Small business owners in the Montana Small Business Alliance have been making their mark in the national tax debate. Continue reading
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Montanans Stop Drastic State Budget Cuts
Last week, on April 28, the 62nd Montana Legislative Session came to a close. The session was a contentious one, featuring some of the worst budget cut proposals in state history. Faced with devastating cuts to health and human services, education, and public employee jobs and salaries, members of the Montana Organizing Project responded by rallying, telling their stories, making phone calls and writing letters to their legislators throughout the session. MOP and its partners tirelessly made the case that Montanans deserve better. And, when the session was over, $150 million in crucial funding — three-quarters of the budgets cuts — was restored. Continue reading
Montanans Rally for Budget Courage, Not Cuts
On Friday, April 1st, 2011, 1,500 Montanans flooded the Capitol lawn to voice their objections to sweeping and hurtful cuts in the Montana state budget. “Courage, Not Cuts!,” was their rallying cry. The “No Fooling with Our Future Rally” was presented by Montana Organizing Project leaders and activists, who partnered with many groups within the Partnership for Montana’s Future.
Montanans Demonstrate Unity Against State Budget Cuts
Over 400 Montanans from across the state, all the way from Ashland to Missoula, converged on the State Capitol in Helena on Monday, February 21, for the first annual Citizens Day at the Capitol, hosted by Alliance for a Just Society affiliate the Montana Organizing Project.
Since the state legislative session began in January, Montana lawmakers have been slashing jobs and funding for public services even though the Governor’s budget clearly shows that there is no sound financial reason for doing so. Members from Native tribes, Indian People’s Action, unions, churches and community groups came together as one to demand that critical services stay completely funded, that the state tax system be restructured and made more equitable, and that federal health care reform be properly implemented, ensuring that all Montanans have a safe and secure future.
All day long, the halls of the capitol building bustled with working people from all four corners of the state who came to tell their stories of how cuts to health care, education, and public safety programs would adversely affect their families and communities. They presented legislators with Protecting Montana’s Future, a book filed with the stories of ordinary Montanans which amplifies the voices of small business owners, Native Americans, students, public servants, and senior citizens throughout the state and shows the need for a healthy public infrastructure.
Citizens Day culminated in a mass rally on the snowy capitol steps with members of the Montana Education Association and Montana Federation of Teachers. The crowd of over 400 declared their support for a new way forward in Montana, one that involves “reversing the cuts and restoring the future.” Moving testimony from firefighters, faith community, small business owners, progressive legislators, veterans groups, and teachers riled up the crowd, many of whom held signs proclaiming why they were there and expressing solidarity with the workers and protesting at the capitol in Wisconsin.
The Capitol truly belonged to the citizens of Montana on Monday, and they all walked away with the pledge to keep coming back until their legislators get the message.
Living wage jobs are scarce in Northwest and Colorado
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.
Searching for Work that Pays: 2010 Job Gap Study
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:
- A living wage for all counties in Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, and Washington;
- The percent of job openings that pay a living wage in each of these states; and
- The ratio of the number of living wage job openings to the number of people looking for work.
Click here to download the full report. Continue reading
Race Matters: Living Wage Jobs in the Current Economy
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
Small Business Owners Use Their Stories to Educate Public on Health Care Reform
September 23 was an important day for health care–and an important day for small businesses. Exactly six months after the enactment of the Patient Protection & Affordable Care Act (PPACA), September 23 was the date on which a range of new insurance protections took effect. Across the country, small business owners from The Main Street Alliance, NWFCO’s national alliance of state-based small business coalitions, took the opportunity to speak up about how the law will help them and their employees. Continue reading
“This is a Movement, not a Moment” — Scenes from the Montana Organizing Project Founding Convention
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
Immigration Reform in Montana
In 2007 millions of people took to the streets to demand comprehensive immigration reform. Despite these strong numbers, we were unsuccessful in getting legislation passed that year. But we did learn one key lesson from this fight: in order to win immigration reform, we need to reach out to non-immigrant communities and educate them about how the system is broken—and what they can do to become allies in this important fight. Montana is a state with a small immigrant population in a sparsely populated space, making it easy for its lawmakers to feel that they don’t need to take a stance on the issue. As a result, residents and citizens fall victim to the barrage of hateful language and misinformation that is so prevalent in the immigration debate. Continue reading
