Walmart Workers Launch Strike Action in Three Cities

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http://urlet.com/instituting.sounds

Walmart  Workers Launch First-Ever ‘Prolonged Strikes’ Today

Josh Eidelson on  May 28, 2013 – 10:57 AM

Walmart employees are on strike in Miami, Massachusetts and the California  Bay Area this morning, kicking off what organizers promise will be the first  “prolonged strikes” in the retail giant’s history. The union-backed labor group  OUR Walmart says that at least a hundred workers have pledged to join the  strikes, and that some workers walking off the job today will stay out at least  through June 7, when Walmart holds its annual shareholder meeting near  Bentonville, Arkansas.

Organizers expect retail employees in more cities to join the work stoppage,  which  follows the country’s first-ever coordinated Walmart store strikes last  October, and a high-profile Black Friday walkout November  23. Like Black Friday’s, today’s strike is being framed by the union-backed  labor group OUR Walmart as a response to retaliation against  worker-activists.

Update (5:30 PM EST Tuesday): Dozens of Southern  California Walmart retail employees plan to join this week’s strike starting  Thursday. According to organizers, the employees will rally on Thursday morning  in Pico Rivera with supporters including US Congresswoman Judy Chu (D-CA), and  warehouse workers employed in Walmart-contracted buildings in the region. The  retail workers will take part in the “Ride for Respect,” traveling from  California to Arizona and New Mexico before arriving in Arkansas. Their caravan  will also include two fired warehouse employees, David Garcia and Javier  Rodriguez, who allege that their activism cost them their jobs.

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

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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

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

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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

KIEM ch3 nbc Eureka Interviews Eureka Fair Wage Act Proponent James Decker

KIEM asks Eureka Fair Wage Act proponent James Decker some pertinent questions about raising the minimum wage to $12 in Eureka – and gets some straight answers.

http://kiem-tv.com/node/5028

While you are there take the poll!

http://kiem-tv.com/node/5024

The Laboratory of Life

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  mnemonic here: 
http://urlet.com/simplicity.buying

It is said that we don’t need a minimum wage, that a minimum wage causes unemployment, that if the minimum wage were lower – or completely eliminated – then employers could afford to hire more workers.  It is said often that this is “supply and demand” and an ironclad “law of economics.”  It is of course an argument designed to appeal to the simpler minded half of the gene pool.

Yet two facts confront us.  

One, the real purchasing power in constant dollar terms of the minimum wage has declined for 45 years, so there has been a de facto “lowering” of the minimum wage, and Two, we currently have a very persistent and high level of unemployment.  

The laboratory of life has proved this favorite Chamber of Commerce meme to be a fabrication that is nowhere near real life economics.

We conclude that the theory that lowering the minimum wage increases employment is FALSE.

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

urlet: 
http://urlet.com/simplicity.buying

Calitics: LA Times Has It Wrong on City Minimum Wage Campaigns

via Calitics

On Sunday the Los Angeles Times published a story about the important successes of campaigns to pass local minimum wage and living wage laws. However, while highlighting new developments that will impact local economies and the lives of workers, the Times missed the real story and forces behind this growing trend.

In fact, both measures were conceived and carried to victory by broad coalitions of people and organizations interested in improving their cities – together with key labor partners who see their role as improving the lot of all workers’ lives.

read the rest of the article:

http://www.calitics.com/diary/14905/la-times-misses-the-story-behind-living-wage-campaigns

Eureka Fair Wage Act Meetings EVERY WEDNESDAY NIGHT

Eureka Fair Wage Act Meetings EVERY WEDNESDAY NIGHT

People welcome to the meetings even if you live outside of Eureka.

The Fair Wage folks urge you to get involved in passing the Eureka Fair Wage Act, also known as the Minimum Wage Ordinance.  If passed through a popular vote, the Act would require large employers with 25 or more workers in Eureka to pay a $12 dollar minimum wage.  A higher minimum wage, with a small business exception, will improve lives, make Walmart reconsider its presence in Eureka, boost the local economy, bring employment up, and allow individuals who work full time to rise just above the federal poverty level.

Meetings for the Eureka Fair Wage Act are now every Wednesday at 6:15pm at the Eureka Labor Temple, 840 E Street.  More information can be found and questions answered by visiting the Eureka Fair Wage Act website, fairwages.org, or by calling 707-442-7465.  If you are interested in helping the campaign in any way, wherever you live, please get in contact.

