NEWSLETTER OF THE CENTRAL NEW YORK CITIZENS IN ACTION, INC. (ESTABLISHED IN 1997)
HEADLINES
ALLOW CITIES & COUNTIES TO SUPPLEMENT THE STATE’ MINIMUM WAGE TO BETTER MEET THE NEEDS OF MILLIONS OF LOW-WAGE WORKERS IN NEW YORK
GOING ON THE OFFENSE FOR AN AMERICA
AND A NEW YORK THAT WORKS FOR ALL OF US
STATEWIDE STRATEGIC PLANNING MEETING FOR 2014
WEDNESDAY APRIL 30TH – 11AM- 4PM
MAY DAY VIGIL FOR FAIR AND LIVING WAGES
ON THURSDAY, MAY 1
KICKOFF OF STATE-WIDE JUSTICE FOR DAIRY FARMWORKERS SPEAKERS TOUR UTICA PRESENTATION MAY 4
NEXT MOVIE IN SOLUTIONS: LOCAL RESPONSES
TO CLIMATE CHANGE SERIES
ANIMAL RIGHTS MOVIE MAY 6
ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT SEEKING EMPLOYMENT
ALLOW CITIES & COUNTIES TO SUPPLEMENT THE STATE’S
MINIMUM WAGE TO BETTER MEET THE NEEDS OF
MILLIONS OF LOW-WAGE WORKERS IN NEW YORK
New Yorkers overwhelmingly support raising wages, with good reason: the state has the highest level of income inequality in the nation, with roughly 3 million low-wage workers now calling New York home.
Cities and counties in other states across the U.S. have sought to combat wage stagnation and boost their economies by supplementing their state minimum wage with higher local minimum wages.
RaiseUpNY (S.6516 Stewart-Cousins/A.9036 Camara) aims to lift workers out of poverty by empowering localities in New York to enact higher local wages better suited to regional living costs. It amends New York’s minimum wage law to clarify that it is a floor not a ceiling, and does not prohibit localities from raising wages on their own.
Millions of New Yorkers Don’t Earn Enough to Support Their Families and Put Money Back into the Economy
Roughly 3 million workers – 37% of New York’s workforce – earn less than $15 an hour.
Thirty-six percent of adults earn less than $15 an hour; 40% women earn less than $15 an hour, and 28% of workers with at least some college education earn less than $15 an hour.
Many of the New Jobs Being Created in New York State Pay Less than $10 an hour, With Job Growth Disproportionately Concentrated in Low-Wage Industries
New job growth in New York State, like in the rest of the country, remains disproportionately concentrated in low-wage industries like retail and food services.
Median wages in many of these low-wage occupations are around or less than $10 an hour, including retail ($10.80), cashiers ($9.08), fast-food ($8.80) and waiters/waitresses ($9.19).
Wages are flat and declining, particularly for low-wage workers. Between 2002 and 2012, wages were flat or declined for the bottom 60% of the American workforce. For the typical New York worker, median wages have dropped by almost 7% for men and 1% for women in the last decade.
New York’s Minimum Wage – Even at $9 by 2016 – Isn’t Enough in High-Cost Areas to Afford the Basics
New York’s minimum wage of $9 an hour by 2016 – which translates to just $18,720 a year for a full-time worker – is not nearly enough to meet basic living costs, especially in high-cost areas of the state.
The new minimum wage will still leave a family of three below the federal poverty line – itself an inadequate measure of what it truly costs to support a family. It far below what the state’s minimum wage would be – $11.11 an hour – had it simply kept pace with inflation over the last 40 years.
New York’s new minimum wage is below what other states have recently passed or are pushing to enact. California recently raised its minimum wage to $10 by 2016 and is now pushing to raise it to $13, Governors O’Malley and Malloy in Maryland and Connecticut have called for raising their states’ minimum wage above $10, and states like Illinois, Massachusetts, Minnesota and Hawaii are pushing similar increases.
