Corporations
Poverty News Round-up
Published October 20, 2009 @ 01:25PM PT
Too many interesting tabs open in my browser to select just one story today. Here's the latest on poverty news and activism happening around the US:
- Thank you feds! For stepping in and telling Indiana that allowing private employers to use welfare data to screen potential employees is "inappropriate" and "not allowed." Ya think?
- If port cities Oakland and Long Beach, CA, have such similar demographic profiles, including lots of poverty, why is crime so much worse in Oakland? It's unclear, but fortunately there's a new police chief in town to try and reverse the city's terrifying trends.
- We've come a long way from the days of "No Irish Need Apply" - AG Andrew Cuomo in NY has charged EMC Construction with exploiting its workers, including using a three-tiered wage system for Irish ($25/hour), Black ($18/hour) and Latin@ ($15/hour) workers. Nothing encourages worker solidarity like abusive wage gaps!
- Mayor Bloomberg is creating jobs in NYC, but are they good jobs? The short answer: No.
- What the state gives, the market taketh away. Bloomberg builds or preserves 72k low-income housing units, 200k disappear due to vague and mysterious "market forces." Don't look under your beds at night, kiddies!
- And finally, let this be a lesson to other states: Indiana is pulling the plug on privatizing its welfare system, after thousands of eligible recipients lost benefits. One old measure they're bringing back in? Face-to-face interactions between recipients and case workers. Good to see we haven't quite eliminated jobs as we insist TANF recipients go find some.
(Photo of A.M. Walzer Co. US Inlay Puzzle Map by Marxchivist)
How Environmental Justice Works
Published October 15, 2009 @ 09:03AM PT
Through MIT, I've had the opportunity to provide research and writing for a range of social justice clients, including grassroots groups fighting for environmental justice and green economic development. I've written occasionally about EJ here, but I've never really taken the time to define it. Embracing this frame is imperative as stimulus funds flow and talk of "green jobs" and "green development" abound.
Today, in honor of Blog Action Day 2009, in which Change.org hosts over 8k blogs from 135 countries worldwide to blog about Climate Change to raise awareness of this pressing global problem, I want to provide some important information on environmental justice, racism and equity to inform your climate change activism. To be effective climate change activists, we cannot forget the unequal and unfair impacts borne by low-income communities, often communities of color, often in the US South, on reservations and borderlands, from environmental degradation. Read on to learn more about these critical frames and see how one group in San Diego, the Environmental Health Coalition, is succeeding in pursuing environmental equity for low-income Latin@ communities there.
Dirty Bathrooms
Published October 13, 2009 @ 02:44PM PT
I think that when people forget why it's so important to support workers' rights, they should think about what the bathrooms in their offices/schools/etc. look like on a Tuesday after a Monday holiday, and what kind of conditions we'd face if workers were on strike or constantly turning over or not showing up to do the good work we never think about on a day-in, day-out basis.
This message brought to you from MIT, at the end of the day, Tuesday, October 13, the day after the federal Columbus Day holiday.
Boston Hyatt-Worker Dispute Continues
Published October 02, 2009 @ 11:07AM PT
Last week we joined and covered the boycott initiated by MA Governor Deval Patrick against Hyatt Hotels, for what he saw as the "unceremonious" termination of housekeeping staff and their replacement with "outsourced" low-wage workers from a temporary staffing agency based in Georgia. In part through Change.org member activism, Hyatt offered the laid off workers new jobs at their higher wages with benefits into 2010. In a bold, and I think very cool, move, the majority of the workers rejected the offer, demanding their old jobs back. With the help of UNITE HERE, which has also joined the boycott, the workers are generating publicity and protesting Hyatt's actions - the case offers a great window into why it's so important to support service worker unionization.
50% of Americans Lack Sick Leave
Published September 29, 2009 @ 03:20PM PT
With a vaccine for the H1N1 virus still some time away, the lack of paid sick leave for almost half of all working Americans in the private sector is a potential public health crisis. Not only are these working adults likely to show up at work with potential infectious symptoms - or fear losing their job - they are likely to send sick kids to school for the same reason. Why is this on the Poverty blog?
Nationwide, the same trend holds: The proportions of workers without paid leave are higher in lower-wage industries, including food service, nursing care, and retail workers.
These are the folks we interact with on a regular basis - the person handing you your coffee or your morning bagel; the woman coming to care for your already infirm grandmother in her home.
I'm so sick of the argument that basic government regulation that protects public health and minimizes worker exploitation is bad for small business. I paraphrase a good corporate friend on Facebook - if you can't afford to pay your workers a living wage or benefits, you have a bad business model. And I'll add: as anti-poverty and economic justice advocates, we'd be happy to work with you to fight for a more equitable business climate for your small company.
15 states and cities are currently working on paid sick leave bills. Check them out and find out how you can support on-going campaigns.
Photo "Children with message in support of Paid Sick Days, Milwaukee - 2008" by Voces de La Frontera)
Victory: Hyatt Workers Given New Jobs
Published September 25, 2009 @ 02:23PM PT
Hyatt announced today that the 98 workers it "unceremoniously" laid off last month will be given new jobs in Boston at their previous rate of pay - the positions will be through the staffing agency that employs their replacements. This is a good but qualified victory: their current pay is guaranteed through the end of 2010, and Hyatt has extended their health benefits through March 2010. For workers who opt instead to go through a career retraining and placement program, they will receive their previous wages through March 2010 or until they secure new employment, whichever comes first.
Many thanks to those that joined the boycott against Hyatt; it was a small but important movement here at Change.org, and part of a much larger response in Massachusetts and beyond.
Join the Hyatt Boycott: Tell the Hotel Chain to Rehire Housekeeping Staff Now!
Published September 24, 2009 @ 06:30AM PT
On August 31, 3 Boston-area Hyatt properties laid off 98 housekeeping staff, many of them seasoned employees earning $15/hour, and replaced them with outsourced staff from a Georgia company that pays $8/hour and offers far fewer benefits. The hotel chain cited financial difficulties as justification for laying off these vulnerable workers, and threatened compromised customer service if they were forced to walk back this low-road economic decision. Particularly at issue is the false pretenses the housekeeping staff alleges in which they were laid off and tricked into training their own replacements, a charge the corporation denies.
MA Governor Patrick isn't buying it - and neither should you. Governor Patrick has enacted a boycott of Hyatt properties by state employees - a move more symbolic than financial in impact - but one that has already forced Hyatt to extend severance benefits and work more closely with laid-off workers on re-training and job placement assistance.
That's not enough - if we allow companies to pursue these low-road strategies, where they pursue profitability mainly through cutting worker costs through outsourcing to the latest lowest bidder - we're condoning the permanent insecurity of the lowest-wage, lowest-skilled workers, who are already hit hardest during economic downturns.
Join Governor Patrick and the National Employment Lawyers Association in this boycott - and send a letter to Hyatt President and CEO Mark S. Hoplamazian today, telling him that you don't support these low-road business measures and that you will not be patronizing Hyatt properties until these 98 housekeepers are reinstated.
(Photo of the Hyatt Regency Cambridge, one of the targeted hotels, by mathplourde)
