At the end of June, a threat arose in the Philadelphia school district of budget cuts that would eliminate many workers. I would like again to congratulate the parents, and staff, with UNITE HERE local 274, for their amazing 14 … Continue reading →

#OccupyWallStreet protests are now well into their second week, and they are increasingly capturing the public spotlight. This is because, whatever limitations their occupation has, the protesters have done many things right. I will admit that I was skeptical about … Continue reading →

November 7, 2007 By R. W. Dellinger Rosa Balam, a robust-looking woman, stills wears her name tag from the Westin Hotel. But she hasn’t worked as a housekeeper there for 2 1/2 years, and doesn’t expect to ever work anywhere … Continue reading →

Caitlin G. Johnson – OneWorld US NEW YORK, May 31 (OneWorld) – U.S. President George W. Bush signed into law Congress’ plan for continued war funding last Friday — and with it, an attached proposal to raise the federal minimum wage … Continue reading →

Published on Tuesday, July 24, 2007 by CommonDreams.org by Holly Sklar Minimum wage workers made $5.15 an hour when Harry Potter became a sensation a decade ago, and nothing more until July 24, three days after the final Harry Potter book … Continue reading →

Published on Saturday, July 28, 2007 by The Boston Globe http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2007/07/28/2824/ by Derrick Z. Jackson The Democratic presidential candidates were asked in the CNN/YouTube debate if they were willing to work in the White House for the national minimum wage. … Continue reading →

By Paul Engler The Summary I still run the Center for the Working Poor, delivering food to impoverished workers, writing, speaking at churches, and supporting living wage boycotts. While doing this, the House of Representatives passed a law designed to … Continue reading →

A public address by Maria Elena Durazo Ancient prophets like Jesus and those prophets of our time, like Martin Luther King, have each told us, “We will be judged by how we treat the poor.” This is a proclamation so … Continue reading →

-John Lorinc The people who make up your fancy hotel room are invisible, but powerful – now that they’ve realized they can put downtown economies through the wringer Every morning shortly after 6 a.m., Althea Porter leaves her Mississauga home … Continue reading →

Wal-Mart has been closely watched by many corporate leaders that see it as a model for the new Economy: rapid growth, poverty wages, few health benefits, no unions, race and gender discrimination, and the destruction of small family businesses. In … Continue reading →

When the nation’s first living-wage ordinance passed in Baltimore in 1994–a modest measure that improved the earnings of just 1,500 workers–few could have predicted that a powerful national movement would emerge in its wake. In the ensuing seven years, more than sixty municipalities, pushed by coalitions of local activists, have passed living-wage laws… Continue reading →

Paying Above the Minimum Seems To Do More Good Than Harm -Steven V. Brull, Business Week Juana Zatarin lives in a one-bedroom apartment that rumbles whenever a jumbo jet lands at Los Angeles International Airport. But life is looking up … Continue reading →

When it comes to getting under the well-tanned skin of the Los Angeles business establishment, no one does the job as efficiently as Madeline Janis-Aparicio. In recent years the 39-year-old mother of three, who heads the city’s Living Wage Coalition, has pressured developers into guaranteeing decent pay and benefits for workers in return for zoning approval and tax breaks. And as a bare-knuckle advocate for tenants’ rights… Continue reading →