SORRY!

With the elections behind us, CEJ will be more diligent regarding posts more regularly. Our apologies. We have been pounding turf, knocking on doors, and building power throughout the East Side. Through the efforts of groups like CEJ and others sharing the same model for civic engagement and voter turnout, turned record numbers of voters out to the polls.

Not only did we witness a historic moment at the Federal Level, but the NY State Senate also flipped to the Democrats for the first time in 40 years.

But our work CANNOT stop here. Our candidates have made commitments and promises, and we have to hold their feet to the fire. Holding elected officials accountable is a clear objective of CEJ. So, continue to put pressure on your elected officials.

Our work is far from over. Let us spend sometime celebrating our immense victories, but quickly, we must turn towards theState Budget Cuts, the fast decline of the American Automobile Industry, and the National Economic Crisis that will need repairing for years to come. Our democracy must now be defined by ALL the people, but this cannot happen unless we stick with our mission; to address poverty and build power for all workers through direct action, policy change, and civic engagement.


On another note.
Here are some hits in the media from the last few months worthy of reading or watching.




Buffalo Reacts to the Bailout-October '08

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dW2eUwFeUnc\

Buffalo News-Looking for a Blueprint to Fight Poverty in Buffalo-November '08

http://www.buffalonews.com/home/story/488434.html

Oldie but a Goodie-Al Jazeera's piece on Buffalo-Summer '08

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uTclUmYQMYQ

Walking the Walk, Not Just Talking the Talk

Following the last Board of Education meeting of the summer, the Transportation Aides of Buffalo, one of the groups demanding the passage of a living wage policy, requested that the members of the Board of Education try to walk in their shoes for two weeks. The statement was incredibly simple, yet incredibly powerful. "I’m asking for one of you to stand in my shoes for two weeks, make the income that I do and pay your bills. Decide whether or not you should fill your prescriptions or feed your family. Try putting gas in your car, because I don’t have one,” said Betty Martin, President of the Transportation Aides of Buffalo (TAB).

Surprisingly, Board Member Ralph Hernandez offered to take Betty up on her offer. Sort of. He asked to ride along with her on one her daily routes and get a sense of the challenges she and the other bus aides face, ranging from low wages to violence on the bus.

We commend Ralph for taking this first step towards gaining perspective regarding the critical and difficult service the bus aides provide.

On another note, EMT's, Intermediates and Paramedics at Rural Metro Medical Services voted down a recent contract proposal. Their contract with Rural Metro expired on June 30th. The proposed contract was actually a 1 year extension of the prior 5 years contract. The members of Teamsters 375 felt that the company insisted upon dictating the terms of future negotiations and the company has thus far refused to negotiate a full contract until a lawsuit under Buffalo's Living Wage Ordinance is settled.

The most disturbing element to these negotiations is the Company's refusal to discuss a full contract based on the outstanding lawsuit, particularly because the lawsuit was brought against the company by EMT's, not the Union. The Buffalo Living Wage Ordinance clearly states that anyone who contracts with the city (contracts-exchange of money for services) is required to pay their employees the living wage. Rural Metro has insisted that they are in fact not covered by the law and continue to pay their employees minimum wage.

The service that the EMT's, the Intermediates, and the Paramedics is crucial. First responders are responsible for saving lives. It appears that company believes more in profit (of which they are making plenty off of the backs of these workers) than in the safety and well being of their employees.

Rural Metro and the Teamsters hope to return to the bargaining table early next week.

Take Action! Last Board of Education Meeting July 8th-Be there!

Buffalo School District Cannot Afford Not to Pay Employees a Living Wage
Living Wage supporters ask the Board of Education to Seize the Opportunity to Pass a Living Wage Policy


Living Wage legislation has been an integral part the anti-poverty movement since the 1990’s, starting in Baltimore, Maryland in 1994. The cornerstone to the Living Wage Movement throughout the country is the recognition that through investing in low wage workers, we are in turn investing in the stability of our own communities. The city of Buffalo adopted a Living Wage Law in 1999, covering all city and contracted employees. In a short time, the living wage allowed individuals to purchase their own vehicles, keep up with inflation and returned dignity to their work. We commend the city for doing the right thing. And now we ask the Board of Education and the Superintendent to also do the right thing.

