Join 9to5 at the Capitol Wednesday April 7th!

Working Families Day at the Capitol, Wednesday April 7

Join us as we head to the Capitol to support two crucial bills for Georgia's working families, and learn how a bill becomes a law!

We will be asking our legislators to support:

Parent Protection Act - Unpaid time off for school visits for children and medical appointments for elderly parents.

Raise the Minimum Wage - Raise the state minimum wage and increase the tipped worker wage.

Date: Wednesday, April 7th

Time and Schedule:
8:30 -9:00am - Arrive for registration, coffee and doughnuts
9:00-10:15am - Training on grassroots lobbying skills and talking points on bills
10:30-11:30am - Tour the Capitol and contact your legislators!

Location: Coverdell Legislative Office Building, Room 306
18 Capitol Square, Atlanta 30334, located across the street from the Capitol on Mitchell Street

How to get there:

* Meet at IBEW building @ 8:15am for free parking and carpools to the Capitol
501 Pulliam St., Atlanta 30310
*Be sure to let us know if you're joining us for carpooling so we can plan for enough transportation - call or e-mail for directions and to RSVP - 404-222-0037 or jackie@9to5.org
or
* MARTA directions
-exit GA State MARTA stop
-head SW on Piedmont Ave. towards Martin Luther King Jr. Dr. SE
-Turn right at Capitol Square SW
-Turn right to stay on Capitol Square SW/ Mitchell Street
-Coverdell Office Building will be on your left

Let us know you're coming! RSVP to: jackie@9to5.org or call 404-222-0037

This event is sponsored by 9to5 Atlanta Working Women in coordination with the GA/Job Family Collaborative and the GA Minimum Wage Coalition.
For more information on the sponsors of this event visit - http://www.womeninthehalls.org/

$2.13 is NOT ENOUGH! Raise the tipped Min Wage in GA

Check out this GREAT video on why $2.13 is NOT ENOUGH!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7G6KJIGEg_I

And join us THIS Saturday, 2/13

Noni's restaurant - 357 Edgewood Avenue, Atlanta GA 30312
Press conference @2pm

Show Your Server Some Love on 2/13

THIS SATURDAY- Show Your Server Some LOVE on 2/13

When: Saturday, February 13th, 2:00pm to 2:30pm
Where: Noni's restaurant - 357 Edgewood Avenue, Atlanta, GA 30312

On 2/13 the 9to5 Minimum Wage Committee will hold a press conference and kick off our campaign for better wages, starting with raising the tipped Minimum Wage above $2.13! The time is now - There is currently a a Federal bill, the WAGES Act HR 2570 sponsored by Rep Donna Edwards, that would gradually raise the tipped Minimum Wage initially to $3.75, In 2011 to $5.00 and by July 1, 2012 to at least $5.50/hr. The Min Wage Committee believes this bill is very important to the livelihood of many servers and tipped workers.

TAKE ACTION -

The minimum wage for tipped workers has been $2.13 for the last 18 years. While profits and living expenses have increased, servers' wages have remained the same. In GA, the general state minimum wage remains at $5.15 while cost of living requires someone to make at least $12/hour to survive in the city of Atlanta.

Our local legislators continue to ignore these issues while more and more people are living under bridges, in shelters, and in temporary housing and substandard living conditions. The Minimum Wage Committee of 9to5 is working to address these issues and improve quality of life in GA!


Contact your Representative TODAY using 9to5's Action Alert on the WAGES Act which would establish a base minimum wage for tipped employees. Click here to take action!

Our next Minimum Wage Committee meeting is:

Thursday, Jan. 14th at 6:30 pm.
location - 9to5 Atlanta office (IBEW Building)
501 Pulliam St., Atlanta 30312

We wil be planning our upcoming February event Show Your Server Some Love - $2.13 Is Not Enough! to raise awareness about efforts to raise the tipped worker minimum wage here in Georgia.

