By Nicole Brown
Center for Intercultural Organizing
Last week when I received a call from Multnomah County Chair Marissa Madrigal and then from Sheriff Daniel Staton, I wondered if the sheriff might finally be reconsidering his policy on holding immigrants in jail at the request of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
But I never could have anticipated this conversation – or what followed.
Continue reading “Oregon Activists at the Heart of Fight to End ICE Holds”
LeeAnn Hall, executive director of Alliance for a Just Society, published this article originally in Huffington Post.
More than 7.5 million people have signed up for new health coverage through the Affordable Care Act’s state and federal health insurance marketplaces at the close of the first enrollment period.
The Department of Health and Human Services reports that another 3 million people have gained health coverage through Medicaid or the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) as of the end of February, compared to figures five months earlier.
Now we’re about to find out something critically important: whether having health coverage translates into receiving health care.
Let’s be blunt: one of the biggest problems with America’s health care system is that it neglects the poorest among us. People of color suffer more and die earlier than others. The U.S. continues to have one of the highest infant mortality rates among the 14 wealthiest countries, and it’s higher in communities of color.Continue reading “Will Health Coverage Translate into Receiving Health Care?”
By Simmi Bagri
Alliance for a Just Society
The annual Alliance for A Just Society’s Advanced Native Organizers Training, was sponsored by the Praxis Project and hosted at the Alliance’s office in Seattle this month, drew leaders from tribes and organizations from around the country. They came from as far as Virginia, Alaska, South Dakota, and New Mexico, and as near as Oregon and the Yakima Valley.
They brought with them their history, their culture, and stories of the injustices being faced in their communities. They brought an array of unique perspectives on issues ranging from fighting for food sovereignty to challenging the destruction of native lands through construction of oil pipelines.Continue reading ““We Say They Can Stay,” Native American Leaders Protest Immigrant Detension”
You pay your taxes today – April 15 – and every day, when you shop and buy products for your home or business.
The nation’s most profitable corporations, on the other had, aren’t just avoiding taxes – but actually getting refunds.
General Electric is especially imaginative it seems, when finding ways to short-circuit their tax-paying responsibilities. When billion-dollar corporations don’t pay their fair share, all of us sacrifice valuable services, healthy schools, good transportation and jobs.
If corporations, like General Electric, paid their fair share, our cities, states and entire country would actually look and feel like the most prosperous nation in the world. Instead, too many of our cities and states look more like third world countries, entrenched in deep poverty.
It’s embarrassing. School are struggling, roads crumble, bridges collapse, college graduates struggle under the burden of repaying their student loan debt.Continue reading “Tax Day Means Tax Refunds for the Country’s Powerful Corporations”
Since Superstorm Sandy hit the east coast in November 2012, small business owners who were promised financial assistance to help their businesses excited abut rebuilding and recovering, are still waiting for the funding to appear. Corinne Horowitz, the business representative for the New Jersey Main Street Alliance, describes their frustration as they search for solutions.
By Corinne Horowitz
Small business owners who were devastated by Sandy in November 2012 are outraged over the mishandling of Sandy business grants by the New Jersey Economic Development Authority and Gov. Chris Christie’s Administration.
Working with the New Jersey Main Street Alliance, business owners attended the economic development public hearing, townhall meetings, and finally organized a press conference to call for investigation and oversight of the program.
The federal Sandy Relief Bill passed in January 2013 allocated $260 million for the Stronger New Jersey Business Grant Program to provide grants of up to $50,000 to affected businesses “for working capital or construction needs.” Businesses that were at first relieved by the anticipation of rebuilding and recovering from the storm, soon became dismayed what has turned out to be a daunting process.
Continue reading “New Jersey Small Businesses Still Adrift Two Years After Sandy”
This article by LeeAnn Hall, first appeared in Colorlines.com
More than 7.1 million people have obtained health coverage under the Affordable Care Act, despite the early confusion and glitches with the computer system. In addition, 6.3 million are approved for Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program, and an estimated 3 million more young people gained health insurance by staying on their parent’s plans.
We have a once-in-a-generation opportunity to eliminate health disparities so people of color are no longer living sicker and dying younger. If we do our job, no mother will ever have to choose between paying the rent or taking her sick child to the doctor.
Continue reading “After Obamacare Enrollment, Three Critical Steps”
Delaying defense is one of the oldest tactics of war. It’s as much a psychological one as it is strategic. The goal is to wear down the opposition until they become weak, hungry or distracted. Our immigrant rights movement hasn’t been immune to it.
Now there is no longer time for delay: two million deportations is a clear message and a rallying cry that we cannot and will not be ignored.
The immigrant reform movement built great power during the electoral battle of 2012, vast armies of strong, fearless leaders were created as we went door-to-door registering people to vote. Continue reading “No More Delays, Two Million is Too Many”
Spring is in the air. That means cherry blossom season in Washington. It also means fly-in time, when the nation’s biggest trade associations hold their annual lobby days. Case in point: the National Restaurant Association (NRA) is hitting town at the end of April.
Topping the Restaurant Association’s agenda? Stick a fork in the proposed minimum wage increase. The NRA has an impressive track record on this issue: Congress hasn’t voted to increase the minimum wage since 2007, and the tipped minimum wage that applies to many restaurant workers remains frozen at $2.13 an hour… where it’s been stuck since 1991.