On Tuesday, July 8th, parents, students, Buffalo School District Employees and Living Wage supporters will gather on the steps of City Hall to continue to put pressure on members of the Board of Education to pass a Living Wage Policy. Food Service Workers, Transportation Aides of Buffalo, and the Coalition for Economic Justice have been working diligently to pass a Living Wage Policy that would lift over a thousand workers out of poverty. Currently these workers receive no benefits and make as little as $7.52. These numbers make for approximately $15,600 year, a figure that is clearly too little to survive on.

The broad coalition of living wage supporters has requested that the finance committee bring the Living Wage policy to the floor for a full vote from members of the Board of Education. As preparation for the upcoming school year begins, we ask that the Board of Education act on behalf of the communities they represent, which includes these one thousand (1,000) plus workers and pass this critical piece of legislation.

What: Press Conference to encourage the Board of Education to pass Living Wage Policy
Where: Steps of City Hall

When: Tuesday July 8th, 2008 at 5pm
Who: Coalition for Economic Justice, Transportation Aides of Buffalo, VOICE Buffalo,
PUSH Buffalo, Seasonal Sanitation Workers, Parents, Students, and Food Service
Workers.

IDA Reform-Another Voice Editorial from Buffalo News

Reform will hold IDAs accountable and help Buffalo
By Lou Jean Fleron Updated: 06/25/08 6:49 AM

In the first hot sun of June, citizens rallied in front of the Erie County Industrial Development Agency on Oak Street behind a banner that read “Living Wages for a Livable City.” Passing traffic in old and new cars, delivery vans and 18-wheelers honked their votes for decent jobs and living wages.

Those votes need to be translated into the passage of Assemblyman Sam Hoyt’s IDA reform legislation that will establish job standards, accountability measures, transparency procedures and environmental standards in exchange for public subsidies to private businesses.

Across New York, local IDAs deal with our money, handing out more than $400 million per year in tax breaks, too often providing subsidies that fail to promote real economic development and do not deliver the jobs they promise.

Quality job standards are good for workers, for communities, and also for business. The top 10 “pro-business states” — Virginia, South Carolina, Florida, North Carolina, Utah, Wyoming, South Dakota, Alabama, Georgia and Nebraska — all have enacted wage standards on development subsidies.
Prevailing wage requirements also benefit taxpayers and working families. A recent study of Federal Highway Administration data found that costs per mile of highway are lower among those states which pay higher hourly wages. Because of higher productivity, the high-wage states averaged over $30,000 per mile savings to taxpayers.

Here in the Queen City, the second poorest city in America, nearly 29 percent of us live in poverty. Good jobs with health care, benefits and pensions continue to disappear. Auto workers are forced to take “buy downs” to gradually lower their standard of living to satisfy the insatiable greed of global capital markets.
Poverty, joblessness and inequality are the reasons we have economic development policies. We cannot afford to continue to perpetuate these conditions by continuing to subsidize failure. Upstate New Yorkers need good jobs, not just any jobs, as a return on our investment in business development.

In this celebrated and proud blue-collar town, people spontaneously support wages that allow families to live self-sufficiently, educate their children, buy their homes and contribute to their communities. When we give up tax revenues needed for schools, roads, parks, libraries, public safety and public health, we expect to receive in exchange living wage jobs.

The drive-by living wage supporters on Oak Street honked in solidarity because in Buffalo we stand, as Tim Russert said, “side by side, shoulder by shoulder.” Our history and our experiences teach us that a strong local economy will be built only on good jobs that attract and retain a skilled work force. That is the primary purpose of IDAs. It is time we held them accountable.

Lou Jean Fleron is director of workforce, industry and economic development at the Cornell University Industrial and Labor Relations School in Buffalo.

So what is a Living Wage and why Buffalo should care.

Living Wage enforcement and expansion is the cornerstone to CEJ's work in WNY. For 10 years we have fought with the City to enforce a city living wage ordinance passed unanimously by the Common Council in the late 90's. The Ordinance requires the city to pay all of their employees a living wage as well as require any business that contracts with the city to pay their employees a living wage. The Ordinance has changed over the years to include a cost of living index, meaning the living wage would be annually assessed based on inflation, and a volunteer Living Wage Commission, which to date is one of the few that exists in country despite over 150 Living Wage laws on the books.

We should be clear, the law is not in place to bankrupt the city. Economists, activists, public officials, community representatives and workers have spent years exploring the impact of Living Wages on municipalities and have found that it does not bankrupt a city, it does not drive business away or our of certain locations, but rather lifts hardworking low wage workers out of poverty. Low income individuals are proven to spend more, not invest or hold their money like the wealthy, and therefore the simple economics state that they will spend more in their communities, bolstering local businesses and having a deep impact on the city's economic rise.