We hope you can make it - we need your input to make this event a success!

Federal Minimum Wage increases to $7.25/hour

The federal minimum wage will increase today, raising wages of the lowest paid workers from $6.55/hour to $7.25/hour and providing a real boost to working families and the economy. Workers who benefit from the increase will spend it in their local communities on much needed items like milk, diapers and clothes for their children.

Marilynn Winn is a temp worker in Atlanta earning $6.75/hour at an auto auction. “Increasing the minimum wage will help me and everyone in my community,” she says. “I help my 77 year old mother and 18 year old grandson when I can. Sometimes my mother calls asking for help to buy food and I have to say, 'I can’t this week.'”

Such basic needs might not sound like the elements of an economic recovery package. But according to the Economic Policy Institute, this $24 per week increase for full-time minimum wage workers will generate $5.5 billion in consumer spending over the next year - providing a helping hand to the sagging economy. Though Congress could not foresee our current economic troubles when a series of three wage increases were enacted in 2007, this minimum wage increase could not come at a better time – for low-wage, working families and for the country as a whole.

When President Franklin Roosevelt first proposed the first federal minimum wage law in 1937, he noted that "The increase in national purchasing power (is) an underlying necessity of the day.”

Thirty-one states will be affected by the minimum wage increase, including Georgia and Wisconsin where 9to5 has worked in coalition with business, labor, faith, nonprofit and civil rights organizations to ensure that working families receive what Roosevelt called a “fair day’s pay for a fair day’s work.” Other states where 9to5 has launched campaigns, including Colorado and California, have a minimum wage above $7.25.

Recent economic studies document that states where the minimum wage was raised had better employment and small business growth than states that did not. A letter signed by 650 leading economists, in support of raising the minimum wage, noted “most of the beneficiaries are adults, most are female and the vast majority (come from) low-income working families.” Disputing claims that these increases threaten job growth, they state, “The increase… would not have the adverse effects that critics have claimed.”

While the federal minimum wage increase will go into effect at a time when working families are struggling mightily to make ends meet, the American worker, particularly low-wage workers, need and deserve more: guaranteed paid sick days, more affordable child care for working parents and time off to be involved in their children’s school activities.

As we celebrate this minimum wage increase and all that it promises, let’s continue to move toward family-friendly workplace legislation so that the workplace works for all of us.

- Statement of Cindia Cameron
Organizing Director, 9to5 National Association of Working Women
Co-Chair, Georgia Minimum Wage Coalition


ALSO: Check out Michael Kanell's article about the minimum wage hike in today's AJC... two 9to5 members were quoted!

On March 4^th, the Georgia Minimum Wage Coalition was able to increase awareness of HB 290, raising the state minimum wage from $5.15 per hour to the federal level at the Women in the Halls/By the People lobby event and expanding coverage to more employees in the state. Sponsored by several progressive organizations, the event provided training as to how to talk to your legislator while the GA Minimum Wage Coalition supplied the information about increasing the state minimum wage.

We had a great turnout and thank all of our participants! Because we had constituents from several key districts in the Georgia, we were able to talk with Representatives Mike Coan (R-Dist. 101), Clay Cox (R- Dist. 102), Rahn Mayo (D- Dist. 91), Mary Margaret Oliver (D- Dist. 83), and Robbin Shipp (D- Dist. 58). Key to these meetings were our discussions with Rep. Coan, who heads the House Industrial Relations Committee. HB 290 is in his committee, but for the second straight year, he has not felt that the bill was important enough to bring to a committee hearing.

While Rep. Coan would not give us a direct answer about bringing HB 290 into a committee meeting before the end of the session on April 4^th, his neighboring colleague Rep. Cox expressed that he felt this was an issue that needs to be heard! Meanwhile, Representatives Mayo, Shipp, and Oliver also support the bill. All expressed, however, the need to hear from THEIR CONSTITUENTS to help bring the bill to a committee hearing. That means we must all be in contact with our Representatives, asking for their support of HB 290 and pressing Rep. Coan to bring this bill to a meeting THIS YEAR!

