Enterprise Zone Scam Revealed – Yes Eureka is Infected

 

shortlink here: 
http://wp.me/p38Pt0-c6

mnemonic here:
http://urlet.com/anyone.territory

Enterprise Zones: Killing the California Dream

By Gary Cohn

“John Thomas and Hans Burkhardt have a lot in common. For more than 17 years each man had a good paying union job, with health and pension benefits, near San Francisco Bay. Thomas worked as a warehouseman for VWR International, a medical supply company with a warehouse in Brisbane, south of Candlestick Park. Burkhardt also worked as a warehouseman, for BlueLinx, a building products company with a facility across the bay in Newark.

The similarities don’t end there. Both Thomas and Burkhardt are now collecting unemployment, having lost their $22-an-hour jobs after their employers moved to take advantage of California’s enterprise zone plan, a controversial state program that is supposed to create jobs.

The enterprise program, established in 1984, provides $700 million in tax breaks for companies that set up business or move to one of 40 zones within the state. It is operated by the state but administered by local governments. The program gives companies tax credits of up to $37,440 per person hired in one of the zones, which are intended to create jobs and spark investment in economically-distressed areas. Yet interviews and public documents reviewed by Frying Pan News reveal that some of these zones are located in relatively well-off areas, including San Francisco’s Financial District and the city’s hipster-packed SoMa neighborhood, which is home to many software and technology firms. In Southern California, enterprise zone areas encompass parts of Hollywood and the corporate center of downtown Los Angeles.

Overall, 61 percent of enterprise zone tax credits were claimed by corporations with more than $1 billion in assets. People familiar with the program say that recipients include huge retailers such as Walmart. The total amount of enterprise tax credits received by Walmart is one of those facts cloaked in the program’s tax secrecy.”

the rest of the article:

http://www.calitics.com/diary/15051/enterprise-zones-killing-the-california-dream

SeaTac’s $15 an Hour Wage Initiative Achieves Sig Threshold Quickly

shortlink here: 
http://wp.me/p2w2NH-n3
 mnemonic here: 
http://urlet.com/sincere.brainier

“Less than two weeks after filing a City of SeaTac initiative that would assure better wages and working conditions for thousands of low-wage SeaTac Airport workers, backers have announced that they have already surpassed the signature threshold.”

The initiative if passed will raise the minimum wage for these 5,000 workers to $15 an hour along with other reforms.

http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/21/backers-pass-signature-threshold-on-seatac-measure-to-require-living-wages-for-airport-workers

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https://www.facebook.com/itsourairport

http://itsourairport.org/

About

There are thousands of poverty-wage workers at our airport. Let’s make every airport job a good job.

Mission

Let’s make every job at Sea-Tac a good job.

Description

These baggage handlers, fuelers, passenger service workers, ground transportation workers, taxicab drivers, and cargo workers do work critical to the successful operations of Alaska and other airlines at our airport. However, they do not actually work for these large corporations.
Instead their jobs are contracted out to the lowest bidder. Most of these airline contractors pay poverty wages.
Workers across the airport report that benefits, if offered at all, are usually unaffordable for workers bringing home at or near the minimum wage for the long and onerous hours worked. And most of these workers are immigrants that have come from Africa, Asia, and Latin America to pursue a better life in Seattle. Their work is vital to keeping Sea-Tac running and providing good service for the more than 32 million passengers that pass through our airport. They work hard – sometimes holding down two or three jobs.
They deserve to be treated with respect, dignity and to a make a living wage.

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http://www.seatacblog.com/2013/05/13/seatac-committee-seeks-higher-minimum-wage-employment-standards/

SeaTac Committee seeks higher minimum wage, employment standards

 by Jack Mayne

“For the past several days, a proposal by an outside group to raise some minimum salaries almost $6 an hour above the state minimum and impose mandatory paid sick leave for transportation and hospitality workers in have caused some concerns in the city.“

“The proposed ordinance would raise minimum wages from the state’s current $9.19 per hour to $15 an hour for all workers defined to be in the hospitality and transportation businesses inside SeaTac.”

