As I write, the U.S. Senate has just passed the debt deal that was negotiated with the President over the weekend. It got 269 votes in the House yesterday and 74 votes in the Senate today. It was opposed by both the most progressive and most conservative members.
The immediate effect is a cap on spending that will produce a savings of $1 trillion over the next ten years. There are no new revenues in the deal. There is to be a vote on a balanced budget amendment by the end of the year. Continue reading
On July 23, 250 Washingtonians spent a rare sunny Seattle Saturday in a leadership conference!
WashingtonCAN’s annual Summer Leadership Conference was attended by about 250 committed community members. Turnout included people from WashingtonCAN, Working Washington and other progressive organizations and labor unions across Washington. Folks from Vancouver to Tacoma to Spokane participated.
Workshop topics ranged from Holding Banks Accountable and Knowing Your Rights with Police and ICE, to Direct Actions, Building a Movement for Jobs, and Fighting Structural Racism.
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This is part ten in a series of posts that will explore some of the leading organizations from around the country that are engaged in unearthing and combating the influence of money in the political process.
Good Jobs First focuses on corporate subsidies and works to promote corporate and government accountability around subsidies, economic development, and smart growth. They work with organizations by providing research, training, communications and consulting assistance. Continue reading
The recently released 2010 Northwest Job Gap Study, Searching for Work that Pays looks at living wages in each county in Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Oregon and Washington. The study also compares the number of job openings paying a living wage to the number of job seekers in each state. The key findings are disturbing: 48% of job openings pay less than the living wage needed for a single adult. For working families, the situation is even worse: 81% of job openings pay less than the living wage needed for a family with two adults (one working) with two children.
These numbers are even more devastating when compared to the record profits that U.S. corporations are making. While millions are desperately trying to make ends meet, annual corporate profits hit an all-time high of $1.66 trillion according to a recent report from the Commerce Department.
The appalling disparities between people and corporations are brought to light by findings in this annual Job Gap study. The report calculates a living wage for a variety of family sizes, and then measures how many job openings pay that wage. Living wages are calculated for all counties in Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Oregon and Washington.
A living wage allows a family to meet its basic needs without public assistance and provides some ability to save money for emergencies and to plan ahead.
The report finds that in the Northwest and Colorado, the living wage ranges from $13.54 an hour ($28,171 a year) for a single adult in Montana to $29.95 an hour ($62,288 a year) for a single adult with two children in Colorado.
The report also finds serious shortfalls between the number of people seeking work and the availability of jobs that pay a living wage. This is known as the “job gap.”
The job gap ranges from 7 job seekers per living wage job opening for a single adult in Washington to 57 job seekers per living wage job opening for a family of four in Montana. The lack of living wage jobs forces families to make impossible decisions, juggling scarce dollars between buying milk for the baby or gas for the car.
For many in the Northwest and Colorado, public investments in families and communities are more important than ever. Yet supports like unemployment insurance, child care, and basic health are threatened by the public revenue crisis, while corporate profits continue to escalate.
The 2010 Job Gap Study looks at the availability of living wage jobs in Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, and Washington. This report provides calculations of:
Click here to download the full report. Continue reading
It’s always been tough for working families in the Northwest to make ends meet. The recession has made it even harder – and harder still for people of color, who have historically faced racial inequities in the job market. The economic crisis has only worsened these disparities in employment, wages, and income.
Race Matters shines the light on wage disparities faced by so many families of color in the Northwest and Colorado. It takes a close look at jobs that currently exist in the economy and asks whether these jobs provide wages that can actually support individuals and families. It then examines whether people of color in the region are less likely than white people to earn a living wage. Finally, the report makes recommendations for policymakers with a focus on improving access to high-quality jobs for people of color and raising the floor for everybody. Continue reading
This post was written by Amanda Harrow, Montana Small Business Program Director
An energized diverse group of people came together this past weekend in Butte, Montana, to found the Montana Organizing Project. Seventy people from labor unions, faith communities, non-profit service organizations, and other interested communities around the state joined in committing to work for social, economic, and racial justice in Montana. Continue reading
On February 17th, 200 Denver activists turned out on the busy corner of 17th and Lincoln in front of the Wells Fargo building to call on Congress to listen to people, not profits. Colorado Progressive Action, joined by a coalition of community-based organizations, pointed to powerful corporations like Wells Fargo as the prime roadblocks to realizing the promise of change in America.
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On March 15th, 2010, Washington Community Action Network and close to 100 protesters chanted outside of Chase’s headquarters in downtown Seattle, demanding that the company and other big Wall Street banks pay their fair share to help maintain crucial state services. Continue reading
