Re-Posted from the Institute for Pragmatic Practice (www.pragmaticpractice.org) In the last four decades, mass incarceration and immigration control in the United States has skyrocketed. Our nation has become an engine that pulls people from their communities, removing them from the very fabric that gives them their humanity. Over-policing of everyday lives has made the simpleContinue reading “The Symposium in Review: #CellBlocks and #Borderstops… #Human Beings”
Category Archives: We are the 99%
Caldwell, ID City Council Asked to Move Payday Lenders Out of Sight, Out of Mind
Community and ICAN Push Council to Limit Industry From Preying on the Poor “With the average payday loan in Idaho carrying an interest rate of 350% and with the average borrower taking out 7 payday loans to pay off the initial loan”, predatory loan businesses continue to swarm into our state. Last year alone,Continue reading “Caldwell, ID City Council Asked to Move Payday Lenders Out of Sight, Out of Mind”
“Millions of Small Steps for Americans… One Giant Leap for Health Justice”
It isn’t often we want to reach out and simply congratulate everyone for a job well done. Since 2009, when President Obama held the first summit on healthcare, we have tirelessly organized millions of grassroots voices to demand affordable insurance coverage for every American.
Work, Productivity, Play and Compensation in America
Americans work longer and harder than our peers in almost every industrial nation. On average Americans are working 1800 hours per year, beating out Germany, France, Denmark, Ireland, Sweden, Spain, United Kingdom, Australia and Finland. According to The International Labour Organization American released a report stating that “workers in the United States on average produceContinue reading “Work, Productivity, Play and Compensation in America”
Higher Wages Are Really an Economic Win-Win
Part 4 in Our Series on Wages and Work. A common concern in the movement for fair wages is that employers who want to pay better are convinced they cannot afford to. But a look at the big picture reveals living wages are actually good for business. It adds to their competitiveness, workers who areContinue reading “Higher Wages Are Really an Economic Win-Win”
Profiles of Poverty: Who Benefits from Fair Wages?
Singles Moms, Children, the Elderly and Students Have Much at Stake in the Living Wage Debate Opponents of raising the minimum wage frequently argue that low-wage jobs are transitional, for teenagers seeking experience before life in the “real world.” Granted, many teenagers work to contribute money desperately needed for their family, or are raising familiesContinue reading “Profiles of Poverty: Who Benefits from Fair Wages?”
McGimmick Budgeting No Substitute for Living Wage
Making Ends Meet: Part 2 We’ve certainly seen some sobering statistics regarding low-wage jobs out there. But — lucky us — one of the most profitable companies in the history of the world has kindly stepped up with tips for how its employees can manage their embarrassingly inadequate minimum-wage salaries. McDonald’s recently launched a handy-dandyContinue reading “McGimmick Budgeting No Substitute for Living Wage”
Low-Wage Workers Not Covering Basic Needs
Today’s minimum wages are a far cry of what it actually takes to survive. Last Thursday, thousands of fast food workers staged a strike in 50 cities across the country to draw attention to corporate wage gaps. Fast food workers are demanding $15 hourly wages; currently, the federal minimum wage is $7.25 an hour. PerhapsContinue reading “Low-Wage Workers Not Covering Basic Needs”
“No One Should Live in Fear…” Courts Rule on NYPD “Stop and Frisk”
A simple premise behind every law that gets created: No one should live in fear. The laws we create should support that basic assumption by reducing crime. But when laws have no bearing on crime rates, yet become the very source of fear that people live with, we have crossed the Constitutional boundary, and lawContinue reading ““No One Should Live in Fear…” Courts Rule on NYPD “Stop and Frisk””
CellBlocks and Border Stops
The Institute for Pragmatic Practice, Union Theological Seminary and the Alliance for a Just Society are hosting our fifth symposium, Cell Blocks & Border Stops. Hundreds of organizers, academics, policy leaders, journalists, theologians and grassroots activists will convene and examine the intersection of immigration control and mass incarceration, and to consider the future of activismContinue reading “CellBlocks and Border Stops”