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PDF of the Initiative:

http://www.ci.seatac.wa.us/Modules/ShowDocument.aspx?documentid=7321

Chicago Fast Food, Retail Workers Go On Strike, “Fight for $15″

shortlink here:
http://wp.me/p2w2NH-mQ
 mnemonic here:
http://urlet.com/anyway.too

Chicago Fast Food, Retail Workers Go On Strike For Higher Wages

Photo credit: Ryan L. Williams
Hundreds of retail and fast food workers went on a coordinated strike this morning to call for a living wage of $15 an hour and the right to unionize without interference.

http://chicagoist.com/2013/04/24/chicago_fast_food_retail_workers_go.php

Workers Organizing Committee of Chicago issues new report:  A Case for $15:

Workers Organizing Committee of Chicago / Fight for 15 – Lucha por 15 WOCC:
https://www.facebook.com/Fightfor15

Fast Food Forward (NYC): 
https://www.facebook.com/FastFoodForward

#strikefor15, #fightfor15, #fastfoodforward

Does A Higher Minumum Wage Lead to Restaurant Job Losses – NO!

http://wp.me/p2w2NH-mx
 
http://urlet.com/engaged.midnight

via Politifact Oregon, go to link below for the entire article!

Has Oregon’s higher minimum wage hurt our restaurant industry?

Melvin “Mel” Sickler, a representative of the National Restaurant Association, recently told a U.S. Senate committee to put the brakes on a bill that would increase the federal minimum wage and tie it to inflation. Why? Boosting the hourly minimum wage from $7.25 to $10.10 would reduce the number of jobs in the food service industry, Sickler said. The claim: In his testimony, Sickler trotted Oregon out as an example of a state with a high minimum wage (it’s $8.95) tied to inflation, saying that’s happened here. Here’s what he said: “Given the experience in states that have raised their minimum wages above the federal rate, we know the impact The Fair Minimum Wage Act of 2013 would have, if enacted, on the availability of jobs in my industry. “For example, Oregon’s state minimum wage is now $8.95, more than a dollar less than what is being proposed in The Fair Minimum Wage

Act of 2013. After peaking at 16.4 employees per establishment in 1996, the average number of workers in Oregon’s restaurants declined steadily.” Wow, right?

See, lots of things happened between 1997 and 2011. Brewpubs began sprouting up like mushrooms across the state. Food carts blossomed in downtown Portland, then throughout the metro area. Foodie culture hit, increasing the interest in small locally owned restaurants over big national chains. There also were a couple recessions. We weren’t sure of the effects of all those things, so we looked at the underlying data. There we found that the yearly number of food service establishments in Oregon grew each year from 1997 through 2011. Employment grew every year except 2010, when it took a tiny dip. The “employees per establishment” number quoted by the restaurant association, seems to have changed over time, but not because of amassive drop in employment or restaurants. If you control for population growth, you get a clearer indication of the impact of recessions and the business cycle on the industry.

That’s just what Lehner did. His conclusion was that Oregon’s a pretty good place to nosh. From 2001 to 2011, Oregon consistently had more establishments per 1,000 people than the U.S. average, and it had more people working in the food service industry per 1,000 people than the national average. During the entire time, Oregon’s minimum wage was higher than the national average and steadily crept up, matching inflation.

http://www.politifact.com/oregon/statements/2013/apr/13/melvin-sickler/has-oregons-higher-minimum-wage-hurt-our-restauran/

David Cay Johnston Exposes Shocking Income Inequality Facts

David Cay Johnston shows the disparity between the gains in incomes of the average taxpayers and those in the top 10 percent.

David Cay Johnston received the Pulitzer Prize for his coverage of tax policy while at The New York Times. He now teaches at Syracuse University College of Law and is the author of three books about taxes — Free Lunch, Perfectly Legal, and The Fine Print.

In 2011 entry into the top 10 percent, where all the gains took place, required an adjusted gross income of at least $110,651. The top 1 percent started at $366,623.

The top 1 percent enjoyed 81 percent of all the increased income since 2009. Just over half of the gains went to the top one-tenth of 1 percent, and 39 percent of the gains went to the top 1 percent of the top 1 percent.

Ponder that last fact for a moment — the top 1 percent of the top 1 percent, those making at least $7.97 million in 2011, enjoyed 39 percent of all the income gains in America. In a nation of 158.4 million households, just 15,837 of them received 39 cents out of every dollar of increased income.

That extreme concentration, however, is far from the most jaw-dropping figure that can be distilled from the new Saez-Piketty analysis. That requires a long-term comparison of those at or near the top with the bottom 90 percent.

