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Coalition for Economic Justice
Upcoming
Wednesday, September 19 Thursday & Friday, September 26-27, 2007 Questions? CEJ works on six campaigns: living wage implementation, welfare reform monitoring, securing sweatfree schools, mobilizing the community around local labor struggles, addressing corporate globalization and fighting for real health care reform. Call the office if you would like to receive Just Work, CEJ's quarterly newsletter. Visit CEJ's web site: www.buffalojwj.org News The need for strong enforcement and further expansion of Buffalo's Living Wage Ordinance was the theme of the 2007 40-Hour FAST. After breaking their fast with bread and juice at St. Anthony's Roman Catholic Church on March 7, 2007, about 35 supporters walked to City Hall to present petitions with over 1,000 signatures to Mayor Brown and Common Council members. Archives Living Wage supporters rallied on the steps of City Hall on May 15, 2006, demanding that Common Council members not approve an exemption for Rural/ Metro Medical Services, a profitable and growing corporation.(Rural/ Metro had profits of over $141 million in the second quarter of 2006, yet starting EMTs for Rural/ Metro are earning as little as $7.90/ hour.) The Living Wage Ordinance in the City of Buffalo, passed in 1999. It is now managed and enforced by a volunteer commission. In 2004 the living wage rate was $9.03 or $10.15 for employees not receiving health benefits. The 20th Anniversary Awards Banquet on May 19, 2006 was a great success. Congratulations to Angela Jordon for her leadership in the CBTU Mentorship Program, Dan Boody for his tireless work in the labor movement and Rachel Wilson for her work on the UBSAS campaign to secure living wages for UB custodial staff. Allison Duwe joined CEJ as executive director in December 2005. Also welcome Micaela Shapirio-Shellaby, new project coordinator/ office manager. The CEJ/ WNYCOSH banquet took place on June 18, 2004. Honored at the event were Rev. Bob Grimm and Jim Duncan, WNYCOSH founders, and Jennifer Walsh. WYNCOSH is the Western New York Council on Occupational Safety and Health. A Health Care Candidates Forum, held on October 5, 2004, included release of the "Waste Not, Want Not" report by national Jobs with Justice. The Western New York Health Care Campaign sponsored the forum and issued a printed voter guide showing candidates' positions on health care. Some 50 parking garage workers were the first to receive raises as the result of the city of Buffalo's living wage ordinance! It stipulates that all employers who have a contract with the city of Buffalo in excess of $50,000 and who employ more than 10 people must pay their employees a living wage. On July 22, 2003, Buffalo Common Council members unamimously passed a revised living wage law, ending a two-year court fight! CEJ and other advocates challenged the city's decision not to enforce the original law that was approved by the Council in 1999. The revised law DOES include creating a commission to monitor enforcement. A Worker Rights Board Forum: the State of Health Care in Western New York convened in fall 2003. Call CEJ for a copy of Just Work (summer issue) featuring "Grassroots Action for Your Health by Patty DeVinney. A public fast for justice began on March 4, 2003 to demand that workers get their Living Wage. The chain fast began at a Living Wage Public Forum and Action at Mount Olive Baptist Church on E. Delavan Ave. in Buffalo. The 17th Anniversary Banquet at Buffalo Convention Center was held on May 9. CEJ was especially pleased to honor Emanual Fried, activist and union organizer, award-winning author of "The Un-American, " playwright and former UE organizer, with the first-ever Lifetime Achievement Award. At a Candle Light Prayer Vigil for Wal-Mart Workers on March 13, 2003, clergy and supporters gathered outside the parking area of the Wal-Mart at 5033 Transit Road, Williamsville, for prayer, song and testimony as part of the Annual 40-hour Fast. The event was sponsored by the Coalition for Economic Justice and UFCW Local 1. Visit the web site of WYNSAP (Western New York Sweatshop Awareness Project) to see the variety and range of projects undertaken by youth organizers. Students from Buffalo-area schools work on school-based and area-wide projects such as a "Fashion Show of Horrors" and a "Write-a-thon" against Fast Track. WYNSAP is a collaborative effort of CEJ and the Western New York Council on Occupational Safety and Health. Their benefit screening of Señorita Extraviada, Missing Young Woman at Buffalo City Honors High School was well-attended on Oct. 24, 2002. The documentary is about murders of 300 young women in Cuidad Juarez. Almost $2000 was raised to benefit the Coalition for Justice in the Maquiladoras (CJM). Marta Ojeda of CJM and Maureen Casey of the NYS Labor-Religion Coalition's International Project spoke at the event. The group also raised consumer awareness about exploitation of workers outside the Walden Galleria mall on Sept. 4. Click here to see a Buffalo News article about the back-to-school action Shortly before the July anniversary date of the 1999 living wage ordinance in Buffalo, the City Common Council amended the legislation. All enforcement responsibility was removed from the city and the responsibility fell to individual workers to bring suit against employers for failing to pay the mandated "living wage". Also taken out of the legislation was the city's responsibility to even notify employers of the legislation or the employer's responsibility to even post the mandated wage (as in prevailing wage legislation). CEJ continues their lawsuit against the city, and the judge ruled in August that the city did have to turn over all documents relating to city contracts or face the possibility of monetary fines. According to Joan Malone, Western NY Regional Coordinator
of the NYS Labor-Religion Coalition, "What we've all learned is that implementation
of living wage statutes is far more difficult than is winning passage of the legislation
itself. This is true in many, if not most, US municipalities. Buffalo is the only
city currently engaged in a civil lawsuit to force implementation. It's clear
that other cities are watching and our winning or not will have profound impact
on other cities and other advocacy groups around the country. " CEJ
is supporting the million postcard campaign for immigrant rights, an SEIU 200
campaign in connection with services for disabled adults and an effort relating
to hours and staffing at an upper west side health clinic. CEJ's Sixteenth Anniversary Banquet on May 17, 2002, honored Daniel Cross with the Future of Justice Award, CWA 14177, the New Era Cap Company workers with the Norman Harper Award. Keynote speaker was Fred Azcarate of Jobs with Justice. "Hats off to New Era Cap/ CWA Strikers for their successful contract" was news across the country after June 3. CWA #14177 workers were on strike for 11 months. Click here to read the Communication Workers of America news release about the contract set for ratification on June 21. Charles Kernaghan of the National Labor Committee visited Buffalo on November 5, 2001 as part of his national tour with garment workers from Bangladesh. The NLC report, "Bangladesh... Ending the Race to the Bottom" October 2001) and other information about the campaign is available via the National Labor Committee web site.
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