More Cities Should Do What States and Federal Government Aren't on Minimum Wage
More Cities Should Do What States and Federal Government Aren't on Minimum Wage
Source:...
Source: Gotham Gazette
Early this month, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio announced a guaranteed $15 minimum wage for all city government employees by the end of 2018. This is a big win for over 50,000 workers across the city struggling to provide for their families, including those directly on the payroll and tens of thousands working at non-profits that contract with the city.
Unlike in Seattle and Los Angeles, where city officials are empowered to raise the minimum wage for the entire workforce in their cities, Mayor de Blasio is unable to unilaterally raise wages for all New York City workers. That power lies with Gov. Andrew Cuomo and the state legislature. The governor's efforts to lift the minimum wage to $15 are being hampered by a Republican-controlled state Senate.
De Blasio's decision to raise wages for city employees is a crucial independent step towards a more equitable city - and should be seen as an inspiration for cities around the nation. It also reflects the power and momentum of a groundbreaking worker-led countrywide movement demanding higher wages.
Even as state and federal administrations drag their feet on the inevitable question of a decent minimum wage for working families in the United States, de Blasio's gutsy move shows cities can and should take matters into their own hands.
The mayor's minimum wage raise closely follows his announcement last month giving six weeks paid parental leave, and up to 12 weeks when combined with existing leave, to the city's 20,000 non-unionized employees. The mayor has now moved to negotiate the same benefits with municipal unions. Again, New York City private sector workers must look to Albany or Washington, D.C. to move on paid family leave for all.
Mayor de Blasio's recent actions support his goal of lifting 800,000 New Yorkers out of poverty over ten years. More than 20 percent of the city's population lives in poverty, a huge swath of a city commonly associated with extraordinary wealth.
The last couple of years have seen unparalleled momentum from workers themselves - from New York City to Los Angeles and Chicago - calling for livable wages, resulting in minimum wage raises for fast food workers and other groups.
Workers are not waiting patiently on government officials – they are organizing in an unprecedented way. Progressive mayors like de Blasio are responding with sound policy, while less responsive officials are being put on notice. Cities like Los Angeles, New York City, and Chicago are paving the way, showing that it is possible to act independently of state and federal governments.
In addition, laws raising the minimum wage to more than the pitiful federal standard of $7.25 an hour have passed in a number of states. There are now campaigns to raise the floor and standards for workers being led in 14 states and four cities. This momentum is building into a crescendo that will have deep implications for the 2016 presidential election.
Nearly half of our country's workers earn less than $15 an hour and 43 million are forced to work or place their jobs at risk when sick or faced with a critical care-giving need. Now is the time for cities to listen to their workers and override state and federal passivity to allow millions of hard-working Americans to provide for their families.
Progressives Choose Wrong Target in Opposing Prospective New York Fed Head
Progressives Choose Wrong Target in Opposing Prospective New York Fed Head
“Of course not," Shawn Sebastian, co-leader of the Fed Up coalition of advocacy groups and labor unions, told Politico...
“Of course not," Shawn Sebastian, co-leader of the Fed Up coalition of advocacy groups and labor unions, told Politico he opposes Williams in part because Williams has occasionally favored interest-rate hikes. Instead, Fed Up recommended a whole slate of “diverse” candidates for the New York Fed job, though their diversity is mainly limited to gender and skin color, not ideas. Many of them work or have worked for the Fed, while others served in various positions in the Obama administration; one is an economist for the AFL-CIO.
Read the full article here.
Yellen to Meet Group Seeking Low Rates, Greater Openness
Bloomberg News - November 11, 2014, by Christopher Condon - Federal Reserve Chair ...
Bloomberg News - November 11, 2014, by Christopher Condon - Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen will meet Nov. 14 with a coalition of community groups, labor unions and faith leaders seeking to influence monetary policy and the way some Fed officials are appointed.
The group has called for the Fed to place greater weight on lowering unemployment. They also want more public say in the appointment of district Fed leaders, just as regional Fed presidents in Dallas and Philadelphia plan to retire next year.
