EPISO & Allies Pass Texas' 2nd Wage Theft Ordinance in El Paso
Over the next 60 days, EPISO and Border Interfaith leaders will work with the city to consider amendments potentially granting additional powers to refuse to grant, or revoke, permits and licenses to wage theft violators.
Read moreCOPS / Metro Crashes City Budget Meeting, Presses for Wages
The tone at most of San Antonio's big City Council budget goal-setting sessions may have historically been positive, but that tone notably shifted when 70 COPS / Metro leaders showed up.
COPS / Metro leader Robert Cruz, pointedly asked the city's budget director what the city intends to do with the $24 million in revenue it received in excess of forecasts when the 2015 budget was adopted last year. He asserted that he wanted some of that money go to workforce training program Project Quest and local literacy programs.
Read moreCOPS Metro & County Judge Link Living Wages to Election
Days before the San Antonio mayoral election runoff, church and state united to urge voters to the polls and while there, to remember that San Antonians need a living wage. COPS / Metro leaders and Bexar County Judge Nelson Wolff, with Commissioners Tommy Calvert and Paul Elizondo, held a joint press conference announcing that the County would do their part to increase wages, and that the City should as well. Councilmembers Shirley Gonzalez and Rey Saldana showed up in support.
In the lead up to this election, leaders held an accountability session with Mayoral candidates, asking for their support on matching the County wage hike (to $13 / hour this year and $15 / hour in two ) and increasing investment in long-term workforce development.
Read moreNOVA Sets Record for Training for Living Wage Jobs
The NOVA Workforce Institute of Northeast Louisiana broke their own record in job-placement this month, placing 17 of its graduates in living wage careers. Since 2009, NOVA has placed 461 adults into living wage work, with a projected annual wage impact of $7.4 million. Economist Bob Eisenstadt, the rector of the University of Louisiana at Monroe's Center for Business and Economic Research said,
Read moreCOPS / Metro Raises the Stakes on San Antonio Wages
Over 400 leaders of COPS / Metro Alliance assembled at St. Henry's Catholic Church, to confront the top candidates for Mayor and City Council (Districts 2, 3, 5 and 7) on wages, workforce development and housing in the City.
Leaders asked candidates to commit to raising wages for the lowest paid city employees from $11.47 to $14.91 / hour over three years, starting with $13 / hour for fiscal year 2016; establishing a wage floor for contracted and outsourced workers to at least the City's current minimum of $11.47; stabilizing city funding for workforce development program Project Quest at $2 million per year; and working with COP / Metro leaders on a 2017 city bond for housing rehabilitation.
Read moreCOPS / Metro: March for JOBS & Freedom Is Still Relevant
On the heels of a successful campaign to raise the wages of San Antonio's lowest paid public workers, COPS / Metro leaders Fr. Steven Gamez and Sr. Consuelo Tovar assert that the March on Washington for JOBS and Freedom is still relevant today.
"Everyone working a full-time job ought to be able to raise a family with dignity and opportunity, and not be dependent on public assistance. As taxpayers, we insist that our public resources be used to foster shared prosperity and not to perpetuate poverty.....
Read moreCOPS Metro Wins Raises for Lowest Paid Alamo College Workers
In a win that COPS / Metro is calling "a beginning," the Board of the Alamo (Community) Colleges approved wage raises for its lowest paid workers including an $11.50 minimum for full-time employees. This represents a $1.38 / hour raise for approximately 49 long-time housekeeping staff now making the lowest wage.
The district will also increase pay to $10 / hour for 700 part-time and temporary employees.
Read moreSpokane Alliance Wins 15% 'Quality Jobs' Requirement
Hundreds of Spokane Alliance leaders crashed City Council chambers in a final December push for 'Quality Jobs' in Spokane. They succeeded, with a 5-2 vote in favor of an Apprenticeship requirement that contractors on public works projects larger than $350K hire apprentices for at least 15% of the work . Leaders supported this measure to create pathways to careers for living wage jobs.
Council Passes Public Works Project, Spokesman Review
Read moreCOPS / Metro Campaign to Raise County Wages Takes Off
COPS / Metro Alliance leaders flanked Bexar County Judge Nelson Wolff as he announced his instruction to the County Manager to research and craft a plan to raise the County minimum wage from $11.47 per hour to $13 per hour next year, and to $15 per hour within three years.
Two days prior, 325 COPS / Metro Alliance leaders gathered at Sacred Heart Catholic Church to announce their campaign to boost the wage floor for city and county employees from $11.47 per hour to almost $15 / hour. Elvira Adame shared how it angers her to see her daughter earning only $8.50 per hour at a public community college, leaving her "stressed and tired all the time from working so hard." Adame's daughter works full-time without benefits, sick leave or vacation time; to pick up the slack she picked up a second job, but even then is barely getting by.
Read moreCOPS / Metro Officially Launches Living Wage Campaign
According to Gloria Mora of COPS / Metro Alliance, "it is unacceptable that in a city where the unemployment rate is only 4.7%, a full 20 percent of our residents live under the federal poverty line." With that statement, COPS / Metro announced a general assembly to address the need for a San Antonio living wage. In that assembly, leaders aim to confront Bexar County Commissioners and San Antonio mayoral candidates to address financial issues impacting families including wages, wage theft and predatory lending.
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