In States from California to Maryland, Cities and Counties Are Using Higher Local Minimum Wages to Fight Poverty
Many states do not restrict local wage powers in the way that New York does. Cities and counties that have enacted higher minimum wages in recent years include San Francisco ($10.74), Santa Fe ($10.51), San Jose ($10.15), Washington D.C. ($11.50 by 2017), Montgomery County, MD ($11.50 by 2017), Prince Georges County, MD ($11.50 by 2017) and SeaTac, WA ($15 for airport related jobs).
As national momentum grows for improving wages and jobs grows, more cities and counties across the country are moving to enact higher local minimum wages. These include Seattle, San Francisco Chicago, San Diego, Oakland, Portland, ME, Las Cruces, NM, among others.
Higher Local Wages Have Improved Jobs and City Economies, Without Hurting Business
The higher local minimum wage laws in cities like San Francisco, Santa Fe and Washington, D.C. have been the subject of several different studies. All have found that these laws have boosted wages without any evidence of slowed job growth or business relocations.
The best economic research over the past 20 years shows raising the minimum wage boosts pay without causing job losses – even in regions where the economy is weak or unemployment is high.
Businesses can afford to pay a higher minimum wage. Most of America’s largest low-wage employers have recovered from the recession and are in a strong financial position, with corporate profits in many cases even higher than they were pre-recession. And many small businesses already pay wages higher than the minimum wage: a scientific national poll of small business owners in 2013 found that a sweeping majority – 85 percent – paid all of their employees above the federal minimum wage.
Voters Overwhelmingly Support Raising Wages; View It as Critical for Addressing Inequality
A January 2014 poll by Pew Research Center and USA Today found that 73% of Americans support raising the federal minimum wage, including a majority (53%) of Republicans.
A December 2013 poll by the Washington Post and ABC News found that two-thirds of Americans supported raising the minimum wage, with a majority of voters responding that the government should pursue policies to address economic inequality.
A July 2013 poll by Hart Research Associates found that 80% of Americans, including 62% of Republicans, support raising the federal minimum wage to $10.10 per hour, and 74% of Americans consider raising the minimum wage to be an important legislative priority for Congress to address.
GOING ON THE OFFENSE FOR AN AMERICA
AND A NEW YORK THAT WORKS FOR ALL OF US
STATEWIDE STRATEGIC PLANNING MEETING FOR 2014
WEDNESDAY APRIL 30TH – 11AM- 4PM
1199/SEIU office – 155 Washington St, Albany NY
The Central New York Citizens in Action, Inc. is encouraging its members, supporters, and allies to join us for this important meeting. Rides are available from Utica by calling 315-725-0974.
Goals for the Meeting:
Develop a proactive agenda for the 2014 election & legislative season
Begin to develop teams, communication and loose networks in each region of the state
Messaging a “unifying narrative” that frames all of our issue work going forward
Identifying key areas of the state to focus our efforts and move our issues in Congress and the State Legislature this year
·
Identifying key areas where we need to engage candidates and voters this fall in order to advance our issues.
Specific issue areas to be discussed:
·
Safety Net: Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, Affordable Care Act, SNAP (Food Stamps)
Income Security: Min.Wage, UI., Job Creation, Making NY Work
Economic Equality: Closing corporate tax loopholes, making the wealthy “pay their fair share”
Special Guest:
Richard Kirsch Senior Fellow at the Roosevelt Institute, a Senior Adviser to USAction, Will lead a discussion-” Where we go from here” – What is the correct economic narrative and messaging to begin a proactive Fight for our Families in the 2014 Election and legislative season
Other speakers from- Americans for Tax Justice Washington DC, NYS AFL/CIO – Making NY Work, Social Security Works Campaign, Strong for All NY
MAY DAY VIGIL FOR FAIR AND LIVING WAGES ON THURSDAY, MAY 1
A coalition of local groups will be sponsoring the “Fight for Fifteen” May Day Vigil for Fair and Living Wages on Thursday, May 1 between 6:30 and 7:30 p.m. on the public sidewalk on 100 block North Genesee Street (across the street from the Hess Gas Station), Utica.
