DPPers Join Successful City Life Eviction Blockade

 

 

Becky writes:

As plans for the blockade took shape, many political leaders began calling Fannie Mae to urge a halt in the eviction at 32 Oakwood.  The offices of Mayor Walsh, Congressman Capuano, AG Healey and Sen. Warren all called to push for postponement.  These calls continued this morning as people mobilized at 10 am in front of 32 Oakwood.  We continued to get the message that the eviction was continuing.  DPPers Becky, Denise, Hayat, Rosemary,

 

City Life’s Steve Meacham reported further:

At 1 pm the news came that Fannie had decided not to evict and to review COHIF’s latest offer.  During the rally we heard many powerful speeches and testimonies, especially from Christina Soares, who we were defending this morning.  We will definitely come back to 32 Oakwood if need be, or to defend any of the several other Fannie-Freddie fighters facing eviction. FHFA-Fannie-Freddie will receive footage of today’s rally.  One thing is for sure.  They know that we are serious, that we mean what we say, and that we will not get tired.

 

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In Boston, the Fight for Better Pay Goes Beyond Fast Food

 

Holding signs saying “Stop Corporate Greed,” and “Jobs For Justice,” thousands of low-wage workers rallied for higher pay Tuesday at Forsyth Park and the McDonald’s on Tremont Street. While much of the nation has focused on the activism of fast-food workers, the Boston protesters also included adjunct professors and workers in healthcare, construction, and home care aides… The Massachusetts Legislature passed a law raising the state’s minimum wage from $8 per hour to $9 per hour starting January 1, 2015, with minimum wage reaching $11 per hour by 2017. But activists demand more… Workers’ advocates said they hope another bill introduced to the Massachusetts Legislature this year would improve the wages for some low-wage workers. The bill would require fast food chains and big box retailers with over 200 employees to pay their employees a minimum wage of $15 per hour by 2018. The Tax Day strikes occurred in over 200 U.S. cities, with hundreds of fast-food workers in New York City kicking off April 15 by blocking morning traffic on the Brooklyn Bridge.  More

More on the Fight for $15 here.

 

US is Spending $153 Billion a Year to Subsidize McDonald's and Wal-Mart's Low Wage Workers

The low wages paid by businesses, including some of the largest and most profitable companies in the U.S. – like McDonald’s and Wal-Mart – are costing taxpayers nearly $153 billion a year. After decades of wage cuts and health benefit rollbacks, more than half of all state and federal spending on public assistance programs goes to working families who need food stamps, Medicaid, or other support to meet basic needs. Let that sink in — American taxpayers are subsidizing people who work — most of them full-time  (in some case more than full-time) because businesses do not pay a living wage.  More