Georgians are being hit hard by unemployment and a lack of resources in these difficult economic times. Meanwhile, the state budget has been cut again. Rep. Coan only wants to hear bills that have to do with strengthening our economy without realizing how much HB 290 does impact our economy. Consumer spending makes up about 70% of our economy. Putting increased wages into the hands of workers puts them directly back into our local businesses and communities, strengthening both working Georgians and the state economy. This is a bill that his committee SHOULD be addressing.

Please call or write your Representatives and show support for HB 290!! They need to hear from us. They have asked us to contact them. Please visit www.georgialivingwage.org for more information about HB 290 and how to contact your legislators. Hard work deserves fair pay! We’d also like to thank the sponsor of the bill, Rep. Doug McKillip of Athens, for his continued support.

--Tracie

Stay tuned next week for updates on this past Wednesday's Parent Protection Act lobby day...

Watch the Georgia Job/Family Collaborative & the Georgia Minimum Wage Coalition on Lawmakers!

Twice during the month of February, 9to5's coalition work was featured on Georgia Public Broadcasting's "Lawmakers" program.


View the episodes here:

February 10, 2009: National Association of Social Workers (NASW) student lobby day

February 26, 2009: Job/Family Collaborative seniors & kids press conference @ the capitol


To tune in:Simply click on the word "watch" at the top of the screen, allow the entire program to load, and fast forward to the correct time: for the NASW lobby day, coverage starts at 26:33 and for the seniors & kids press conference, coverage begins at 22:40.

Enjoy, and stay tuned for more media coverage in the future!

Today at noon, students and seniors from across the state came together on the North Steps of the capitol building in support of the Parent Protection Act. We held a press conference, where 2 students from A. Philip Randolph Elementary (where the idea for the bill originated) and a senior citizen affiliated with the Georgia Council on Aging spoke about why they support the passage of the Parent Protection Act (HB 37). There was a news crew there from the "Lawmakers" program on Georgia Public Broadcasting, so check it out tonight at 7pm on channel 8!

Stay tuned to the blog next week... I'll post videos from today's press conference, as well as from the 2/13 minimum wage press conference and a presentation to Masters of Social Work students, that was also featured on "Lawmakers" last month!

just in time for Valentine's Day....

Show your Server some Love

Sponsored by the Georgia Minimum Wage Coalition

Join us in support of restoring the minimum wage for tipped workers (currently $2.13/hr) to 60% of the minimum wage.

Where: Danneman’s Coffee Shop
466 Edgewood Ave.
Atlanta, GA 30312
Map

When: Friday, February 13th (2/13!)
11:00 A.M.



Reasons to come (according to Anni):
1. Women like you will speak in support of raising the minimum wage for tipped workers! You'll hear about their experiences working for minimum wage - and you might be surprised by what they have to say!
2. Support a local business! Danneman's website boasts "great local micro-roasted coffee" and "good... food at moderate prices," as well as well as a space featuring "tall ceilings, handsome woodwork, large vintage windows, and midcentury furnishings such as lab tables and Navy chairs." Come check it out! (For more information: www.dannemans com.)



To view a flier with more information about this event, please visit the Georgia Minimum Wage Coalition website.

Want to be a Citizen Lobbyist?

Have you heard of Women in the Halls? This program, sponsored by Planned Parenthood Action Fund of Georgia, brings women to the capitol every week during the legislative session to tell their state Congresspeople about their concerns, needs, and ideas. Direct communication with your legislators is an important way to hold them accountable to the needs of Georgia's women and families.

