Victory

The Tompkins County Workers’ Center/Jobs with Justice is very pleased  to report the success of the student-community campaign to win a living wage for over 100 food service workers at Ithaca College. Beginning in September, according to an announcement by Ithaca College and the Sodexo Corporation, these workers will be paid at least the Tompkins County Living Wage, currently $11.11/hour. Those IC dining workers paid presently above the Living Wage, will see a commensurate increase as well.

Workers currently are paid as little as $8.19/hour, so the increase will total over 35 percent!

Hundreds of activists, working across the state, won a resounding victory for working people in Missouri yesterday.  Voters overwhelmingly approved keeping the municipal earnings taxes in Kansas City by 78% and St. Louis by 87.5%.

The elections were forced after billionaire financier Rex Sinquefield got Proposition A passed on a statewide ballot in November.  Proposition A barred the creation of any new municipal earnings tax in Missouri, and would phase out the earnings taxes already on the books in St. Louis and Kansas City, but only IF they ever fail in city elections.

Working with allies, Jobs with Justice stopped those who want to starve local government of the necessary resources to maintain Missouri's two largest cities.

A campaign to save 300+ jobs at a Hugo Boss plant in suburban Cleveland  resulted in victory last week when the company reversed their decision to shutter the plant!  The workers, members of Workers United Local 10, voted overwhelmingly to approve a new union contract that preserves jobs and benefits.

The campaign to save these jobs started back in January, when Hugo Boss abruptly cut off contract negotiations after workers refused a $5/hr pay cut.  The company issued a WARN Act notice that they intended to close the plant on April 27 (the NLRB later found reasonable cause to believe that the company had violated the NLRA).  Hugo Boss, a high-end clothing line, reportedly intended to shift operations to Turkey, where labor costs are cheaper.

Faced with yet more blood-letting of public services, Oregon voters chose a different treatment: Tax those most able to pay. It's given union activists hope that relentless organizing can settle bulging state deficits by targeting recipients of the bubble economy's billions, not public services and public workers.

By 54 percent, they passed new taxes on the wealthiest 3 percent of the state's residents and on corporations in a special election in late January.

The vote preserved funding levels for schools, critical human services, and public safety statewide. It's also given union activists nationwide hope that relentless organizing can turn the media fascination with the anti-tax Tea Party on its head and settle bulging state deficits by taking money from recipients of the bubble economy's billions instead of public services and public workers.

The tax boosts should cover a $727 million hole in the state budget-although the latest revenue estimates forecast deeper shortfalls.

Oregon's budget situation has been critical for many years. One of five states without a sales tax, Oregon has relied on an essentially flat personal income tax and limited property taxes. Lacking the ability to create a "rainy day" fund, Oregon has been hit by the recession especially hard.

Unemployment hovers above 12 percent.