mnemonic here:  http://urlet.com/tougher.wanting

via NY Daily News:

She asked for paper – but all they offered was plastic.

A Pennsylvania woman is now suing the McDonald’s franchise that refused to pay her by check and instead insisted on employees using payroll debit cards.

“I’m looking for the pay I am owed and for them to understand there has to be an option,” Natalie Gunshannon, 27, told the Citizen’s Voice newspaper.

Gunshannon worked less than a month at the Shavertown McDonald’s location  when she learned that the franchise required employees to accept payment on a  J.P. Morgan Chase payroll card. But the card, she contends, imposes fees on  virtually every transaction, creating a monetary and physical barrier to her  hard-earned cash. Among the costs, according to her lawsuit: $1.50 for an ATM  withdrawal, $5 for over-the-counter cash withdrawals and $1 to check the  balance. There’s even a charge to pay a bill online or if the card is lost or  stolen.

Gunshannon is one of several plaintiffs in the class action, filed last  week, against Albert and Carol Mueller, the owners of 15 McDonald’s stores in  Pennsylvania.

Such a payment option has been embraced by large corporations like Wal-Mart  Stores Inc., Lowe’s Cos. Inc., The Home Depot and FedEx Corp.

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/mcdonald-owners-sued-wage-debit-card-article-1.1375287#ixzz2WX6EtcfE

mnemonic here:  http://urlet.com/orphan.creating

The Fair Wage Folks invite you to the Big Box Bash this Saturday, June 15!   12noon- 3:00pm

4th and Q near Big Louis Pizza.

The Big Box Bash will be a fun, family-friendly event alternative to Walmart’s ‘year-since-invasion’ (anniversary) sale.*   The Big Box Bash will be outdoors, set up with tables and feature live music, good munchies, kids’ games, and a large paper mache BIG BOX  “effigy” [Walmart, K-Mart, Target]  for young and old alike to swing at like a pinata!  See how hollow their promise of low prices is.

We will also be distributing promotional materials from local merchants, attempting to direct shoppers (the U.S. word for “people”) away from Walmart and back to smaller, local businesses.

The plan is to do the Big Box Bash on the 101/Broadway.  The lot we were planning became unavailable, so  we are still figuring out the site.  We will put the location on our blog, fairwages.org  and you will see us if you drive on the 101 through Eureka.  You will see the Big Box “effigy”.

The plan is for the event to go from noon to 3pm, this Saturday,  7/15.  Little people will get first swings at the Big Box effigy!!

See you at the Big Box Bash!  We will put the location on our blog, fairwages.org
Or call (707) 761-5247 to find us on the 101!

*A YEAR AGO THIS WEEKEND… the largest “Big Box Retail” parasite (Wal-Mart) wrapped its vampire squid tentacles into our community. Sucking the life out of local business and enslaving people in far off lands to make cheap products, they blight our community with GMO Foods, Empty Store Fronts and Poverty Level Wages.

Fight for $15 and a Union Spreads to Milwaukee as Fast Food Workers Strike in 5th Major U.S. City

Read more: http://www.thenation.com/blog/174551/walmart-workers-launch-first-ever-prolonged-strikes-today
–

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

“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

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:

http://www.scribd.com/doc/115415149/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

Recently hundreds of fast food workers participated in a wildcat strike in New York City to demand $15/dollars per hour. Now it looks like workers in Chicago are going for it as well. We need to Fight for Fifteen in Oakland!

Rampant gentrification and exploitation abounds in Oakland, with stores run by massively profitable corporations thriving off the labor of workers barely making minimum wage or more, but we know we can’t survive in this town on $8/hr. Bring this class tension to the forefront by fighting for a livable wage!

The May Day Fight for Fifteen assembly is planning for and publicizing a noise demo through downtown Oakland on May 1st aka May Day, the traditional holiday to commemorate workers’ struggles.

http://occupyoakland.org/ai1ec_event/on-may-day-fight-for-15/?instance_id=253364

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

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

To be delivered to: The United States House of Representatives and The United States Senate   Petition Statement

We, the undersigned, urge the leaders of the House and Senate to allow an up-or-down vote on the Fair Minimum Wage Act of 2013, which would raise the minimum wage to $10.10 an hour and then index it to inflation.   Petition Background

4.4 million Americans currently earn the federal minimum wage of $7.25, or less. 284,000 of them are college graduates. Worse, the minimum wage has not kept up with the cost of living. After adjusting for inflation, the minimum wage is lower than it was in 1956.   Raising the minimum wage would not only help the working poor, but also the economy as a whole. According to the Economic Policy Institute, raising the minimum wage to $10.10 would grow the economy by increasing consumer spending, resulting in approximately 140,000 net new jobs over three years.

There are currently 18,575 signatures

http://signon.org/sign/raise-the-minimum-wage-18

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/