By Grassroots DC, on November 27th, 2013 Jewish Voice for Peace will take advantage of Black Friday (the biggest shopping day of the year), Chanukah and the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People to educate DC shoppers about the injustice of the Israeli occupation, ask shoppers to refuse to buy SodaStream products, and call on local store managers to tell their corporate headquarters to stop stocking the products. Join Us!
WHY BOYCOTT SODASTREAM?
SodaStream markets itself as an environmentally friendly product to “Turn Water Into Fresh Sparkling Water And Soda”… but there is nothing friendly about the destruction of Palestinian life, land and water resources!
SodaStream is an Israeli corporation that produces all of its carbonation devices in an illegal settlement in the West Bank. All Israeli settlements exist in direct contravention to international law! This settlement company obscures its true illegal origin by marking its products “Made in Israel”, however “made in an illegal Israeli settlement” is more like it.
By Grassroots DC, on September 16th, 2013 On Friday, September 13th, the day after the Mayor vetoed the Large Retailer Accountability Act, the Nonprofit Quarterly (NPQ) posed the question, “Will Nonprofits Join D.C. City Council’s Plan to Require Walmart to Pay a Living Wage?”
One response that came to our attention is from the Washington Legal Clinic for the Homeless, an organization whose mission is to “to use the law to make justice a reality for our neighbors who struggle with homelessness and poverty.” Here’s some of what they had to say:
In a city where a worker earning the current minimum wage of $8.25/hour would have to work 132 hours each week to afford the fair market rent on a 2 bedroom apartment, the prospect of a $12.50/hour wage could mean the difference between remaining a District resident or being forced to abandon a life-long home in DC for a less expensive jurisdiction. A livable wage is key to addressing the crisis of homelessness in the nation’s capital. Families and individuals who are homeless are not going to be able to earn their way out of shelter in a community where housing costs are as high as in DC, unless they are able to earn a better wage than the law presently mandates.
One of the Mayor’s cited reasons for vetoing the LRAA in his letter to the DC Council is that it would only raise the minimum wage for a small fraction of the District’s workforce. While we absolutely support a higher living wage bill for all DC workers, the LRAA is an important step forward in allowing District workers to make a wage that will actually let them live in the place they have called home their entire lives. (For a point by point response to Mayor Gray’s stance against the LRAA, read the DC Fiscal Policy Institute’s blog.)
For the full article, see: “Save Money. Live Better.” Just Not DC Workers?” (…With Housing and Justice for All blog | 9-13-2013)
“Will Nonprofits Join D.C. City Council’s Plan to Require Walmart to Pay a Living Wage?” (Nonprofit Quarterly | 9-13-2013)
By Guest Contributor, on September 13th, 2013  Yesterday DC Mayor Vincent Gray caved in to pressure by Big Business and vetoed the Large Retailer Accountability Act. We are not surprised but yet we are very angry and disappointed. Let’s focus our energies on making sure we get the 9th vote we need to override the Mayor’s spineless veto.
The final step for the campaign is focused on getting the 9th vote from Tommy Wells, Ward 6 Council member who theoretically supports a living wage bill and is running for mayor. There are three things that people can do to help move Tommy Wells to vote for the interests of the people of DC and not for Big Business.
- Call Tommy Wells and get others to do the same. 888-264-6154 Tell him to support the living wage bill and vote to override the veto.
- Attend Tommy Wells’ Town Hall meeting scheduled for this Sunday at 2:00 pm. The event is to focused on public safety but we’ll respectfully insist that he publicly address his position on the LRAA before the override vote on Tuesday, September 17th.
When: Sunday, September 15 | 2:00 pm
Where: Anacostia Playhouse
2020 Shannon Pl SE, Washington, DC 20020
And finally,
- Attend rally and press conference on the date of the Council override vote and show your support!
When: Tuesday, September 17 | Noon
Where: At the steps of the Wilson Building
1350 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW.
Cross-posted with permission from the AFL-CIO.
By Grassroots DC, on September 10th, 2013  By now we’ve told you how the bill made its way through Council, the heavy-duty organizing and coalition-building that’s taken place over the summer, and even how you can get involved — no matter how you feel about the bill.