“We are holding this event to press for a higher minimum wage, improved wages for food service, child care, and hospitality workers, and living wages for all workers,” said Brendan Dunn, one of the organizers for the event. “We are joining with countless people across the country to demand a $15/hour minimum wage. This is a new movement that has gained considerable momentum in Seattle and has its roots in the recent upsurge of fast food worker organizing. May Day is internationally recognized as Labor Day and has its roots in the US. In recent years it has been revived by the immigrant rights and labor movements.”
Over three million workers in New York–37 percent of the state’s labor force–work in low-wage jobs that pay less than $15 per hour, according to a 2014 report by the National Employment Law Project and the Fiscal Policy Institute. Census data show that workers of color in New York are disproportionately concentrated in low-wage jobs, with 49 percent of Hispanic workers and 48 percent of black workers throughout the state holding jobs that pay less than $15 per hour.
Two out of three (66 percent) small business owners in New York think cities and counties should have the authority to set their own minimum wage rates above the state level, according to a new poll released by Small Business Majority. The poll signals broad levels of support among small businesses for legislation introduced this year (S. 6516/A. 9036) by State Senate Democratic Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins and Assemblyman Karim Camara that would grant localities in New York the authority to set their own minimum wage rates.
The poll, conducted by Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research, found that 77 percent of small business owners in New York support setting the minimum wage above the state’s current rate of $8 per hour, as well as indexing the minimum wage to rise each year with the cost of living. The respondents were predominately Republican–with 45 percent of small business owners identifying as Republican, 40 percent as Democrat and 15 percent as independent or other.
The event is free and open to the public. Local co-sponsors include Central New York Citizens in Action, Inc., IWW, Mohawk Valley Freedom School, Occupy Utica, and MoveOn. For more information or transportation, please contact John Furman 315-725-0974, cnycitizenaction@gmail.com/Brendan Dunn 315-240-3149, maslauskas84@gmail.com.
For event details, please refer to https://cnycitizenaction.wordpress.com or https://www.facebook.com/events/598887090224476/ . Follow events on #FightFor15 #15Now #FightFor15CNY.
KICKOFF OF STATE-WIDE JUSTICE FOR DAIRY FARMWORKERS SPEAKERS TOUR UTICA PRESENTATION MAY 4
On Sunday, May 4, an 11-day-long statewide peaking tour will stop in Utica to draw attention to the plight of immigrant dairy farmworkers and to build support for the Justice for Dairy Farmworkers campaign. A presentation entitled “Dairy Farm Workers Organizing for Justice” will be given at 7 p.m. at the Cornerstone Community Church, 500 Plant Street, Utica. The church is located on Oneida Square. The event is free and open to the public. Local co-sponsors include Central New York Citizens in Action, Inc., IWW, Mohawk Valley Freedom School, Occupy Utica, Workers Center of Central NY, Working Families Party, and MoveOn. For more information, please see http://www.workerscentercny.org.
The tour coincides with Workers’ Memorial Day (April 28th), May Day (May 1st) and Farmworker Advocacy Day (May 5th). The featured speaker on the tour is Jose Cañas, an immigrant farmworker from El Salvador who has worked on upstate dairy farms for over three years. He will be taking 11 days off of work, unpaid, to be part of the speaking tour. He will be joined by other immigrant dairy farmworkers and Rebecca Fuentes, the daughter of a farmworker from Mexico and the lead organizer of the Syracuse-based Workers’ Center of Central New York, and Carly Fox, organizer with the Worker Justice Center of New York.
The dairy industry is New York’s leading agricultural sector and New York is a leading dairy producer in the nation. In fact, in 2012, New York became the country’s number one producer of yogurt. This boom in dairy production, however, has come at a significant cost to the workers whose labor has made it all possible. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, there have been 55 fatalities on dairy farms in New York State since 2006.
As Jose Cañas explains, ”The goals [of the tour] are to denounce the social injustice that is happening to us. The oppression we feel at work is something that exists towards Latinos on all farms. The key to success is to make ourselves more powerful, the labor force, us Latinos…” Cañas has directly witnessed or suffered accidents and injuries due to employer negligence, nightly fevers due to indecent housing and depression from social isolation.
