COPS Metro Wins Raises for Lowest Paid Alamo College Workers

The district will also increase pay to $10 / hour for 700 part-time and temporary employees.
Read moreSpokane Alliance Wins 15% 'Quality Jobs' Requirement

Council Passes Public Works Project, Spokesman Review
Read moreCOPS / Metro Campaign to Raise County Wages Takes Off

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

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

Austin Interfaith Wins Historic Living Wage Vote for School Construction
Labor caucus leaders of Austin Interfaith leveraged a historic living wage vote from AISD school board members in a close-to-midnight vote approving the use of federal Davis-Bacon wage standards for workers employed on school construction projects. After months of deliberation and negotiation, labor caucus members of Austin Interfaith testified at AISD board proceedings, backed by a crowd of supporters.
Catholic Bishop Joe Vasquez's letter exhorting the Board to support Davis-Bacon wages was followed by impassioned testimony from leaders representing LiUNA, Education Austin, IBEW, Painters Local 1779, Pipefitters, Workers Defense Projects, Our Lady of Guadalupe Catholic Church and the Equal Justice Center. Plans are in the works for the school district to soon establish an accompanying living wage floor to raise the wages of the lowest paid workers.
Read moreAustin Interfaith Fights for School Adoption of Davis-Bacon Wages

Activistas Presionan A Distrito Escolar de Austin para Aumentar Salarios, Telemundo Austin