Have you ever wanted to be a Citizen Lobbyist? 9to5 encourages all of our members to contact their legislators about working women's issues on a regular basis -- here's a chance to do it directly! The Women in the Halls program takes place every Wednesday at 9am during the legislative session (from now until the beginning of April) and anyone can join! Meet in room 306 of the Coverdell Legislative Office Building, right across the street from the Capitol building on Mitchell Street. Training and information about lobbying will be provided on-site.

For more information about Women in the Halls, as well as contact information for the program coordinators, please visit the Women in the Halls website.


ALSO, PLEASE NOTE:
Through Women in the Halls, members of the Georgia Minimum Wage Coalition and the Georgia Job/Family Collaborative will be lobbying our legislators to raised the minimum wage and pass the Parent Protection Act!

Minimum Wage Day: Wednesday, March 4th
Parent Protection Act Day: Wednesday, March 11th

Stay tuned for more information about how you can get involved with 9to5's activities at these two lobby days, or contact our office for more information!

The minimum wage - is it enough?

When I was born in 1968, the minimum wage was $1.68. Doesn’t seem like much, but its value in today’s dollar is equal to $10.26! At my first job as a housekeeper at a hotel, I earned the minimum wage. I was still in high school, but I maintained this job on weekends and throughout the summers in order to save for college and pay for gas. This was in 1985 and the minimum wage was $3.35. At the time, the purchasing power of my hourly wage was the equivalence of $6.61 today, which is on par with the current Federal minimum wage of $6.55. Since the time of my birth to my first job, the purchasing power of working Americans has decreased significantly, but since the time of my first job, another 20 years has passed and the value of the minimum wage has basically remained unchanged.

Let’s do more math. (C'mon, it's not so bad!) A full-time worker making $6.55 an hour takes in $262 a week, before taxes - for an annual salary of $13,000! Let me type that again - $13,000!!!!!! Add to this that the majority of minimum wage earners do not have access to healthcare benefits at work, or even paid sick days. The sad fact remains that a large percentage of minimum wage workers are no longer teenagers at their first job, but are heads of households, many of them single mothers. Kind of makes you wonder how, on one hand, we can see so much progress within our nation, and on the other, we are frozen in time, if not moving backwards. How do you feel about this?

Share with us your first job, first hourly wage, and what you think the minimum wage should be at this point in time for a working member of society to take care of herself and a family?

Happy New Year from Atlanta 9to5!!!

Here at 9to5, there's a lot on our agenda in the new year....


We're involved with two statewide campaigns to bring more family-friendly workplace policies to our state: the Georgia Job Family Collaborative and the Georgia Minimum Wage Coalition.

The Job/Family Collaborative is working to pass the Parent Protection Act (HB 37) during the 2009 Legislative Session -- which would give working parents & caregivers up to 24 hours of job-protected leave each year to take children & ailing parents to medical appointments or to attend school functions.

The Minimum Wage Coalition believes that all working Georgians deserve a higher minimum wage that will allow them to support their families. Therefore, we are working to raise the minimum wage for all Georgia workers from $5.15/hour to the federal rate of $7.25/hour by July 2009.

Join us in these efforts! Check out the coalition websites and let us know if you'd like to get involved!



Early in the new year, 9to5 will be launching a new website! This means we'll have a new national website (with the same address of www.9to5.org) and new chapter websites in Atlanta, Colorado, Milwaukee, and California. (Do you live near one of the other 9to5 chapters? Go to their website and get involved!) Check back soon for our amazing new (and more uniform) look!



And, are you a member of 9to5? If so, we'll be releasing preliminary details about our 2009 Annual Leadership Conference in Washington, DC very soon. It'll take place in May and it's shaping up to be an amazing time. If you're not already a 9to5 member, you should join and consider attending this year's ALC! We'll be bringing workplace change to Washington! Keep reading the Atlanta 9to5 blog for more information in the coming months.



From everyone at the Atlanta 9to5 office, we'd like to wish you a happy end to 2008 and a great start to 2009!

-- Cindia, Nasreen, Shyria, Yomara, Asha, Anni, & Tracie