Newsletter for the Movement for Economic, Climate, and Racial Justice
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When every single day counts in our fight for economic and climate justice, NYS leadership chooses to wag their finger and tell us: “no policy in the budget.” From the housing to climate justice movements, the people of conscience demand otherwise. The Senate and Assembly budgets leave a lot to be desired, but there’s still time to get it right. When warehouse work is designed to move at the cruel pace of profit, any delay means more injured workers — one in eleven workers to be exact. Floods, blizzards, and heat waves are on the climate crisis timeline — and that clock is moving in more erratic, extreme, and dangerous ways. Every. Damn. Day. Counts. Governor Hochul, Speaker Heastie, and Majority Leader Stewart-Cousins should act like it.
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Original comic from KC Green
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NYS is #1 in warehouse worker injuries.
Help us take action.
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A few weeks ago, Keith, a warehouse worker in Rock Tavern, traveled to Albany with our New Yorkers for a Fair Economy coalition to share the story of his workplace injury. Since that press conference, Keith has already gotten another injury on his wrist. These are not unfortunate accidents. This is exactly how warehouse work is designed and it’s time for our elected leaders to take action. We launched a letter campaign to let NYS leadership know that unions and communities are watching how you deal with this crisis.
On top of digital inboxes, we’re also in their offices. The good news is that we have legislators on our side. Our NYFE coalition went up to Albany to tell legislators that we must pass the Warehouse Worker Injury Reduction Act in the 2024 state budget because any delays mean more injured workers. If the bill is pushed to the legislative session, implementation could be delayed more than a year. NY is the most dangerous state for warehouse workers—this issue demands urgency at the scale of the crisis.
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Don’t Ignore Upstate’s Poverty Crisis
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At a Raise Up NY rally in Albany, Assemblymember and Labor Chair Harry Bronson highlighted the crisis his constituents face: “Rochester has the highest density of poverty in the state. In the top five zip codes in New York state that are most impoverished, Rochester has three of those. In my district, a 10 minute drive means ten years less in life expectancy.” Yet, our minimum wage laws treat upstate New Yorkers as less deserving.
As Senator Jessica Ramos added: “the labor done upstate doesn’t have any less value than the labor done downstate.” Last year, the Raise Up NY coalition won a modest increase in the minimum wage – no doubt, a small step forward – but Hochul’s deal leaves upstate workers in the lurch. Our government must step up to make sure that we don’t leave any workers behind, from Brooklyn to Rochester to Buffalo. Passing the Upstate Parity and Minimum Wage Protection Act is the right step forward to alleviating some of the poverty upstate workers face.
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#TeamClimateJustice Takes Over New York
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In the lead-up to the final state budget, we joined NY Renews in Albany, alongside hundreds of our statewide grassroots allies—across races, genders, and ZIP codes—to call on our elected leaders to make a choice: Are you with the people on #TeamClimateJustice? Or are you on the side of inaction, where #TeamFossilFuels wants you to be? In an epic rally and march around the State Capitol, we filled the staircases and hallways with green #TeamClimateJustice jerseys and pom poms, chanting the necessity for clean air and green union jobs.
In Manhattan, ALIGN Climate & Labor Organizer Faiza Azam spoke on a panel at the Climate Museum to highlight how New York can strengthen labor standards and community benefits to create a resilient climate future built by workers with good union jobs.
We may not have fossil fuel money, but we have righteous anger. And that anger has given us the momentum to win the NY HEAT Act in the Senate. But we’re not done, and we’re still pissed. We will fight for climate justice in the streets, in panels, and in the halls of our State Capitol, until our communities get the justice they deserve.
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