San Antonio Report Reframes COPS/Metro Ballot Initiative as Opportunity to Celebrate Labor Day in November
[Excerpt]
About five years ago, COPS/Metro sought and won “living wage” minimum pay for City workers, resulting in raises for about 20 percent of the civilian workforce. They won similar measures from Bexar County, and some school districts followed suit.
Now two measures on the Nov. 3 ballot offer San Antonians the opportunity to again help lower-rung workers. Both involve a one-eighth-cent sales tax that for 20 years has provided funding to buy development rights to protect sensitive lands over the Edwards Aquifer recharge zone.
The first ballot measure would transfer those funds to provide about $154 million over the next four years for a job training program projected to boost the incomes of up to 40,000 workers. That’s an aggressive goal, but what gives it credibility is that its approach is based on Project Quest, a jobs training program designed by COPS/Metro 28 years ago.
Interestingly, it was COPS/Metro and their sister organizations around the state that persuaded the Legislature back in 2001 to authorize local governments to spend money on job training and early childhood education. That same law, the Texas Better Jobs Act, permitted San Antonio voters to approve Pre-K 4 SA in November 2012. The highly successful preschool program is up for renewal on the ballot.
[Photo Credit: Scott Ball, San Antonio Report]
Election Day Ballot Will Let You Celebrate Labor Day on November 3rd, San Antonio Report [pdf]
COPS/Metro Among Heavy Hitters Called By Mayor to Win Voter Approval of Coronavirus Economic Recovery Plan
[Excerpt]
Less than two months before early voting begins, Mayor Ron Nirenberg has called in several heavy hitters to steer his campaign to use a sales tax to help residents get back to work after they lost their jobs to the coronavirus.
The campaign, known as “Build SA,” faces the daunting task of figuring out how to break through a noisy November election to convince San Antonio voters to put more than $150 million toward a still loosely defined proposal that city officials estimate would help 40,000 residents get higher-paying jobs....
The mayor has assembled a trio of co-chairs to lead the effort: Blakely Fernandez, a partner at law firm Bracewell and former Alamo Colleges trustee; Linda Chavez-Thompson, former executive vice president of the national AFL-CIO and a former VIA Metropolitan Transit board member; and Sonia Rodriguez, a leader of the local grassroots organization COPS/Metro.
[Photo Credit: KENS5]
San Antonio Mayor Calling In Heavy Hitters for Campaign to Win Voter Approval of Coronavirus Economic Recovery Plan, San Antonio Express-News [pdf]
City to Ask Voters Whether to Redirect 1/8 Cent Sales Tax Towards Workforce Education, KENS5 [pdf]
COPS/Metro Gets Workforce Development Measure on November Ballot
[Excerpt]
Voters will be asked to approve a 1/8-cent sales tax to fund job training and college degrees for San Antonians who lost their jobs because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The money also would help participants pay rent and other living expenses while they complete those programs.
The sales tax revenue would be dedicated to those purposes for four years....
“Today, San Antonians need this investment more than ever,” Virginia Mata, a leader of the grassroots coalition COPS/Metro told council members Thursday. “It is not only the right thing to do but also the right investment. The seeds that you plant today will have a lasting effect and will help San Antonians rise from the shadows to the light.”
[Photo Credit: Billy Calzada, San Antonio Express-News]
'We Need Action Now': Sales Tax Proposal for San Antonio Economic Recovery Now in Voters' Hands, San Antonio Express-News [pdf]
With Workforce Measure on Ballot, Project Quest Ready to Help Mend Economic Wounds, Rivard Report [pdf]
Central Texas Interfaith Raises Concern That Tesla Will Treat Austin as Low Wage, High Tech Town
[Excerpt]
While labor rights activists support Tesla’s stated commitment to a minimum wage of $15 an hour, substantially above Austin’s $7.25, the agreement sheds no light on which workers this standard applies to. The average hourly rate for manufacturing jobs in the U.S. is $22.
“The fear is that a company like Tesla keeps its high-level creative jobs in places like the Bay Area and begins to see Austin like a low-wage, high-tech town,”
said Doug Greco, lead organizer of Central Texas Interfaith, representing a coalition of nonprofit groups in Austin.
[Photo Credit: Cyber Truck: Tesla; Map: Lasagnaforone / Getty]
How Tesla Was Lured to Austin, Texas Monthly [pdf]
Study Claims Austin is Worst US City for Low-Wage Workers. Central Texas Interfaith Affirms Living Wage Strategies Still Needed.
[Excerpt]
According to Austin Interfaith, an alliance representing faith-based organizations, schools, nonprofits, and labor organizations, says a living wage is a wage that’s sufficient for a worker to support themselves and their family. For years, the group has pushed for establishment of a living wage in Austin. The alliance says the local living wage for a single parent who has two children and no savings is $21 an hour....
[Photo Credit: The Trail Foundation/Facebook]
Austin Clocks In as Worst US City for Minimum-Wage Earners, Says Study, Culture Map [pdf]
In Workforce Summit, AMOS Calls For Public Investment in Human Capital
[Excerpt]
A group of nearly 100 people gathered Thursday to address challenges facing the state’s workforce and what needs to be done as the state continues to recover from the coronavirus pandemic.
The meeting, hosted by AMOS Institute of Public Life, the education and training arm of AMOS [A Mid-Iowa Organizing Strategy], drew members of the region’s faith-based community, business leaders, and state and local government officials.
The meeting focused on Project IOWA, a nonprofit organization that offers support and training to Iowans looking to improve their careers.
