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Labor's Edge Articles by Stacey Hendler Ross
5/2/12
“Raise the Wage San Jose” Campaign Advances Despite Chamber of Commerce Interference
by Stacey Hendler Ross
Despite apparent efforts by the San Jose/Silicon Valley Chamber of Commerce to twist the potential effects of an increased minimum wage, the city-wide minimum wage measure is now one step closer to reality. The San Jose City Council voted yesterday to study the fiscal impact of the issue, and several council members voiced their support for adopting the ordinance outright, avoiding a public vote.
The Council directed city staff to include a memo from Council Member Donald Rocha to make sure council has a clear view of how the measure would affect workers and local businesses before they decide whether to adopt it or send it on to voters in November.
3/30/12
‘Raise The Wage San Jose’ Collects 35,000 Signatures
by Stacey Hendler Ross
What started as a school project for a San Jose State University sociology class has turned into an organized campaign to change San Jose law regarding what lowest hourly wage workers must be paid.
A coalition of community organizations and social justice groups is supporting the campaign to raise the minimum wage in San Jose from $8 to $10 an hour. Supporters of the initiative were required to collect a little over 19,000 signatures to qualify the measure for the November 2012 ballot. They have collected more than 35,000, which were delivered to the San Jose City Clerk’s office for verification.
3/7/12
“A Whole Lot of Crazy”: San Jose City Council Moves Forward With Pension Ballot Measure
by Stacey Hendler Ross
After more than 2 hours of angry public testimony and a contentious debate among council members, the San Jose City Council voted 8 to 3 to go forward with an illegal ballot measure o
n pension reform in the June 5 Primary Election.
Council members essentially ignored the pleas of dozens of city workers, community leaders and other San Jose residents to allow further negotiations with city workers and a state audit to establish clear future pension obligations, before bringing the issue to voters. The ballot measure would effectively kill collective bargaining rights for city workers.
2/3/12
San Jose State University Students Launch Campaign to Raise Minimum Wage
by Stacey Hendler Ross
What began as a class project has turned into a formal effort to get an initiative on the November ballot that would raise the minimum wage in San Jose by 25 percent, from $8 to $10 an hour. Students from a San Jose State University sociology class decided wages for working people in San Jose weren’t covering even the minimum needs, and they took the project into the real world.
Leila McCabe is a senior who was in Scott Myers-Lipton's Social Action class last semester and has worked several low-paying jobs. She told the San Jose Mercury News, "We're all struggling with paying rent and bills. To find out San Jose is behind in paying people better wages was a shock to us."