Policy
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)
Our Broken Child Support System
Published September 25, 2009 @ 05:05AM PT
My morning coffee discussion with a friend went from scoffing about an upcoming wedding of a friend's nephew that was going to eat up $100k to the fact that at least 50% of marriages end in divorce to the hot topic of the child support system. My take is that it's broken. Many, on both sides of the system, will agree, with differing opinions on who's to blame.
This week in rain-soaked Atlanta is a premiere of a documentary, "Support? System Down," focusing on
the fundamental flaws in America's Family Courts regarding the Divorce and Child Support System. The film explores the problems through over 38 interviews with both custodial and non-custodial parents and the attorneys, judges and county employees on both sides of the paradigm.
The system's failures can spill out in violence, as in a recent fatal shooting in a trailer court in GA allegedly over child support. Hopefully the film will generate attention on a hot, neglected, issue--one that causes poverty and homelessness, often for moms and kids, but sometimes dads too.
NYC to Get FRESH Supermarkets
Published September 24, 2009 @ 06:00AM PT
In the spirit of National Food Desert Awareness month, yesterday morning, the New York City Department of City Planning voted unanimously in favor of an initiative that will bring fresh fruits, vegetables and other all-too-rare perishable goods to some of the city's most under-served residents.
The Food Retail Expansion to Support Health (or FRESH) program will give various zoning and tax incentives to retail companies that open supermarkets in designated communities throughout the five boroughs.
For example, new stores that meet the FRESH eligibility requirements will be given sales tax exemptions, real estate tax reductions and be required to provide less parking than is mandated for other retail food operations by the city's zoning laws.
Incomes Up 14% through Opportunity NYC
Published September 22, 2009 @ 10:03AM PT
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is hosting the Organization of American States today to discuss anti-poverty initiatives in the Americas. Featured at the meeting with be the City of New York's Opportunity NYC, a program of conditional cash transfers to low-income families to reward them for specific behaviors: attending school, attending doctor's appointments, working full-time, etc. The Bloomberg Administration, which launched the initiative as one of many anti-poverty programs managed collectively through its Center for Economic Opportunity, has renewed the program for a third year.
The program is both promising and controversial for providing what many deem paternalistic incentives that isolate behavior as the reason households are poor. I agree. But let's face it: Opportunity NYC is increasing annual household incomes by as much as 14% per year. Do we really want to condemn such a result?
Target Takes Food Stamps
Published September 21, 2009 @ 06:00AM PT
So many Americans are now using food stamps that more and more chain stores have begun accepting them, rather than lose these customers to economic hardship. New or expanded recipients include Target, CVS, 7-11, Costco, BJ's and Sam's Club.
Food stamp use was up 22% this summer from 2008, with more than 35M Americans using them. Food stamps now come on a card identical to a debit or credit card, offering discretion and privacy for Americans self-conscious about relying on public assistance. For businesses, Costco finds that food stamp users spend an additional $50 or so on purchases not covered by the benefit.
There's a message in here about economic hardship becoming mainstream, becoming normal. I'm trying to generalize it to an ideal world where one is not punished for being poor, where a low-income parent can stand in line at the grocery store without a sense of shame - that she's even at the better grocery store rather than an overpriced bodega or food bank is an accomplishment. (Of course, see the original link above to understand transportation issues.)
Expanded food stamp acceptance at more stores is one of these situational responses that becomes permanent. From the sound of it, businesses have to invest in some degree of technological or process change to accept these cards. These are likely not upgrades that will be rolled back once the recession really lifts. As anti-poverty activists, we should be thinking about emergency services and about long-term changes we can push through during moments of crisis. Yes, we've got to expand eligibility for food stamps so all the many million more bellies don't go hungry, but if there was ever a moment to update the poverty measure to reflect the costs of housing, health care or decline in wages - It's Now.
Truthout Unionizes Virtually
Published September 19, 2009 @ 10:28AM PT
With little fanfare, at the end of August Truthout became the first online-only news organization to unionize, with employees joining the Newspaper Guild/Communication Workers of America. Organizers worked 80 hours/week for months to organize workers after card check signaled employees were interested in joining a union. Skype and Google Docs were essential tools in organizing the virtual company. "'We've certainly represented wire services for years that were far-flung, but we've never done any organizing where the group never saw each other or the organizers face to face,' [NG/CWA President Bernie] Lunzer said."
This is a really exciting development for today's workers and unions, as one of the major arguments against unionization now is that it's an outmoded form of workers' rights in an era of telecommuting, globalized companies, a service-based economy, and more flexible work arrangements. The desire for and success of unionization at Truthout reveals the flaws in these arguments - workers at on-line organizations, or workers in more flexible jobs, need the power to control their work hours, work-life balance and ability to negotiate with management just as much as workers centrally gathered on a shop floor or in a corporate office. In some cases, more so, as virtual work arrangements erase the solidarity possible in water-cooler chats or on company softball teams.
Organizers at Truthout credit their "progressive" Board of Directors for committing to card check as the single step needed for unionization. Congrats to the workers at Truthout, for their hard work and success, and for modeling for workers in the 21st century economy that unionization can work.
For those of you interested in learning more about the Employee Free Choice Act, the story is worth reading, as it breaks down very clearly the political struggle in Congress over card check.
(Photo of today's organizing tools by Peter Kaminski)
Too Poor for Pets
Published September 18, 2009 @ 05:08AM PT
Those of us in the trenches with people in poverty continually think of ways to get our nation's leaders and lawmakers to pay attention. We don't want to think they just don't care; they're just, um, busy. How can we get their attention? If only poverty was...cuter? Let me throw out a few provocative poverty bones to chew on:
- Pets. Millions of pet owners in America can't afford to care for their furry friends. Yeah, feeding them and the basic veterinary activities is expensive, but what gets way out of whack is when Fido or Fluffy gets sick. One of my dog-friends, Elijah, is having some serious budget-busting health issues. At the moment, his owner can come up with payments, but not for long term. Tough spot to be in. I dunno, maybe we can use pet health care as a campaign, and then segue into human health care.
- Pet Health Insurance-you gotta know the insurance agencies are all over this cash cow. September is National Pet Health Insurance month.
- Numbers tell the story--the number of Change.org Animal Rights members is 3X the PIA members. My solution--give the homeless and poor people pets! Better yet, get more PIA members.
In all seriousness, homelessness, my issue of choice, needs to be seen as a poverty crisis, not just a "bum under the bridge" problem. It's a national concern, not just urban in nature, that affects more kids/families than single adults. And readers with a strong memory can quote me on this a year from now... I'm betting my lunch money that those on the edge of poverty, or those mired in it, will be in worse shape before (if) things get better. Kudos to NYT's Erik Eckholm and Arianna Huffington for their recent efforts to call attention to homeless kids!
Politics and poverty go hand-in-hand. Sadly, those in politics tend to know very little about the hurt of poverty (and less about homelessness). Policymakers are probably happy that few pay much attention to this growing issue. Watch out for the HEAR US Learning Curve Express!!
photos by the author