Paul Osterman, a professor of human resources at the MIT Sloan School of Management, the keynote speaker of the meeting, said job training programs, such as Project IOWA, have had great success in helping low-wage workers climb the ladder to better-paying jobs.
He said nothing has changed since the pandemic began to spread, “it’s just intensified it,” in reference to the need for services.
Osterman said one challenge that needs to be addressed is helping people move from one job to another, something Project IOWA focuses on.
There isn’t a strong public system to help with that, so the work Project IOWA does is essential to not only train workers, but also provide access to good jobs and creating good jobs.
“And these programs do both of these,” Osterman said. “You provide training, skills and connection to employers, but programs like these also create worker jobs, because there is research that shows that in communities that have effective human capital, skill development systems, employers do better. More jobs are created. It’s better for entrepreneurs. It’s better for employers. It helps new businesses coming to the community when they can see that the community is invested in the skills of its people, and sharing the cost of developing the skills of its people.
“Over time, it actually improves the economic health of the community,” he said.
Change Needed in Job Training, Development in New Pandemic Workforce, Business Record [pdf]
Colorado IAF, UFCW Stand with Meat Packing Workers Who Died of Covid-19
[Excerpt]
Friends, loved ones, and fellow union members gathered in Greeley Sunday to remember the six JBS employees who died due to COVID-19. The memorial event was held by the United Food and Commercial Workers Union Local 7, which represents many employees at the meat packing plant.
The JBS plant in Greeley was home to one of the state’s earliest and largest coronavirus outbreaks. Since the beginning of April, 281 employees at the plant have tested positive for COVID-19 and 6 have died. According to state data, one employee from the corporate office also died....
“They had a name, they had a face, they had a heartbeat, they had a soul,” said Kim Cordova, president of UFCW Local 7. “We should never let anybody forget what happened to these workers.”
“Employers like JBS must answer for not protecting its vulnerable workers,” said Jorge Montiel, an organizer with the Colorado Industrial Areas Foundation. “City and county and state officials must answer for not ensuring our public health.”
‘They Had a Name, They Had a Face’: Union Honors JBS Workers Who Died Of Coronavirus, CBS Denver
DAI Fights for Poultry Plant Worker Protections in Irving
[Excerpts]
...workers who labor shoulder to shoulder at the plant and others fear the contagion has spread to more people in the Dallas area. Sick workers who do not get themselves tested could spread the virus when they are out and about or when they return to the plant.
“The workers at these plants are essential workers, especially now,” said auxiliary Bishop Greg Kelly of the Dallas Catholic Diocese. “They help keep the food supply chain intact for all of us… They are particularly vulnerable because of the kind of work that they do and in greater need of protection at this time. Just as the state has done elsewhere in Texas, they should require testing of their employees for the safety of all."
....
Josephine Lopez-Paul, an organizer for Dallas Area Interfaith, said she is organizing a plan to assist those families. “It’s in our collective interest to protect these workers,” Lopez-Paul said. “The state also has a responsibility to these workers.”
[Photo Credit: Ryan Michalesko, Dallas Morning News]
Experts, Activists Want Virus Testing at Meat-Processing Plants to Prevent Community Spread, Dallas Morning News [pdf]
DAI, Church Stands with Poultry Workers in Irving
[Excerpt]
At St. Luke’s Catholic Church in Irving, Rev. Ernesto Esqueda said the church will support the workers with food and other needs during the pandemic.
“We are all walking on the same path, and our close ties mean we help and will continue to help so that these persons don’t feel forgotten or abandoned,” Rev. Esqueda said. “As a church, we work for them and with them.”
The priest said the church is also working with the nonprofit Dallas Area Interfaith and government authorities to find help for workers and parishioners.
One church leader in the interfaith group, Cecilia Avalos, said many of the Brakebush workers are vulnerable Spanish-speaking immigrants, and she knew of a worker who quit when the plant wouldn’t allow the worker to self-quarantine after exposure to an infected worker.
“There is such an outcry among people,” Avalos said.
[Photo of plant by Google Street View]
40 Workers At Irving Poultry Plant Test Positive for Covid-19, The Dallas Morning News [pdf]
40 Empleados de Planta Procesadora de Pollo Dan Positivo a COVID-19, Dallas Al Día [pdf]
VOICE-OKC Urges Governor to Protect Grocery Store Workers
[Excerpts]
Clergy from across the state are urging Gov. Kevin Stitt to designate these grocery workers as first responders, hoping that this recognition will help them in more ways than one during the COVID-19 crisis.
"They are literally risking their lives to be with the public every day, ensuring that families across Oklahoma can have access to the food they need in order to survive," the Rev. Diana Davies wrote in a recent letter emailed to Stitt.
Davies, senior minister of First Unitarian Church of Oklahoma City, wrote on behalf of 40 Oklahoma clergy and religious sisters affiliated with Voices Organized in Civic Engagement. The group, also known as VOICE, is a coalition of more than two dozen metro-area congregations and nonprofits.
In her letter, Davies said giving grocery workers the first responders' designation would recognize the workers for the "vital role" they are playing in the current emergency but also help draw down federal funds that would keep more money circulating in Oklahoma.
She said the federal dollars could be used for childcare for grocery workers' families, medical testing for the coronavirus should they need it, treatment for COVID-19 if necessary and greater access to personal protective equipment.
"Our organization represents thousands of families across Oklahoma, and many of our loved ones are working tirelessly in stores to keep our supply chains functioning," she wrote. "We would love to tell them that our governor honors their courage and their service at this time."
[Photo Credit: Chris Landsberger, The Oklahoman]
Coronavirus in Oklahoma: Clergy Urge Governor to Protect Grocery Workers, The Oklahoman