Whose interests does the NRA represent? Its membership includes a kitchen sink list of corporate chains, including Darden Restaurants (parent company of Red Lobster, Olive Garden, and Capital Grille), YUM! Brands (parent of Taco Bell, KFC, and Pizza Hut), Walt Disney, McDonald’s, Marriott, Sodexo, Aramark, Starbucks, and Coca-Cola – all members of the Fortune 500 orGlobal 500.
But on its lobby day, the Restaurant Association will likely showcase “mom and pop” restaurants instead of corporate chains. If you’re going to lobby against a publicly popular issue like a minimum wage increase, it’s better optics to say you’re speaking for the corner bakery than corporate chains like Taco Bell and Olive Garden.
So, on its fly-in day, the NRA will cultivate a Main Street image. But the other 364 days of the NRA’s year feature a different main ingredient: Washington insider influence-peddling that stacks the deck against low-wage workers.
The Restaurant Association’s roster of registered lobbyists has grown substantially, even as more lobbying moves underground in Washington. From 2008 to 2013, the NRA more than doubled its count of registered lobbyists from 15 to 37, according to OpenSecrets.org. The member companies listed above added another 127 registered lobbyists last year.
The NRA’s choice of lobbyists reflects a commitment to using the best ingredients, netting four mentions on The Hill’s Top Lobbyists list for 2013. Or, you might say, the best-connected ingredients. The “secret sauce” behind the NRA’s lobbying success? A heaping helping of revolving door influence.
Nothing symbolizes influence-peddling in Washington like the revolving door between Congress and K Street – it’s like Washington’s version of insider trading. Despite reforms passed in 2007, the revolving door spins faster than ever: according to the Sunlight Foundation, the share of active contract lobbyists who are revolvers increased from 18 percent in 1998 to 44 percent in 2012.
And, when it comes to using the revolving door to cook up insider influence, nobody does it like the National Restaurant Association.
Indeed, when the NRA doubled its lobbyist count, it didn’t just pluck any old suits off the D.C. streets. It made a concerted investment: all the growth came from a four-fold increase in “insider trading” (ie, revolving door) lobbyists, from 6 in 2008 to 27 in 2013.
The NRA’s 2013 insiders included nine “rapid revolvers” (who jumped from government jobs to lobbying jobs the same or the following year), six former congressional chiefs of staff, six former legislative directors, and various senior advisors, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.
For perspective, compare the Restaurant Association’s revolver profile to that of the other NRA powerhouse in Washington – the National Rifle Association. While the two had virtually identical lobbyist counts last year (37 for restaurants, 33 for rifles), the Restaurant Association had nearly twice as many revolvers as the gun lobby (27 to 15).
The Restaurant Association’s members have invested heavily in insiders, too: the companies listed above tripled their combined revolver count from 28 to 91 over 1998-2013 (their non-revolvers only increased from 28 to 36). Talk about super-sizing your insider influence.
So the Restaurant Association and its biggest members together have more than a hundred “insider trading” lobbyists pushing their agenda in Congress. How many do minimum wage workers have, again?
If it seems surprisingly hard to raise the minimum wage, despite overwhelming public support, we’ll know why. The restaurant industry’s legions of revolving door lobbyists are trading on their insider influence to keep any wage increase right where the NRA wants it: in the deep freezer.
LeeAnn Hall is the executive director of the Alliance for a Just Society, a national organizing and policy network that works with state-based organizations to build campaigns for economic and racial equity. Saru Jayaraman is the Director of the Food Labor Research Center at UC Berkeley, the author of national best-seller Behind the Kitchen Door, and co-founder & co-director of Restaurant Opportunities Centers United (ROC United).
This opinion piece first appeared in The Hill.
Read more: http://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/labor/202621-revolving-door-slams-on-minimum-wage-hike#ixzz2y7zvw2Tw
One of the first to adopt paid sick days
The first to pass a $15 minimum wage
Legalized marijuana to reduce criminalization
and now many of these changes are taking root throughout the country.
We’ll talk about seizing power and making change at the local level. We know that our future and our prosperity will change only by building a powerful base.
Join us for workshops on racial justice, fundraising, power mapping, communications strategy, and money in politics.
PLUS we are planning a special Town Hall meeting with some of the key players in the $15 minimum wage fight in Seattle. Why and how is Seattle leading the way? What can you do in your city? You won’t want to miss it!
Immigration Reform: Voices of small towns and rural communities
The Truth About Family Debt: Student loans, medical bills, housing, credit cards: where is our nation headed?
Disappearing Democracy: People everywhere are losing their right to vote.
Plenty of fun, music, food, exchange of ideas, inspiration, new connections, lively discussions, great people, and an action – all in Seattle.
The National Restaurant Association is a lobbying powerhouse in Washington, D.C. and a leading opponent of efforts to raise the minimum wage. A new analysis by the Alliance for a Just Society and Restaurant Opportunities Centers United uncovers the “secret sauce” behind the NRA’s success: a heaping helping of insider influence.
In The Hill this week, LeeAnn Hall, executive director of the Alliance, and Saru Jayaraman, author of “Behind the Kitchen Door,” discuss how lobbyists are spinning an anti-minimum wage campaign. Our research shows that the National Restaurant Association and its biggest corporate members have super-sized their investment in revolving door lobbyists – Washington’s version of insider trading.
Click here for the full analysis.
Continue reading “Anti-Minimum Wage Restaurant Association Serving Up Powerful Lobbyists”