In 2011 the average AGI of the vast majority fell to $30,437 per taxpayer, its lowest level since 1966 when measured in 2011 dollars. The vast majority averaged a mere $59 more in 2011 than in 1966. For the top 10 percent, by the same measures, average income rose by $116,071 to $254,864, an increase of 84 percent over 1966.

the entire article may be explored at

http://www.taxanalysts.com/www/features.nsf/Articles/C52956572546624F85257B1D004DE3FC?OpenDocument

Senator Elizabeth Warren’s Q&A on the Minimum Wage at the March 14, 2013 Senate HELP Committee

Published on Mar 15, 2013

Senator Elizabeth Warren’s Q&A at the March 14, 2013 Senate HELP Committee hearing titled “Keeping up with a Changing Economy: Indexing the Minimum Wage.” Witnesses include Brad Avakian , Commissioner, Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries, Portland, OR; Dr. Arindrajit Dube , Department of Economics, University of Massachusetts Amherst, Amherst, MA; Lew Prince , Managing Partner, Vintage Vinyl, St. Louis, MO; Carolle Fleurio , Restaurant Worker, Jonesboro, GA; Melvin Sickler , Franchisee, Auntie Anne’s Pretzels and Cinnabon, Williamstown, NJ; David Rutigliano , Owner, Southport Brewing Company, Trumbull, CT

Big Box Living Wage Ordinance Advances in D.C.

shortlink here: 
http://wp.me/p2w2NH-kE

‘Large retailer’ living-wage bill is moving forward in D. C.

Posted by Mike DeBonis on March 13, 2013 at 1:02 pm

Washington Post

“Big box” stores like a Lowe’s planned for Northeast are targeted by Council Chairman PhilMendelson’s bill

A D.C. Council bill that would require the city’s largest retailers — including Wal-Mart, Costco, Home Depot and others — to pay higher wages is showing signs of life.  The “Large Retailer Accountability Act,” introduced by Chairman Phil Mendelson (D) in January,  will get a hearing next Wednesday before the council’s Business, Consumer and Regulatory Affairs committee.

The bill would require “large retailers” — defined as businesses operating an indoor store of at  least 75,000 square feet and whose corporate parent has sales of at least $1 billion — to pay  wages no lower than $11.75 per hour plus, benefits. That “living wage” would be indexed to the  local consumer price index every year.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/mike-debonis/wp/2013/03/13/large-retailer-living-wage-bill-is-moving-forward/

WalMart organizes opposition to big box ordinance:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/mike-debonis/wp/2013/03/14/wal-mart-is-among-dont-block-d-c-progress-backers/

IHSS Workers, CUHW & Supporters to Speak @ Tuesday’s Supes Meeting

via Shane Brinton [ shaneb@cuhw.org ] :

Hi all. This is a friendly reminder that members and supporters of the California United Homecare Workers union will be attending the Board of Supervisors meeting tomorrow (Tuesday) to speak in support of a wage increase for IHSS workers.

We will be gathering at 1:20 pm in the Supervisors’ chambers, 825 Fifth Street, Eureka. This is an important meeting because we have bargaining coming up later in the week. Please make sure the Supervisors know where this community’s priorities are. We’ll see you there!

Thank You,

Shane Brinton

Humboldt Community Outreach Liaison / Consultant California United Homecare Workers AFSCME/SEIU Local 4034 314 L Street, Eureka, CA 95501 Cell: (707) 382-7270

http://www.cuhw.org

 

http://humboldtactivist.wordpress.com/2013/03/04/ihss-workers-cuhw-supporters-to-speak-tuesdays-supes-meeting/

The Australia – Santa Fe Handout

This has been our most effective handout/flier.   We printed it on 8 x 11 half sheet, double sided to save  paper.

Click here for the pdf:

aussiesantafe_willBHalfSheets

WALMART PRESSING FELONY CHARGES AGAINST EMPLOYEE WHO ATE OREO COOKIES

Walmart is moving forward with felony charges against an employee of an Indiana store who admitted to eating “multiple” Oreo cookies because she said that she couldn’t afford to pay for them with her salary.

A Portage Police Department report obtained by The Smoking Gun on Thursday said that Penny Winters had been arrested after a Walmart investigation determined she was guilty of theft.

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/02/21/walmart-pressing-felony-charges-against-employee-who-ate-multiple-oreo-cookies/

more from the google
http://urlet.com/consistently.beverages

below is from a comment at the rawstory link

“If she makes $11.40 per hour and works the typical Walmart 30-32 hrs per week, she is about $100 over the monthly limit to receive food stamps in Indiana. 30 hrs is  just under qualifying as “full time.” If full time (35 hrs), Walmart would have to pay health care and other benefits.

The saddest part is, if she is convicted of the class D felony, she’ll have to disclose it at interviews, pretty much assuring she’ll never work again. Let’s hope it gets reduced to a misdemeanor or dropped altogether.”