Blog / Low wages
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Agata & Valentina's neighbors sign open letter
Yesterday, hundreds of community members living near Agata and Valentina signed an open letter to the owners (Joe Musco and Louis Balducci) asking the employer to reflect on working conditions at the store during this religious week, the letter read: "During this meaningful week of Passover and Easter holidays, our families take time to reflect upon the hardships faced by workers in our community. We are alarmed to learn that people who serve us so well in your store are suffering from sbstandard workplace conditions..." You can view the entire open letter here. When the community learned about the real working conditions inside the store the response was clear, they wanted change.
"The community had a very emotional response when talking about the treatment of workers inside the store" said Wendy Weiner, campaign coordinator for UFCW's Building Blocks Project.
We'll post video soon of yesterday's event. Stay up to date by signing up for updates from the Building Blocks Project by clicking here, or become a fan on Facebook.
We'll post video soon of yesterday's event.
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NYS Food Policy Report
FOOD POLICY COUNCIL ISSUES REPORT TO GOVERNOR PATERSON
Report Offers Food Policy Recommendations, Outlines Council’s Activities
The New York State Council on Food Policy today issued its annual report to Governor David A. Paterson. The report, required by Executive Order #13, includes a summary of the Council’s activities over the past year, as well as its recommendations on food policy for 2009 and proposed steps needed to implement the recommendations.
Over the past year, the Council held seven listening sessions around the State, gathering public testimony on the following four priority food policy areas.
· Maximizing participation in food and nutrition assistance programs;
· Strengthening the connection between local food products and consumers;
· Supporting efficient and profitable agricultural food production and food retail infrastructure and;
· Increasing consumer awareness and knowledge about healthy eating; and improving consumer access to safe and nutritious food.An overarching recommendation involves the creation of publicly available inventories of available food, nutrition and agricultural services in New York State. This data will serve as a foundation upon which to build targeted food policy recommendations.
For a copy of the Council on Food Policy’s annual report and all of its recommendations, please visit www.nyscfp.org and click on “Report to Governor”.
The New York State Council on Food Policy was created in 2007 with the recognition that in New York State, agriculture is a critically important industry; that hunger is a serious problem facing many families; that access to affordable, fresh and nutritious food is a serious problem, especially affecting children; and that there are significant environmental, health and economic benefits to the State and its residents from expanding agricultural production. At no time in recent history are these matters more prevalent in society than present.
To learn more about the Council on Food Policy, visit http://www.nyscfp.org or contact the New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets at 518-485-7728.
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Retail Employs Most, Pays Least
Dwoskin, Elizabeth. "Retail Employees Lead City's Low-Wage Workers," The Village Voice. 5:20 PM, December 23, 2008
If the clerks, cashiers, and order-pickers in the stores where you bought your presents looked stressed, it's not just because working retail during Christmas week sucks. A study released today by the non-profit Fiscal Policy Institute shows that retail is the industry sector that employs the biggest chunk of the 1.3 million low- wage workers in this city -- that is, workers earning less than $13 per hour. Nearly half of these 176,000 low-wage retail workers earn less than $10 an hour, and the majority lack health insurance.
While people tend to stereotype retail workers as teenagers looking for extra cash or Williamsburg hipsters diddling around till their art careers take off, most New York retail workers are over 35 and work full-time. Ninety thousand children in New York City have parents that work in retail, and in many cases that parent is their sole provider.
The Insitute also reports that, as a consequence, retail workers also receive a larger share of public assistance than workers in other categories -- so their misery costs you money, too -- and suggests that when retailers look for "tax subsidies and subsidized loans" (hint, hint, Wal-Mart!), the city should hold out for a better deal for workers. "Even in an economic downturn," the report says, " improving the wages and working conditions of retail workers is not an impractical abstraction."