We’ve heard strong opinions for and against the bill in Council, hints from the Mayor on how he’ll vote, and continued threats from Walmart to leave DC and drop development if the Large Retailer Accountability Act (i.e. the LRAA or “Living Wage” bill) were signed into law. In other words, we know pretty well how the politicians and corporate executives feel. But what about those most impacted by the bill, like DC residents and retail employees themselves?
GrassrootsDC brings you this mixtape of voices collected from actions in support of the Living Wage bill across the District. We hope you enjoy!
Living Wage Bill Mixtape
Mixed with Head Roc’s 2012 track “Keep DC Walmart Free,” these are the voices of:
Reverend Virginia Williams (native Washingtonian, Ward 7 resident),
Kimberly Mitchell (Macy’s employee, UFCW Local400 member, lifelong Ward 7 resident,),
Tonya C. (former Walmart employee, fired from a Laural, MD location),
Cindy Murray (13 year Walmart associate at Hyattsville, MD store, member of OUR Walmart),
Mike Wilson (organizer with RespectDC), and
Inocencio Quinones (Ward 7 resident and organizer with OurDC)
We thank everyone who contributed to this mixtape, including all the speakers listed above, Head Roc for the musical element, and the folks that live-streamed a protest from a Hyattsville, MD location on September 5th, 2013.
Audio download available here (Living Wage Bill Mixtape), please share freely!
By Guest Contributor, on June 20th, 2013 cross-posted on behalf of the ANSWER Coalition
The ANSWER Coalition supports the work of Jobs not Jails and encourages all our supporters to participate in this demonstration
Saturday, June 22 @ 12:00 noon
4th and F St. N.W.
(Judiciary Square on the Red Line)
We demand:
-
Jobs not Jail!
-
Affordable Housing for All!
-
Quality Schools in Every Neighborhood
Initiated By: Jobs Not Jails Coalition, Movement For Love and Unity, Returning Citizens United, PEAC-Howard University, Justice not Jails-American University, Ceasefire Don’t Smoke the Brothers and Sisters
Endorsed By: ONE DC, DC Jobs or Else, Operation Beloved Communities, ANSWER Coalition, Students Against Mass Incarceration, and more…
What is Juneteenth?
Juneteenth is the oldest known holiday celebrating the end of slavery in the United States. On June 19th, 1865 Union soliders landed in Galveston Texas, where slaves had not heard of the Emancipation Proclamation, that they were free. Freed slaves combined “June” and “nineteenth” to create “Juneteenth,” which became a significant holiday in Texas. Juneteenth spread rapidly around the country during the Civil Rights Movement. In particular the Poor Peoples Campaign of 1968 held a massive demonstration on Juneteenth 1968 which helped energize Juneteenth as a national holiday. We come together on June 22, 2013 to celebrate this important date in Black history, and continue its spirit of resistance!
Jobs Not Jails!
Despite tremendous wealth in the city Washington D.C. has a serious jobs crisis. While the city’s overall unemployment rate is 8.5%, in areas like Wards 7 and 8 the official average is closer to 20%. For those with criminal records unemployment sits at roughly 50%. The other 50% of those with criminal records are restricted to just a few low-income job categories. This fits in more widely with the District’s poverty rate of 18.7% overall, and 30.3% for children. Not surprisingly in 2011 D.C. had the biggest gap between rich and poor of any other state in the U.S.
Affordable Housing for All!
In the last 10 years D.C. has lost over half of its low-cost rental units and 72% of its low-value homes. The typical person with a low-income paid 63% of their income towards rent. Average rent on a one-bedroom apartment has jumped from $735 in 2000 to 1,100 in 2010. In the same period the price of homes has jumped 50%. The cities public housing waiting list, now closed, has an estimated wait time of 28 years!
Quality Schools in Every Neighborhood!
For years the public schools in the District of Columbia have not been up to the task of delivering a quality education for every child in every neighborhood. In a recent study of test scores from 2007-2011 the authors found that there was no meaninful rise in 3rd grade reading or math scores. It also found that low test scores almost always seemed to cluster in the poorest neighborhoods. City leaders have been far too dismissive, pushing a range of options that abandon quality neighborhood education, and mostly ignore the tight links between poverty and learning. Instead they push privitization and school closures in the poorest, lowest performing neighborhoods. The result has been progress far below that promised by city officials, and higher profits for city real estate interests and private education companies who have benefited from closed schools.
|
Comments are closed 