“Our goal, like Jose expresses it, is to denounce the injustices that workers are going through, but also to organize to improve the conditions,” Fuentes said. “We have already accomplished a lot, by organizing delegations of workers to meet with OSHA (Occupational Health and Safety Administration) to speak up about unsafe and unhealthy workplace conditions.” These efforts were the catalyst for OSHA’s implementation of a local emphasis program that will, for the first time, include unannounced inspections on dairy farms throughout the state.
NEXT MOVIE IN SOLUTIONS: LOCAL RESPONSES
TO CLIMATE CHANGE SERIES
Kirkland in Transition presents the movie End of Suburbia: Oil Depletion and the Collapse of the American Dream (78 min.), at the Kirkland Town Library, 55 1/2 College St., Clinton, NY, on Monday, May 5, at 6:30pm, and Wednesday, May 7, at 3:00. End of Suburbia is the third in a series of movies exploring ways of increasing local resilience and sustainability. We will have two showings, each one followed by discussion. For more information contact:kirklandintransition@gmail.com. Admission free!
“With brutal honesty and a touch of irony, The End of Suburbia explores the American Way of Life and its prospects as the planet approaches a critical era, as global demand for fossil fuels begins to outstrip supply” (IMDB). Since End of Suburbia was made in 2004, some of its predictions have come true and some have been overtaken by events, but its message is still a valuable one, and it gives a good grounding in how we got to where we are and what the situation is with regard to suburban life and its dependence on fossil fuels. See http://www.endofsuburbia.com for more information and a preview of the movie.
The movie series, Solutions: Local Responses to Climate Change, is sponsored by Kirkland in Transition, part of a movement to envision and work towards a future of interdependence and cooperation, creating a resilient local community that will grow more of its own food, generate more of its own power, build houses using local materials, and move towards sustainable transportation, economy, and ways of life. http://www.facebook.com/ClintoninTransition
For more information,contactkirklandintransition@gmail.com.
ANIMAL RIGHTS MOVIE MAY 6
WHEN: Tues. May 6 at 6:30 p.m.
WHERE: Onondaga Free Library, 4840 W. Seneca Turnpike, Syracuse (for directions, 492-1727)
WHAT: Award-winning film about surfers who take action to protect dolphins, whales and porpoises
FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC and free homemade cookies.
Sponsored by People for Animal Rights, P.O. Box 15358, Syracuse 13215-0358, 488-PURR, LDESTEFANO3@twcny.rr.com, peopleforanimalrightsofcny.org
ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT SEEKING EMPLOYMENT
Administrative Assistant seeking long term employment with a successful & friendly company. I have several years of experience with performing office duties and assisting the public in person and over the phone. I am very knowledgeable with computers and different Windows software programs. I have a very enthusiastic and friendly personality and like to work together as part of a team. Please contact Nichole Dicks at (315)894-3436 for more information. My email address is: nicholedicks@unseen.is
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CNY PROGRESSIVE ACTION is published by Central New York Citizens in Action, Inc., P.O. Box 411, Utica, NY 13503-0411/315-725-0974 cnycitizenaction@gmail.com https://cnycitizenaction.wordpress.com
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P.O. Box 411
Utica, NY 13503-0411
315-725-0974
cnycitizenaction@gmail.com
Central New York Citizens in Action, Inc. was developed from the Utica Citizens in Action, a multi-issue public interest association affiliated with Citizen Action of New York. It was founded in 1997 to address critical social, economic and environmental issues facing residents of Oneida, Herkimer, and Madison Counties. Members of our group worked to empower low and moderate income Central New York residents to participate in shaping the policies that affect their lives, such as economic justice, environment, housing, education, economic development, health care, public benefit programs, and consumer issues. Our projects include research and policy development, public education on a wide range of public policy issues, development of educational materials, community outreach and grassroots organizing, coalition development, training, and lobbying. Please join our email list by sending an email to cnycitizenaction@gmail.com with the subject heading – Join List. We also invite you to become a member of our group and attend our meetings.
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