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The Partnership is bringing light to the waste and recycling industry’s potential to be a powerful channel for good jobs and green development. At the annual Economic Analysis and Research Network (EARN) conference the week of December 10, we organized a workshop to share strategies our network has developed to transform the industry in a way that builds strong local economies.
In November, the City of Los Angeles took a transformative step toward a pro-community, pro-worker, and pro-environment system for managing its trash by adopting Don’t Waste LA’s proposal for an exclusive franchise agreement for commercial and multi-family waste. City Council’s bold action will advance the City’s march toward zero waste, stop rate-gouging for small businesses, help communities of color impacted by waste facilities, and create new hope for the workers who handle our trash.
On Black Friday, shoppers looking for holiday bargains weren’t the only ones at Walmart. Walmart workers and supporters rallied in 1,000 protests across 46 states. The actions had two goals: educating shoppers about the abysmal working conditions in Wal-Mart stores and suppliers; and showing strong solidarity to prevent Walmart bosses from retaliating against participating workers.
A broad-based labor-community coalition, in close partnership with the City of Oakland, has finalized a groundbreaking construction careers program for the $400 million revitalization of the Oakland Army Base.
Clergy and community leaders with ISAIAH, a Partnership affiliate, celebrated the defeat of the voter restriction amendment in Minnesota early November 7, after months of talking with religious voters in their congregations and neighborhoods.
In California, an unprecedented statewide coalition turned around the state’s history of regressive tax measures and won two crucial statewide victories:
Proposition 30 passed with 54% support to raise $6-9 billion annually for California schools and restore cuts to vital programs and services. Having wealthy Californians pay their fair share will bring equity to the tax system.
In a move towards a stronger economy for San Jose, voters overwhelmingly approved a measure to increase the minimum wage in the city from $8 to $10 an hour. Measure D drew 59% of the vote in a race where opponents outspent supporters by more than 2 to 1.
Long Beach hotel workers and community activists made history on November 6, passing a living wage ballot measure that will help lift 2,000 people in that city's tourism industry out of poverty.
The devoted work of Santa Ana residents to create a path for greater community input in local development paid off October 15 with the passage of the “Sunshine Ordinance” by the Santa Ana City Council.
ITPI's Donald Cohen Speaks at Conference
Partnership for Working Families | October 24, 2012As the ongoing privatization of public sector work continues to influence the lives of more and more Americans, In the Public Interest, a project of the Partnership, continues to provide people with the knowledge to recognize the risks of privatization and the tools to fight against these risks. On October 15, Donald Cohen, chair of the project, spoke at the LIUNA Pacific Southwest Regional Conference in Monterey, CA on these issues.