“The most important thing is to keep interest rates low,” said Shawn Sebastian, a policy advocate at the Brooklyn-based Center for Popular Democracy, one of the organizers. “The hawks in the Fed are pushing hard to raise rates soon, but most people in the public realize we are not three months away from a recovery.”
The meeting comes as the Fed moves closer to a decision on when to raise interest rates for the first time since 2006.
Unemployment fell to 5.8 percent in October, and most Federal Open Market Committee officials expect the U.S. central bank will lift its benchmark rate at some point next year, after leaving it near zero since December 2008.
The organizers look to add to pressure on the central bank to be more transparent. The Fed has come in for criticism from Congress, where Republicans have proposed legislation limiting its discretion on monetary policy and banking supervision. Congress has already curbed the Fed’s emergency lending powers.
The FOMC, the Fed’s main policy-setting panel, has 12 voting seats. Eight of those are reserved for the bank’s board of governors and the president of the New YorkFed. The heads of the other 11 regional banks rotate through four remaining spots.
Regional Feds
The governors are appointed by the U.S. president and confirmed by the Senate. Regional bank heads are picked by their respective boards, which are typically dominated by business executives. The group meeting with Yellen say there should be more public input when Philadelphia’s Charles Plosser and Dallas’s Richard Fisherstep down in 2015.
“The Dallas Fed needs to create a transparent and inclusive process for selecting” a new president, Danny Cendejas, an organizer at the Texas Organizing Project, said in a statement. “Members of the public have the right to know who is making this crucial decision and what criteria they are using.”
The group sent an open letter to Yellen, and to the Philadelphia and Dallas boards, demanding more transparency and public engagement.
Marilyn Wimp, a spokeswoman for the Philadelphia Fed, said in an e-mail the bank had received the letter. She declined to comment further. James Hoard, spokesman for the Dallas Fed, didn’t immediately respond to a message seeking comment.
Plosser and Fisher have been among Fed officials favoring raising rates sooner to prevent inflation and financial-instability pressures from building.
Source
The Dyett Hunger Strikers’ Fight For Green Technology and a Better Bronzeville
After weeks of a hunger strike by 12 residents fighting for the predominately African-American Bronzeville’s Walter...
All this in an effort to make Chicago Public School (CPS) officials heed their plea: to end the privatization of education and to make Walter Dyett High school into a Green Technology community high school.
The hunger strikers are saying what needs to be said: that Black and brown children must be valued, their families must be valued, and their schools must nourish their inherit value.
The demands of the hunger strikers are easy to understand. They don’t merely want a re-opened school, as was finally agreed to by Mayor Rahm Emanuel and CPS last week after 18 days of hunger strike. They want a Green Technology community high school with parent engagement in decision-making from the beginning. Their plan for the new school was vetted by multiple education experts at the University of Chicago. The comprehensive plan presented by the community and the hunger strikers to CPS was “excellent and should be chosen,” said Jeannie Oakes, president of American Educational Research Association, AERA.
Why Walter Dyett High School was set up for closure by the CPS to begin with is difficult to understand. The school received awards in 2008 and 2011. First, for the largest increase of students going to college out of all Chicago’s public schools, and then the ESPN “Rise Up” award for small schools making great improvements, but in need of some help. The school won a $4 million athletic facilities renovation.
So what happened? In a part of town activists say is a target for gentrification, the school was closed before students even got a chance to enjoy the new facilities. The strikers called it “racism” and “systemic disinvestment.” “Our schools weren’t failing,” they said. “They were failed.” And Walter Dyett High School was set to become yet another victim in the closing of over 50 neighborhood Chicago public schools in favor of privately owned and managed charter schools, with poor records of achievement, no accountability and inadequate oversight. But due to the sacrifice of the hunger strikers risking their health, that plan was overturned last week.
However, the Bronzeville hunger strikers know what a growing chorus of national education experts recognize: while just keeping schools open is not enough, sustainable “community schools” can help transform neighborhoods. As it is now, Bronzeville is a food and job desert, but Green Technology addresses both problems. There are already 5000 community schools in the US that through civic partnerships address the majority of challenges in a neighborhood by providing wrap-around healthcare, social and psychological services, in addition to the standard educational offerings. Community schools focus on restorative justice practices and a curriculum based in the community and evaluated by teachers, so students can learn more. Community schools are making marked gains in student outcomes both academically and socially.