So why the backlash or lack of support for Living Wages? Buffalo's economic decline is legendary in WNY. The once booming city with more millionaires per capita, has felt the devastating blow of globalization, poor zoning laws, ineffectual elected officials, and with that the overwhelming hopelessness that accompanies severe economic decline. And now we are the second poorest city in the nation. Thousands of vacant properties stand idly by and rot, both the edifices themselves as well as the fabric of the communities, city officials are grabbing at silver bullet opportunities to redefine our economic engines, and people are fleeing the city for the outlying suburbs and beyond.

CEJ believes that community based economic development must be the focus of our administration, and this concept includes paying living wages. The city law has it's exemptions, non-profits can absolutely apply for an exemption, businesses with less than 10 employees are automatically exempt, as are businesses that contract with the city for less than $50,000. The businesses that fall under the Living Wage Ordinance CAN AFFORD to pay their employees a wage that can help jump start our local economy. We see a national recession, no question, but do question who is financially receding....it's not the top 5%, the wealthy. It's the middle class and it's the poor.

The Living Wage in Buffalo is calculated based on the lifting a family of 3 out of poverty, based on the economic situation of Buffalo. 2008's Living Wage stands at $9.90 if the employer offers health benefits, and $11.11 without health care. An individual making NYS minimum wage and working 40 hours will bring in a salary of $14,872. An individual making a Living Wage without health benefits will have a salary of $23,108.

Those that have seen their paychecks rise since the Living Wage Ordinance was passed have shared what they are able to do now that they were unable to do before. It ranges from simply being able to do their own laundry to purchasing a car or a home. The undercurrent to the increased financial liberties is the increased sense of dignity around their job. Considering the amount of time Americans spend working, shouldn't we feel good about what we do? Isn't that something we are all entitled to?

It's crucial that we rethink our priorities. Buffalo may never be the booming city we hear fairy tales about, but it doesn't mean that we can't pull ourselves out of this economically depressed chasm and be a great city again. We have to shift from "growth obsessed" policies to community based neighborhood revitalization policies. Dignified employment through expanding Living Wage policies is real and imperative step towards such a paradigm shift.

The NYS Legislative Session Ends

The NYS Legislature has a adjourned for the season leaving several important bills sitting to be decided on at a later date. We now await Gov. Patterson's decision on some important legislation including weakening the grip of the County Control Board as well as the City Control Board. Below is an article from the Buffalo News which gives a nice breakdown of what successfully moved through the Senate and Assembly and which pieces have been placed aside for the time being.

It should be noted that CEJ has worked with a broad coalition throughout the state on Industrial Development Agency Reform. The coalition firmly believes that if public money is used for development projects, construction workers should be paid industry standards or a prevailing wage and employees of publicly subsidized businesses should be paid a living wage. This reform is a critical to healthy economic development for all; businesses, employees, and the communities.

The provisions that allow IDAs to fund “civic facilities” projects remain expired. The provisions originally expired in July of 2007 for three weeks before being extended 7 months to allow the legislature and governor time outside of session to reach agreement on a comprehensive reform package. When no compromise was reached, the provisions expired on January 31, 2008. The legislature did not agree on a re-authorization or extender before leaving Albany yesterday.

The Reform bill is separate from the the Legislature's decision not to pass an extender on low-interest loans for non-profits. That is absolutely a terrible by-product of the Legislature's inability to find common ground and the Senate to present a similar Bill to the Hoyt passed in the Assembly.

State Legislature ends a wild, bizarre session
Key bills affecting upstate left on floor
By Tom Precious - NEWS ALBANY BUREAUUpdated: 06/25/08 8:39 AM
ALBANY — Key measures affecting the upstate economy died Tuesday as Gov. David A. Paterson and legislative leaders ended this year’s legislative session, one of the more bizarre periods highlighted by the departure of its two biggest power brokers.

Left undone was an effort to lift what in a week will be a ban for hundreds of non-union companies from bidding on government construction projects. The lawmakers also did not renew a law giving civic groups, schools, hospitals and others access to low-interest financing, leaving in doubt a number of Western New York projects.

The issue of rising property taxes, so prominent with voters, was pushed aside for another day.
Before limping out of town after pushing through hundreds of bills in the past two days with little or no debate, lawmakers approved measures weakening the power of control boards for Buffalo and Erie County and backing a $300 million new phase of construction for Buffalo’s schools.

