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| Supported by Southeast Michigan Jobs with Justice/Unity Campaign. More details to come. |
Backers of $15 minimum wage eye more states
NEW YORK - California and New York — where almost 1 in 5 Americans live — are on their way to raising their minimum wage to $15 an hour, and the activists who spearheaded those efforts are now setting their sights on other similarly liberal, Democratic-led states.
Illinois, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey, Oregon, Rhode Island and Washington are among the states with active “Fight for $15” efforts, and even economic experts who oppose the increased rate see it gaining momentum.
“There is lots of pressure to do this,” said Douglas Holtz-Eakin, a former Congressional Budget Office director who is now president of the conservative American Action Forum, which says big minimum-wage increases cost jobs.
The idea faces headwinds in more conservative and rural states in the South and the Midwest. But activists believe the movement is picking up steam, even if their two big victories so far were achieved in two highly receptive places: trend-setting, liberal, labor-friendly states with a high cost of living and yawning gaps between rich and poor, especially in New York City and Silicon Valley.
“In the beginning, it looked impossible,” said Alvin Major, a fast-food worker and leader of the Fight for $15 campaign. But now, “what happened in New York, in California, it’s going to spread around the country.”
Since the $15-an-hour movement planted roots with a 2012 New York City fast food workers strike, it has gained ground amid the broader debate over income inequality. Cities such as Seattle, Los Angeles and San Francisco have recently agreed to go to $15 in the coming years, and Oregon’s minimum wage is headed to $14.75 in Portland.
Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders has been pushing for a $15-an-hour standard nationally, while President Barack Obama has called more generally for raising the minimum wage. The federal minimum is currently $7.25; 29 states and Washington, D.C., have set theirs higher.
Sanders’ primary opponent and a former New York senator, Hillary Clinton, has supported raising the federal minimum wage to $12. Her campaign website says she also believes “we should go further than the federal minimum through state and local efforts, and by workers organizing and bargaining for higher wages, such as the Fight for 15...”
New York and California are now on track to have the highest. California Gov. Jerry Brown, a Democrat, is set Monday to sign a measure boosting the current $10 rate to $15 by 2022.
In New York, Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo and legislative leaders have agreed on a more complex plan. The $9 minimum would gradually rise to $15 in New York City by the end of 2018 and then in some prosperous suburbs by the end of 2021, but only to $12.50 in 2020 in the rest of the state, with further increases to $15 tied to inflation and other economic indicators. The measure headed to Cuomo’s desk after passing the Legislature on Friday.
New York’s graduated approach stemmed from negotiations with Republicans who worried such a sharp increase would devastate businesses, particularly in the more fragile economy outside the New York metropolitan area.
Similar dynamics may play out in other parts of the country. While $15 may seem reasonable in high-paying areas, “it’s a much harder lift in low-wage areas,” said Jared Bernstein, senior fellow at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities and former adviser to Vice President Joe Biden.
Also, California and New York have politically influential unions, strong community organizing activity and Democratic politicians eager to translate the movement into legislation.
“That’s not going to happen in some states, particularly in the South and maybe some of the Midwest,” said Peter Dreier, a politics professor at Occidental College.
Idaho lawmakers, for example, recently passed a measure barring local governments from raising the statewide minimum of $7.25, and Republicans in Arizona are trying to do the same.
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A North Carolina child-care worker who can't afford to care for her own children.
http://childcare.fightfor15.org/watch_tolanda/?utm_campaign=LowPay&utm_medium=email&utm_source=10-22-email
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"My kids are the reason why." One mother speaks out.
http://FightFor15.org/watch-my-kids-are-the-reason-why
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D-15, the Detroit organizing committee for "$15 and a Union," wants to know if you will BE THERE with them on Nov. 10 to support the National $15 Strike Day on behalf of the 42% of Americans who make less than $15 an hour. Please let them know. Thank you.
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1WE3dpTgfzZxPwlv_xYZZd8te7niUvuf_l36hSZOGSAA/viewform
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"Fight for $15" goes to the White House
https://Facebook.com/Fightfor15/videos/1039494706081246
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You can help win the fight for jobs in Detroit. Fill out the JWJ Jobs Committee Sign-Up Sheet. We'll follow-up with you.
