COPS / 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.
Read moreAustin Interfaith Fights for City Temp Worker Wage Standard
Said Strategy Team member Kayvon Sabourian:
Read moreBorder Interfaith Leverages Commitments on Lending, Wages, & Training in County Comm. Race
With over 100 leaders in attendance, Border Interfaith assembled with candidates for County Commissioner Precinct 4 to challenge them to work with the organization for greater regulation of payday lending, a boost to the wage floor for County employees and contractors to $10 / hour, and the investment of $100K in County funds into job training program Project ARRIBA. One candidate, Julio Diaz, committed to the agenda. The other candidate did not. Leaders vowed to spread the word and get out the vote.
Diaz, Haggerty Offer Stark Choices in Race for El Paso County Commissioner in Precinct 4, El Paso Times
200 COPS / Metro Examines Living Wages in San Antonio Wage Fight
Almost 200 COPS / Metro Alliance leaders from twenty-nine institutions spent a Sunday afternoon examining the state of wages in San Antonio — and found that state sorely lacking!
A diverse mix of congregational members from Catholic, Unitarian, Lutheran, and Baptist denominations, as well as unions, public schools and colleges, gathered to study the City of San Antonio's proposed budget, its impact on the local economy and how it may fund better wages for working families.
Read moreCOPS / Metro Launches Living Wage Fight
COPS/Metro Alliance leaders & allies kicked off their Living Wage Campaign on Tuesday morning at the Bexar County Commissioners Court, asking elected officials to raise the county's minimum wage, currently set at the Federal Poverty Level. In response, Judge Wolff asked the County Manager to immediately begin a study of the wage scale and to meet with a COPS/Metro delegation within 7 days.