But a measure tightening restrictions for teen drivers, which advocates expected to be easily approved, was killed at the last minute by Republicans in the Senate.
The bill, coming after a spate of high-profile fatal accidents involving teen drivers, would have reduced from two to one the number of nonfamily members under the age of 21 who are permitted in a car driven by a 16-or 17-year-old driver. The bill also would have increased supervised training before a teen can get a license.


State Legislature scorecard
Measures done Tuesday:

•Weaken powers of Buffalo and Erie County control boards•Tougher rules for teenage drivers•Encourage cleanup of polluted brownfield sites•Expand domestic violence orders of protection to dating couples•New binding arbitration and union dues guarantees•Quadrupling mortgage and other local government recording fees

Measures not done Tuesday:

•Tax cap on property taxes•Collecting taxes on Native American tobacco sales•Permit low-finance borrowing for stalled not-for-profit developments•Make it easier for non-union firms to bid on public construction projects•Campaign finance reform•State gasoline tax relief•Permitting cameras in high-volume intersections in Buffalo

The six-month session ended nothing like it began: with a new governor, Paterson, who replaced the disgraced Eliot Spitzer in March, and new Senate majority leader, Dean Skelos, who was voted Tuesday evening as the Legislature’s top Republican following Monday’s surprising retirement announcement by Sen. Joseph L. Bruno.

In the Senate, Bruno addressed an emotional, packed chamber Tuesday, breaking down in tears. An hour later, Skelos was elected majority leader.

The session turned out to be a major victory for labor unions.

They pushed back an attempt to cap property taxes and on Tuesday dealt a final blow to two measures that set up a divisive fight between organized labor and business interests. They won passage of a new binding arbitration bill for court employees, additional rights for workers when a factory or plant closes, and a permanent law requiring nonunion government employees to pay union dues.

Screaming loudest, though, were not-for-profit and civic groups, who were caught in the crossfire between business and labor.

“It’s affecting progress. In our case, this is a major impediment,” said D. John Bray, a spokesman at D’Youville College in Buffalo, which will now either be forced to delay its $20 million construction on a new pharmacy building or seek higher-priced financing.
At issue was extension of a law that expired Jan. 31 giving access to lower-cost financing through local industrial development agencies to D’Youville and other schools, nursing homes, housing groups and other not-for-profits.

The groups were seen as a bargaining chip for a union-backed bill by Assemblyman Sam Hoyt, D-Buffalo, requiring such IDA projects to pay prevailing wage rates to construction workers, which critics say would have sharply driven up development costs by as much as 30 percent.

In the end, neither side blinked, and the elapsed law remains dead — leaving not-for-profit groups scrambling to either kill construction plans or redraw them. The impasse will affect a range of groups, including Tapestry Charter School in Buffalo to Women and Children’s Hospital.

Also left on the floor Tuesday was an effort to undo changes to the state’s Wicks Law, which regulates public construction projects. Critics say the new law, which kicks in July 1, will bar many nonunion firms from bidding on such projects. Upstate, 70 percent of companies are nonunion, they said.

The bill is likely to affect dozens of small and midsize construction companies in the Buffalo area that do business with governments to construct schools, libraries or other public works.

Other items left on the floor as legislators left included Buffalo’s attempt to install cameras at high-volume intersections as a way to collect revenues and reduce accidents. A Rochester lawmaker, David Gantt, who is friends with a lobbyist promoting an alternative bill, killed the measure.

A new move to collect taxes on cigarette sales by Indian retailers, thought to be a sure thing Friday, died after tobacco companies suddenly opposed it.

The Legislature on Tuesday night also approved, as expected, a $300 million borrowing plan for the fourth phase of a school construction program in Buffalo; the latest will fund renovation of 10 schools.
The Buffalo control board measure will, if approved by Paterson, effectively end the direct power of the state-created panel over the city’s finances. Under the terms of the bill, the control board would go to an advisory state.

For Erie County, lawmakers gave final approval to a bill permitting the county to borrow money without needing the permission of its control board.

On Monday, the Senate confirmed Robert Wilmers, chairman of M&T Bank, as the new chairman of the Empire State Development Corp., the state’s chief economic development agency. Wilmers takes over the unpaid post at a time when Paterson is trying to restructure the agency to improve its job creation performance.