Take Cincinnati. The city turned around their public schools’ statistics when they bet on the effectiveness of community schools over charter schools. The results are staggering. In 2003, before introducing the model, only 51 percent of all students graduated. In 2014, when 34 out 55 schools were community schools, 82 percent of all students were graduating. Community schools combat racial inequality, as well: in Cincinnati, the black/white achievement gap dropped 10 percent in those same 11 years. Similar results are seen in New York, Baltimore, Kentucky, Ohio, Minnesota, and other places where community schools have been prioritized.
These are the kind of schools that Bronzeville deserves.
It is under this history of political disinvestment that Bronzeville community leaders arrived to last month’s protests: community members risking their health to fight for their children’s access to something as basic as a good public school. While school officials took the right first step by moving to keep Dyett open, they must heed the deeper call of the people of Bronzeville and invest in a community school that will better the future of the children in Chicago.
Source: In These Times
Attorney general reaches agreement with companies to stop on-call scheduling
Attorney general reaches agreement with companies to stop on-call scheduling
Several major retailers across the state and in Western New York have agreed to end on-call shift scheduling. The...
Several major retailers across the state and in Western New York have agreed to end on-call shift scheduling.
The announcement came from Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, who has worked with attorneys from several states to secure the agreement. The six major retailers agreeing to stop the practice include Aeropostale, Carter’s, David’s Tea, Disney, PacSun and Zumiez.
On-call scheduling requires employees to call their employers an hour before their shift starts to find out if they will be assigned to work that day. If the workers are not scheduled, Schneiderman says they are not compensated for their time, despite being required to keep their schedule open.
“On-call shifts are not a business necessity and should be a thing of the past,” said Schneiderman in a press release. “People should not have to keep the day open, arrange for child care, and give up other opportunities without being compensated for their time.”
The agreement comes after the attorney general sent out a letter earlier this year, detailing the challenges employees face with the on-call scheduling system.
The letter read in part, “Without the security of a definite work schedule, workers who must be ‘on call’ have difficulty making reliable childcare and elder care arrangements, encounter obstacles in pursuing an education, and in general experience higher incidences of adverse health effects, overall stress, and strain on family life than workers who enjoy the stability of knowing their schedules reasonably in advance.”
The AG’s office also requested documents relating to the companies’ use of on-call shifts.
In addition to ending the use of on-call shifts, Carter’s, Disney, David’s Tea and Zumiez’s have agreed to provide their employees with their work schedule one week in advance.
The AG’s office says the companies were able to find alternative methods for staffing stores during an unexpected employee absence or during a slow time for businesses.
“This latest announcement shows the sweeping positive impact that Attorney General Schneiderman's actions have had on the lives of people working in retail,” said Carrie Gleason, director of the Fair Workweek Initiative at the Center for Popular Democracy. “Today, we are seeing retailers across America take steps to curb unnecessary and unfair on-call scheduling.”
In 2015, as a result of an inquiry by Schneiderman into on-call scheduling, stores including Abercrombie & Fitch, Gap, J.Crew, Urban Outfitters and Pier 1 Imports all agreed to end the practice of assigning on-call shifts.
Source
Jackson Hole Journal: Rate Rise Friends, Foes Encircle Fed Event
Also getting under way at the lodge is a protest conference organized by the Center for Popular Democracy, a liberal...
Also getting under way at the lodge is a protest conference organized by the Center for Popular Democracy, a liberal group that has been cajoling the Fed to hold off on raising interest rates. Their headline speaker will be Joseph Stiglitz, a Nobel Prize-winning economist and once a mentor to Fed Chair Janet Yellen, who is not attending the Fed event.
Policy makers such as Fed Vice Chairman Stanley Fischer won’t be able to avoid seeing their activists, roaming around the lodge in green t-shirts, reading “Whose recovery?” and “Let our wages grow.”
