By signing the Guarantee Living-Wage Job Opportunities petition, you can support the growing momentum to affirm the human right to a decent job. To sign, click here.
When one supporter signed, she commented, “Yes! I have been unemployed for over a year and am losing my home, marriage and dignity!” Let’s keep her in mind, as well as others like her and everyone faced with a similar threat, as we move to achieve genuine full employment.
We need to expand our network of concerned individuals so we can keep each other informed about opportunities for action!
In week two, the number of people signing the petition more than doubled to a total of 112. We need to continue that growth.
One signer, Justin Talbot Zorn, is helping to organize a February 5 public forum in Washington, DC on “Employment: A Human Right” with Representatives John Conyers and Frederica S. Wilson. Another signer, Phil Harvey, is on the panel, as is the economist Dean Baker, who has contributed greatly to our campaign.
The Coalition of Immokalee Workers recently persuaded Walmart to join the Fair Food Program, which aims to improve farmworkers’ wages and working conditions.
On January 15, the National Labor Relations Board’s general counsel filed a formal complaint against Walmart for taking illegal retaliation against Walmart workers in 14 states.
The day earlier, a U.S. District Court Judge reaffirmed an earlier decision that a class-action lawsuit against Walmart can go forward.
More than 130,000 individuals have signed the OUR Walmart petition asking President Obama to support Walmart workers who are risking their livelihood by organizing fellow workers.
Fast-food workers organizing with Restaurant Opportunities Centers have prompted business groups to undertake counter-measures. Please sign their petition to increase the minimum wage.
Underlying these efforts is the universal human right to a living-wage job opportunity. We can’t guarantee everyone a job; some people will be unwilling or unable to work. But we can guarantee the opportunity.
Most Americans want the government in Washington to see to it that everyone who wants to work can find a living-wage job. We need powerful, popular pressure to persuade Congress to honor the will of the people.
So please sign our petition and follow us on Twitter at @LivingWageJobs.
An argument for the petition is presented in “The Human Right to a Decent Job,” which has elicited the following responses:
Makes sense to me. If you haven’t seen it yet, you might be interested in the work of Robert Pollin (progressive economist at U Mass) on living wage and how to achieve it.
Noam Chomsky, Professor Emeritus, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
+++
It’s an excellent article. While it’d be good to bring it down to about 750 (classic op-ed length), not essential. After carefully reviewing, I feel that every sentence has some unique value. I especially like the way you take on the conservative counter-arguments directly.
Justin Talbot Zorn, Public Policy Fellow, Harvard University
++
Economists can’t come up with the right answers unless they are asked the right questions. In this brief article Wade Lee Hudson reminds us that the question we really need answered is not how low we can push the unemployment rate before inflation rates begin to rise, but how to insure the availability of enough jobs to provide decent work for everyone who wants it. If more people beat this particular drum, maybe the economics profession would begin to listen.
Philip Harvey, Professor of Law and Economics, Rutgers University
++
Looks good to me. Good luck with it.
Dean Baker, Co-founder, Center for Economic and Policy Research
Securing the right to living-wage employment would have an enormous, positive impact on our society. The ripple effects would be powerful. Everyone would benefit. We can easily achieve this goal and there is no good reason not to do it. All we need is for those who support this cause to do what they can to advance it.
So please sign our petition at https://wadeswire.org/?p=330