Community Benefit Agreements Being Banned

The $15 for ’15 campaign is moving in the right direction, but we know most of the gains are being slow walked. A case in point is Walmart, which has made some movement and also some fast food corporations, but believe this—this movement is not out of the goodness of their hearts, it is because they are being hurt in their profit margins. The wage movement has come from workers’ protests and the loss of business due to the way businesses are treating their wage slaves. There is a long way to go to close the inequality gap. But the pro corporate people are gearing up with the help of the American Legislative Exchange Council or A.L.E.C. The group has come up with a strategy to bolster the power of big business. GOP lawmakers plan to introduce an A.L.E.C.–backed bill that would ban Community Benefit Agreements or CBAs. CBAs are one of the few options local activists have to fight for higher wages or affordable housing. But A.L.E.C.‘s CBA ban, which specifically prohibits a local minimum wage, would be unprecedented, and the only force left is the working people with jobs or not. People power just won a reprieve for the people of Greece. Also, the dock workers in the U.S. are fighting for their jobs and the coal mining in Ukraine are fighting for wages and back pay. The commonality is unions and people power. We need $15 to $18 an hour minimum wage, free education to at least the bachelor level, universal healthcare and pensions. Inequality is still the largest problem of the world, along with climate change, but we can beat both if we keep fighting.