NCJ: Eureka Fair Wage Initiative “Easily” Qualifies for Ballot – Will Be Before City Council Mar. 19

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The Eureka Fair Wage campaign is delighted that we easily surpassed the 10% signature threshold, guaranteeing ballot access for the Eureka Fair Wage Act. We believe, however, and hope to prove, that we gathered enough signatures to cross the 15% threshold which would put the Fair Wage Act on a ballot even sooner.

Please come out to the Eureka City Council meeting at 6:00pm, Tuesday March 19 and show your support for the Eureka Fair Wage Act. The Fair Wage Act (or “Minimum Wage Ordinance”) will be on the agenda. The City Council has the option, again, to listen to the needs of the people and simply pass the Act, raising the minimum wage for large employers to pay their workers in Eureka. If the Council does not, we will continue organizing and pass the initiative at the ballot box!

Wage Hike Proposal Headed to Eureka City Council

North Coast Journal, Ryan Burns, Mar. 8, 2013

Here’s a ray of hope for people working at Eureka’s Taco Bell. Or Wal-Mart. Or any other business in the city that pays workers as little as the law will tolerate:

A petition to boost Eureka’s minimum wage to $12 an hour has received enough valid signatures to be presented to the City Council at its March 19 meeting.

http://urlet.com/games.leading
or:

http://www.northcoastjournal.com/blogthing/2013/03/08/wage-hike-proposal-headed-eureka-city-council/

Times-Standard Coverage:

http://www.times-standard.com/breakingnews/ci_22751562/fair-wage-act-go-before-eureka-city-council

Fair Wage Cafe, March 23, All Ages Fun!

Facebook Event short link:

http://urlet.com/chips.artist
 or

http://www.facebook.com/events/227088454102416/

http://www.urlet.com/words.depleted
 or

http://www.facebook.com/events/403989706364149/403989709697482

Bring your friends and family!!

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 3/05/13

Media Contact; James Decker (707) 761-5247

Facebook Event short link:

http://urlet.com/chips.artist
or

http://www.facebook.com/events/227088454102416/

http://www.urlet.com/words.depleted
or

http://www.facebook.com/events/403989706364149/403989709697482

FREE COMMUNITY EVENT, Saturday, March 23. Flier HERE

FAIR WAGE CAFE

The Fair Wage Cafe will be at the Labor Temple in Eureka from noon to 5pm, Saturday, March 23rd.

The Fair Wage Folks invite you to bring family and friends on March 23rd to FAIR WAGE CAFE for yummy free food, live music, games for kids, and more.

Stop by for a short time or stay all day. Relax. Enjoy the food, beverages and music. Help build strong community!

Speakers are welcome to talk about fair wages and other labor-related issues.

Local community groups are encouraged to set up information tables.

The Fair WageCafe is an open and casual space where people of all stripes are free to encounter each other.

The Fair Wage folks invite you to the Cafe to share ideas for community building, play cards, relax, learn, sip coffee, eat…Get involved to help pass the Eureka Fair Wage Act, raise in-home health carewages, and strengthen the working class of Humboldt County.

If you are interested in playing music at the March 23 Cafe please call, or just come ready to play!

There’s plenty of space for informational tables to spread the word about projects, efforts, or organizations. Tables will be provided.

FAIR WAGE CAFE a free community event Saturday, March 23rd, noon to 5pm at the Labor Temple, 840 E Street in Eureka, where 9th and E intersect

Call 707.442.7465 for more information or email info@fairwages.org

See you there, at the FAIR WAGE CAFE, Saturday March 23rd!

http://www.facebook.com/events/403989706364149/403989709697482/?notif_t=event_mall_comment

Jim Hightower: Do More Than the Minimum on Minimum Wage

Do more than the minimum on minimum wage

Monday, February 18, 2013   |

Posted by Jim Hightower

podcast

story
http://jimhightower.com/node/7962

“In the wealthiest nation on Earth,” President Obama declared in his State of the Union speech, “no one who works full-time should have to live in poverty.”   Right! Not only does his call to raise America’s minimum wage put some real pop in populism, but it could finally start putting some ethics back in our country’s much-celebrated, (but rarely-honored) “work ethic.” Kudos to Obama for putting good economics and good morals together – and for putting this long overdue increase on the front burner.

But then came the number: $9 an hour. Excuse me, Mr. President, but that means a person who “works full-time” would nonetheless “have to live in poverty.” Yes, nine bucks is a buck-seventy-five better than the current pay, but it’s still a poverty wage, and it doesn’t even elevate the buying power of our wage floor back to where it was in 1968.

~VISIT LINKS ABOVE FOR THE REST OF IT~