The NYC Public Advocate’s bully pulpit brings public attention to issues that are often overlooked. Letitia James as the current Public Advocate has identified many pressing issues facing New Yorkers. We discuss everything from the working conditions in nail salons to the treatment of children in the foster care system. Each of these issues requires immediate action and through her office’s public advocacy there is already positive movement in the City Council as well as the Mayor’s office.
Organized Wage Rage
Social legislation is frequently the stepchild of injustice and the unrest that results from it. Lately low wage workers are feeling more and more exploited by anti-union employers who cut hours, eliminate health care and keep wages at the minimum wage level without opportunity for advancement. Recently workers from vastly different sectors of the low wage work economy marched together to demand better working conditions. “ Our guests include three activists involved in the “Wage Rage” campaign: Darrah Sipe, Director of Communications for The Retail Action Project (“RAP”), Paloma Zapata, a member of the Retail Action Project, an artist employed at Utrecht/Blick Art Supply who advocates for unionization, and Martiza Silva Farrell, lead political organizer for The Alliance for a Greater New York (“ALIGN”). They describe the new model of organizing where workers from various sectors organize together to better working conditions throughout the “low wage” sectors of our economy.
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