Have a Heart Rally for Homecare Workers: Tuesday 12:30 Courthouse – WEAR RED

the following came via Redwood Progressive [ rs@richardsalzman.com ] email letter :

The California United Homecare Workers (CUHW) union will be holding a rally on Tuesday and we need your help to make it a success. Please join us as we continue our fight to improve the lives of those who keep our seniors and people with disabilities healthy at home. Here are the details:

What: Rally for Homecare Justice – Wear red to show that you “have a heart” for homecare.

Where: Humboldt County Courthouse, 825 Fifth Street, Eureka

When: Tuesday, February 5 at 12:30 pm

Why: Negotiations with the Humboldt County Board of Supervisors, acting as the Humboldt County In-Home Supportive Services (IHSS) Public Authority, have dragged on for over a year as the Supervisors have refused to offer a single penny to the lowest paid caregivers in California. After the workers put forward a Settlement Proposal last December, the Board of Supervisors unilaterally ended negotiations and refused to consider the proposal.

We will be joined at the rally by allies from local non-profits, other unions, the disability rights community, and senior advocates, among others. We hope you will be able to join us too. Following the rally, community supporters are invited to attend a reception at the union’s office, located at 314 L Street, Eureka.

For more information:  shaneb@cuhw.org or  (707) 382-7270.

http://www.cuhw.org/

– To contact the Supervisors:

Rex Bohn   <rbohn@co.humboldt.ca.us> 476-2391

Estelle Fennell  <efennell@co.humboldt.ca.us> 476-2392

Mark Lovelace <mlovelace@co.humboldt.ca.us> 476-2393

Virginia Bass <vbass@co.humboldt.ca.us> 476-2394

Ryan Sundberg <rsundberg@co.humboldt.ca.us> 476-2395

Poll:  Do Humboldt County’s IHSS Workers Deserve A Raise?

or take it at polldaddy:

http://poll.fm/3wz0i

New Study – Nearly One Third of Working Families Struggle for Necessities

during the great recession and its aftermath, millions of americans

lost their jobs and were thrown into poverty. But national

unemployment and poverty statistics do not tell the whole story.

The recession has also affected the economic security of millions

of americans who have managed to keep their jobs. although

they are often overlooked, the number of low-income working

families has been increasing steadily, resulting in a shrinking

middle class and challenging a fundamental assumption that in

america, work pays.

new data from the U.S. census Bureau show that in 2010, there

were more than 10 million low-income working families in the

United States.

2 Between 2007 and 2010, the share of working

families who are low-income—earning less than 200 percent of

the official poverty threshold—increased from 28 percent to 31

percent.

http://www.workingpoorfamilies.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/Winter-2012_2013-WPFP-Data-Brief.pdf

http://www.workingpoorfamilies.org/pdfs/Overlooked_Dec2011.pdf

http://www.workingpoorfamilies.org

STUDY: How a $12.00 An Hour Wage Standard Would Impact Walmart Workers and Shoppers

CONCLUSION

http://laborcenter.berkeley.edu/retail/bigbox_livingwage_policies11.pdf

http://laborcenter.berkeley.edu/research/walmart.shtml

Should policy makers consider supporting legislation that would raise wages at Walmart? Should they be concerned that low-income shoppers will bear the cost if Walmart is required to increase its minimum wage to $12 an hour?

Our data suggests that a $12 per hour minimum wage standard at Walmart would be effective in aiding lower-income families. If Walmart increased its minimum wage to $12 per hour, 41.4 percent of the income gain would accrue to workers with wages below 200 percent FPL. These low-wage workers could expect to earn an additional $1,670 to $6,500 a year in income.

If Walmart passed on 100 percent of the wage increase to consumers through price increases, which is unlikely, the impact for the average Walmart shopper would be $12.49 a year (Table 6, page 8). We estimate that 28.1 percent of the impact of the price increase would be borne by shoppers with incomes below 200 percent FPL.

Finally, we should consider the impact of a mandated wage increase on the economic viability of big box retailers. Some analysts suggest that Walmart could not just raise wages, and prices, given that it operates in a competitive environment. However, a living wage policy would require all large retailers to operate under the same standards.

Jacobs, Graham-Squire, and Luce | APRIL 2011 7

Defending the Community:

$12.00 an hour minimum wage for large employers in Eureka:

http://eurekafairwageact.wordpress.com

http://fairwages.org

info@fairwages.org  707-442-7465

Poll: Do Humboldt County’s IHSS Workers Deserve A Raise?

 

or take it at polldaddy:

http://poll.fm/3wz0i

STUDY: How a $12.00 An Hour Wage Standard Would Impact Walmart Workers and Shoppers

CONCLUSION

http://laborcenter.berkeley.edu/retail/bigbox_livingwage_policies11.pdf

http://laborcenter.berkeley.edu/research/walmart.shtml

Should policy makers consider supporting legislation that would raise wages at Walmart? Should they be concerned that low-income shoppers will bear the cost if Walmart is required to increase its minimum wage to $12 an hour?

Our data suggests that a $12 per hour minimum wage standard at Walmart would be effective in aiding lower-income families. If Walmart increased its minimum wage to $12 per hour, 41.4 percent of the income gain would accrue to workers with wages below 200 percent FPL. These low-wage workers could expect to earn an additional $1,670 to $6,500 a year in income.

If Walmart passed on 100 percent of the wage increase to consumers through price increases, which is unlikely, the impact for the average Walmart shopper would be $12.49 a year (Table 6, page 8). We estimate that 28.1 percent of the impact of the price increase would be borne by shoppers with incomes below 200 percent FPL.

Finally, we should consider the impact of a mandated wage increase on the economic viability of big box retailers. Some analysts suggest that Walmart could not just raise wages, and prices, given that it operates in a competitive environment. However, a living wage policy would require all large retailers to operate under the same standards.

Jacobs, Graham-Squire, and Luce | APRIL 2011 7

Defending the Community:

$12.00 an hour minimum wage for large employers in Eureka:

http://eurekafairwageact.wordpress.com

Study: California Families Need $63,000 Per Year To Meet Basic Needs

A family of four in California would need an average of more than $63,000 a year – nearly triple the federal poverty level – to cover its basic needs, according to an analysis of the state’s cost of living to be released today.

The 2011 Self-Sufficiency Standard, released by the Insight Center for Community Economic Development, a national research organization, shows that in every county in California, the federal poverty level falls short of meeting basic needs: housing, food, child care, health care, transportation and other essential household expenses.

Taking all these costs into consideration, the standard calculates the minimum annual income required for 156 family compositions in each county. The pre-tax income needed to make ends meet for a family of two working, married adults; a preschooler; and a primary school-aged child ranged from $53,775 in Tulare County to $86,629 in Marin County. For a family of four, the 2011 federal poverty level, which is based on the cost of food alone and does not take into account regional cost-of-living differences in the contiguous United States, is $22,350.

more @ California Watch http://californiawatch.org/dailyreport/federal-poverty-level-doesnt-meet-basic-needs-data-shows-12903