The group, which this year includes representatives from the Black Lives Matter movement, have reserved conference space directly below the room where the Kansas City Fed’s sessions take place.
Left out is the American Principles Project, a conservative organization that has heavily criticized the Fed’s monetary policy as excessively accommodative. They believe interest rates should have been lifted long ago.
The group tried to reserve space at the Jackson Lake Lodge but were refused, according to Steve Lonegan, their director of monetary affairs. So they’ll get their alternative conference started this evening in Teton Village, a more than 30-mile (48-kilometer) drive away. Scheduled speakers include Representative Scott Garrett, a New Jersey Republican who has sponsored legislation to make the Fed more accountable to Congress.
Better Access
Standing at an information table covered with gold-coin chocolates on Wednesday in Jackson Hole Airport, Lonegan complained that his group was refused space at the lodge while the other protesters enjoyed much closer access to the Fed attendees, including the media.
Kansas City Fed Spokesman Bill Medley said the bank had “no say over who else books space here.”
Elizabeth Biebl, a spokeswoman for lodge operator Vail Resorts Hospitality and Real Estate, said in an e-mail there are space limitations and the Center for Popular Democracy was accommodated at the Jackson Lake Lodge because it requested smaller numbers than American Principles Project.
“Groups interested in booking with us are not subject to the approval of other groups who already have bookings,” she wrote.
Source: Bloomberg
Grupos cívicos piden a Harvard desvincularse de la deuda de Puerto Rico
Grupos cívicos piden a Harvard desvincularse de la deuda de Puerto Rico
Los grupos que participan de la convocatoria están comandadas por el “Center for Popular Democracy”, e incluyen a...
Los grupos que participan de la convocatoria están comandadas por el “Center for Popular Democracy”, e incluyen a organizaciones de estudiantes de esas universidades, así como “Make the Road New York”, “Make the Road Pennsylvania”, “Make the Road Connecticut”, “New York Communities for Change”, and “Organize Florida.”
Lea el artículo completo aquí.
OPPOSING A MINIMUM WAGE HIKE COULD COST THE GOP THE SENATE
OPPOSING A MINIMUM WAGE HIKE COULD COST THE GOP THE SENATE
Labor Day has started the sprint to the November election. And with more than 40 percent of U.S. workers struggling on...
Labor Day has started the sprint to the November election. And with more than 40 percent of U.S. workers struggling on less than $15 an hour, our economy’s tilt toward low-paying jobs has become a top economic issue this year.
Now, as GOP leaders fret that Donald Trump may drag down Republican incumbents, turning more U.S. Senate races into toss-ups, the Republican majority’s stonewalling of any action to raise the federal minimum wage could cost the party control of Congress.
New polling shows that close to 70 percent of voters in key swing states want an increase in the federal minimum wage—and that 60 percent or more support a $15 minimum wage in six of the seven states polled.
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Even more, the polling shows that candidates’ positions on raising pay could play a pivotal role in this year’s electoral battles for control of the U.S. Senate. The results show that the incumbent Republican U.S. senators locked in close races could lose critical support—and even their seats—over opposition to raising wages for working people.
In Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and New Hampshire, Democratic challengers Katie McGinty, Russ Feingold and Governor Maggie Hassan strengthened their leads over incumbent Republican Senators Pat Toomey, Ron Johnson and Kelly Ayotte when voters were made aware of the senators’ opposition to raising the minimum wage.
And in Arizona, Missouri and North Carolina, Democratic challengers Representative Ann Kirkpatrick, Jason Kander and Deborah Ross pulled ahead of Senators John McCain, Roy Blunt and Richard Burr, flipping those contests on their heads, when voters learned of the senators’ track records opposing raises.
For example, in Arizona—where John McCain has just emerged from his toughest re-election primary ever—a 43-43 tie turns into a 44-38 lead for Kirkpatrick once voters hear about McCain’s opposition to raising pay.
The polling comes as the National Employment Law Project Action Fund, the Center for Popular Democracy Action, the Working Families Organization and other grassroots groups in seven states begin to mobilize voters.