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Here's another action you can take to help win “$15 an hour for All Workers.” A message from Scott Holiday, D-15 (Detroit for $15) organizer:
"Besides helping to get people out to the “Fight for $15” Strike Support Rally at 4 p.m. Nov. 10 outside the Coleman A.Young Building (City Hall) in Detroit, I have another ask of Southeast Michigan Jobs with Justice and your Facebook, Web page and email followers.
“D-15 is working on putting together a social media blast that same day.
"Sometime between 7 a.m. and 3 p.m. on Nov. 10, we are asking all supporters to take photos of themselves with 5 to 10 friends (and maybe a public official or two) in front of their city or town hall in the Metro Detroit area and outstate Michigan in support of $15 for all workers.
“If you are willing to organize such a photo shoot, please let me know at scott@detroit15.org. That way, D-15 will know which locations are covered and if some other group is also planning to do a shoot at the same location. We will help both groups to combine their efforts.
“We can probably also provide you with “Fight for $15” and “Jobs with Justice” signs. I also urge you to consider bringing homemade signs with your group's personal message regarding the “Fight for $15 For All Workers.”
“Once you take your City or Town Hall photo, please email it immediately to me at scott@detroit15.org.
“The photos will then be sent out that day through multiple social media outlets in order to show the mass media and politicians how much support exists for “$15 for All Workers” in our state. They will also show how widespread that support is, beyond the two thousand or so demonstrators in Downtown Detroit.
“This social media action will help D-15 launch our statewide campaign to to win a Michigan minimum wage of $15 an hour.
“Fast food workers in Detroit, as well as across the country, have been leading leading the way, so far. However to be totally successful, this movement needs to be able reach the 40% of workers who make less than $15 an hour, doing all different kinds of work and in all parts of Michigan.
“Thank you.”
Toward Full and Fair Employment &
A New Economy that Works for Everyone
The fight for Jobs with Justice
The crisis and its causes
Wall Street recklessness and corporate greed have created the deepest economic crisis in a generation. They are concentrating wealth and power upwards while driving people from their jobs and homes, undermining public services, slashing pensions and despoiling the planet. It?s a mad dash ?race to the bottom? ? in the US and around the globe.The economic meltdown ? and Wall Street bailout ? grew directly from:
- A 40-year campaign to squeeze working people and their communities through union-busting, globalization, privatization, outsourcing, tax-cutting, etc.
- Turning the banking system into an unregulated ?casino?
- The inevitable bursting of the speculation/deregulation driven housing bubble
Long-term joblessness is at record levels.
If job growth for the next 10 years equals the past 10 years, unemployment will top 13% by 2020.
There is no such thing as a ?Jobless Recovery?!
Take the pledge to fight for Jobs www.jwj.org/pledge
The Vision: Full and Fair Employment and a New Economy...
...with a major federal government investment in creating good jobs and retooling the economy, funded largely by a tax on Wall Street speculation, hedge fund operators and extremely high incomes:- Create millions of good jobs with federal jobs programs (like New Deal), further reduce unemployment through fair trade, industrial policy, job sharing and paid leave
- Fair Employment: Protect worker rights, and extend them to all workers
- Stop Corporate Greed: Break up and rein in Wall Street, invest in community-controlled financing, reform corporate governance and bankruptcy
- Stop foreclosures and fund decent affordable housing
- Protect retirement security and pensions, increase social security benefits
- fix our trade and immigration laws
- Make Wall Street Pay: a speculation tax would generate $200-500 Billion
The grassroots mobilization
Congress has yet to take the crisis seriously. We seek to build the movement that can- Articulate a bold vision for Full and Fair Employment and a New Economy
- Challenge the right-wing, redirect grassroots anger and create the political climate that makes real progressive change possible
- Mobilize around many specific fights and immediate legislation to win concrete benefits for workers and communities
- Bring organized, powerful voices of the unemployed into the debate
- Carry out national mobilizations and national days of bold action
Some immediate legislative opportunities:
- Extend benefits for the jobless (HR4213)
- Local Jobs for America Act (HR4812, S.3500): save/create 1 million jobs
- Financial Reform bill (in House-Senate conference committee)
- Tax Wall Street speculators (Defazio HR4191, Conyers HR5204)
Tentative action plan:
- August: Worker Rights Board hearings, Town hall meetings, jobless summits, etc. Pressure key legislators.
- September: National Day of Action for jobs and public services ? Sept 15. Pressure key legislators.
- October: Oct. 2 march on Washington. Voter education.
Click here for printable pdf on Full & Fair Employment Facts.
