaye, executive director of the New Jersey Citizen Action and spokesperson for the New Jersey Time to Care Coalition.
Other cities that have implemented similar mandates include Washington, D.C., San Francisco and Seattle. New York City, which passed a similar law last year, is set to strengthen it under its new, more liberal mayor.
Business groups have opposed the mandate wherever it's been implemented, but in San Francisco, which in 2006 became the first in the nation to require paid sick leave, thanks to a voter referendum, some who opposed the requirement subsequently said it hadn't affected businesses much, if at all.
An audit in Washington, D.C., found the law had not led to fewer businesses opening, though local businesses owners said they had cut back on hours.
Michael Egenton, a senior vice president at the New Jersey Chamber of Commerce, fears that paid sick leave, together with new health-care regulations and the state’s new minimum-wage increase, could convince businesses to relocate.
Egenton also expressed concern about local governments implementing these types of regulations.
“Whatever happened to the freedom of enterprise?” he said today, adding that he believes business owners will reward employees with benefits like paid sick time even if the government doesn’t force them to.
“If you’re a good worker, your boss will give you sick time,” Egenton said.
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Mayor Signals New Future with Paid Sick Days Move
Gotham Gazette - January 23, 2014, by Amy Carroll & Javier Valdés - Mayor Bill de Blasio and City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito have announced an expansion of paid sick leave coverage...
Gotham Gazette - January 23, 2014, by Amy Carroll & Javier Valdés - Mayor Bill de Blasio and City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito have announced an expansion of paid sick leave coverage for hundreds of thousands of additional workers.
Their decision is a concrete move to confront and alleviate inequality, and bodes well for all New Yorkers, especially low-income workers and their families who live paycheck to paycheck.
The new administration’s proposal will guarantee paid sick leave to manufacturing workers and those at businesses of five or more employees, as well as provide for more aggressive enforcement by city agencies. These are critical first steps that recognize the dignity of workers who drive our city’s economy.
Leonardo Fernando is one of those workers. A 47-year-old immigrant who’s lived in Queens for nine years, he works 12-hour shifts at a car wash, in the heat and in the cold, to support his four children. Previously without paid sick days, he’s gone to work with the flu because he couldn’t afford to risk losing his job or missing a day’s pay. He will now be protected.
Of course, there’s still more to do through the legislative process. We would like to see all workers in New York have the right to paid sick time, and for the administration to strengthen enforcement through increased fines and provide workers the right to go to court when their rights are violated. But this is a great start.
In expanding the earned sick days law, which was fought tooth and nail by the Bloomberg administration and its corporate allies, Mayor de Blasio is honoring a campaign promise and governing as a progressive. And Speaker Mark-Viverito has signaled a clear break from her predecessor, who delayed the enactment of this law for years.
The shift in public policy is a direct result of years of work by workers, progressive advocates, community organizers, labor unions, and the faith community, who banded together to identify and elect new leaders in response to a widening income gap and exclusionary policies that didn’t help middle and working class families.
New York City is now a place where no worker will lose a job for taking a sick day.
What’s next?
Imagine a New York that’s more affordable, more inclusive, more fair. Imagine a city where all children have access to pre-school, a city that eliminates discriminatory policing, a city that leverages wealth to fight inequality and keep families in their homes.
The possibilities are endless. It’s a new day in New York.
Amy Carroll is the Deputy Director of The Center for Popular Democracy. Javier Valdés is the Co-Executive Director of Make The Road New York.
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