The coalition plans to engage in canvassing, hold candidate forums and wage debate protests, among other actions, to educate and energize voters around candidates’ positions on the raising the minimum wage.
While Donald Trump, who has been all over the map on the minimum wage, has announced he now supports an increase to $10, most Republicans in Congress remain opposed.
Leading Republican pollster Frank Luntz’s firm LuntzGlobal has warned minimum wage opponents, “If you’re fighting against the minimum wage increase, you’re fighting an uphill battle, because most Americans, even most Republicans, are OK with raising the minimum wage.”
Farm workers pick vegetables on a farm in Rancho Santa Fe, California, on August 31. Paul Sonn writes that Republican U.S. senators locked in close races could lose their seats over opposition to raising wages.
While Congress has refused to act, over the past three and a half years, more than 50 states, cities and counties, as well as individual companies, have stepped forward to approve minimum wage increases, delivering raises to 17 million workers.
And 10 million of those workers are in states or cities that have approved phased-in $15 minimum wages, raising pay for more than one in three workers in California and New York and beginning to reverse decades of growing pay inequality.
Historically, raising the minimum wage enjoyed the same bipartisan backing in Congress that it does with voters. But over the past 20 years, increasing polarization in Washington and the growing role of money in politics have led many Republicans to abandon their support.
As a result, the federal minimum wage today remains frozen at just $7.25 an hour. And taxpayers are being forced to pick up the tab, as low-wage workers in the seven states just polled must rely on $150 billion per year in public assistance to make up for their inadequate paychecks.
Candidates’ positions on the minimum wage have made a difference in close U.S. senate races before. Ten years ago, in Missouri and Montana, Democrats Claire McCaskill and Jon Tester successfully used their support for a higher minimum wage to highlight the difference between them and their opponents, Republican Senators Jim Talent and Conrad Burns, who both opposed raising the wage.
McCaskill and Tester rode the issue to an Election Day victory, helping to break a logjam in Congress and delivering the first federal minimum wage increase in 10 years in 2007.
With the public demanding action to boost pay, the Republican majority and individual candidates this fall face a clear choice: stop standing in the way of a long overdue federal minimum wage increase—or risk their political future.
By Paul K. Sonn
Source
Why Rising Police Budgets Aren’t Making Cities Safer
Why Rising Police Budgets Aren’t Making Cities Safer
Minneapolis, the city where Philando Castile was killed by a police officer while being profiled and stopped in his car...
Minneapolis, the city where Philando Castile was killed by a police officer while being profiled and stopped in his car for the 49th time, spends 36 percent of its general fund budget on policing.
Read the full article here.
Faltan traductores en viviendas públicas de NYC
El Diario - March 6, 2014, by Joaquín Botero, Juan Matossian, and Gloria Medina - El reciente caso del triple asesinato...
El Diario - March 6, 2014, by Joaquín Botero, Juan Matossian, and Gloria Medina - El reciente caso del triple asesinato en Jamaica, Queens, pudo haberse evitado si la Policía hubiese traducido una denuncia que la víctima había escrito en español. El mismo ha puesto de relieve algunas de las lagunas de la legislación de la ciudad en esta materia.
A pesar de las reglamentaciones que obligan a todas las agencias públicas de Nueva York a brindar servicios gratuitos de traducción a personas con limitado o nulo conocimiento del inglés, todavía existen serias omisiones y dificultades de implementación que en algunos casos han llevado a resultados trágicos.
En 2008, el alcalde Michael Bloomberg firmó la orden ejecutiva 120, que exige a las oficinas municipales —incluida la Policía— proveer dichos servicios. En 2011, elgobernador Andrew Cuomo firmó la orden ejecutiva 26, que requiere traducir documentos públicos a varios idiomas. Estas normas cuentan con financiamiento local y federal.
"La ciudad ha hecho progresos, pero Bloomberg no se esforzó al cien por ciento. Esperamos que De Blasio presione más para la ejecución de estas leyes", dijo Andrew Friedman, codirector del Center for Popular Democracy y fundador de Make the Road, una de las organizaciones comunitarias que más ha luchado por este tema.
El alcalde Bill de Blasio empezó su mandato con el grave incidente del asesinato deDeisy García y sus dos pequeñas hijas, apuñaladas por Miguel Mejía, esposo y padre de las víctimas. La mujer había reportado amenazas de muerte y abusos físicos de su pareja, pero los oficiales del precinto 103 de registraron incorrectamente sus denuncias como "acoso" en lugar de "violencia doméstica". En consecuencia, Mejía no fue arrestado —ni siquiera se le contactó.
El abogado Roger Asman, quien representa a la madre y abuela de las víctimas, prepara una demanda contra la Policía. Asman posee dos reportes escritos en español por García, en mayo y noviembre del año pasado, en donde la desesperada mujer cuenta que sufrió jalones de pelo, empujones y amenazas de muerte contra ella y las niñas. EL DIARIO/LA PRENSA pudo leer uno de estos reportes en los que la mujer transcribe un intercambio con su excompañero que confirma lo anterior.
"No tradujeron el reporte, ni miraron los aspectos más importantes, ni le dieron la protección constitucional que le correspondía", dice Asmar.
El NYPD enfrenta además una demanda colectiva por siete casos similares.
La abogada Amy Taylor indicó que "el NYPD no tiene un sistema para asegurar que sus agentes hagan lo que deben. Y si tienen un reglamento, no lo están siguiendo".
El caso más reciente fue el de la dominicana Elena Jiménez (34), que llamó al 911, el 30 de enero, después de regresar del hospital con su hijo. Encontró que su esposo había cambiado la cerradura de la vivienda en Norwood, El Bronx. Aunque Jiménez tenía en la mano la orden de protección en contra de su esposo cuando los agentes del precinto 52 llegaron, fue a ella a la que le ordenaron sacar sus pertenencias en bolsas de basura.
"No sé qué les dijo mi esposo, pero me dieron cinco minutos para que sacara mis cosas", relató Jiménez quien llegó a la ciudad hace un año y no habla inglés.
En respuesta a estos casos, el Departamento de Policía se comprometió a corregir las falencias en el sistema, mientras que el comisionado William Bratton admitió que se había cometido un error. El NYPD cuenta con 1,200 intérpretes calificados que hablan más de 70 idiomas.
Casos en la vivienda
La Autoridad de Vivienda Pública (NYCHA) tiene la obligación de proveer personal y servicios de traducción para personas con inglés limitado. Residentes de tres grandes "projects" de El Bronx (Twin Parks West, Twin Parks East y Monterey), donde viven alrededor de mil hispanos, denuncian que dependen de la asistencia de personal que sólo habla inglés en la oficina de administración y reciben todas las notificaciones sin traducir.
La dominicana Gisela Concepción (62), una de ellas, recibió recientemente un importante aviso para actualizar su contrato de alquiler, pero no pudo acudir porque no estaba traducido y no entendía lo que le pedían.
"Necesito ayuda de mis vecinos para traducir todos los avisos que me mandan. Lo peor es que no puedo reportar cuando tengo un problema en mi apartamento porque en la oficina no me entienden", explicó.
NYCHA alega que su política es ofrecer siempre servicios lingüísticos gratis para los residentes que lo necesitan, y se asegurará de que los empleados de los "projects" mencionados se familiaricen con la misma.
“Tomamos todas las quejas de nuestros residentes muy seriamente, y nos aseguraremos de que nuestros empleados implementen nuestras directrices de acceso lingüístico adecuadamente”, declaró la agencia a través de un comunicado.
Por su parte, el concejal Ritchie Torres, que preside el Comité de Vivienda Pública, dice estar “muy preocupado” por las informaciones sobre la falta de personal para atender a inquilinos que no hablan inglés y promete tomar cartas en el asunto.
“Esto es una falta inexcusable de servicio a residentes de vivienda pública y me aseguraré de que NYCHA acometa el problema”, dijo Torres, quien ya ha ayudado a Concepción para que NYCHA le de una nueva cita.
Source
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