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Rally for Local Living-Wage Jobs and Worker-Affordable Housing
 by pitchpipe infoshop on 12/4/2007 @ 11:11am |
Rally for Local Living-Wage Jobs and Worker-Affordable Housing
tell Rick Talbert & Tacoma City Council to Support Sustainable Growth Wednesday, Dec. 5, 5:15pm 37th Street and South D St., Tacoma (Pierce County Health Dept) Luxury high-rises and hotels are going up in Downtown Tacoma and condos are listed for $1 million and up. Developers get millions of our tax-dollars in subsidies to increase these projects' profits. Yet, these projects are also built and serviced on the backs of mostly immigrant workers in poverty-wage non-union jobs. None of these condo projects are affordable for mixed-income workers. This scheme is causing a job and housing crisis in Pierce County, more poverty, environmental damage, an eroded tax base, and a widening gulf between rich and poor as explained in a previous JwJ email. Unfortunately, that's the way most developers and government officials hope to keep it so far. Deputy Mayor Talbert Pits Luxury Developers over Workers and Environment The Tacoma City Council has refused to link good jobs and affordable housing to these subsidies despite respectful proposals and dialogue. Deputy Mayor Rick Talbert leads the charge for this subsidy scheme to high-end property developers while fending off a sustainable growth plan. It doesn't have to be this way. We can coexist well if we implemented responsible development policies already practiced in scores of growing West Coast cities despite developer protests in almost every instance as "the end of the world." Now Mr. Talbert is keynoting a public forum to school us on how to make our "political system more responsive," on "influencing policies," and how to become environmentally sustainable and promote "environmental health policy." This is the same Rick Talbert who so far is not responsive, obeys the influence of money over people, and whose development scheme generates more green-house gas and climate change. see below for more background Our plan We will model for Mr. Talbert how to make our "political system more responsive" by holding an outside picket and leaflet before the forum. The Pierce County Health Dept has welcomed the entire public to attend this forum at which Mr. Talbert is scheduled to field questions from the audience. If you liked our protest at the Maersk Port of Tacoma terminal earlier this month, this one promises to be even more creative and fun. Background Corporate Welfare Gone Wild While Tacoma officials pioneered this poverty-generating development model, it is now a virus overtaking Pierce County and is potentially spreading statewide. In a race to the bottom, Lakewood and Puyallup have recently implemented similar tax breaks. Current government subsidies include: · 8 and 10 year full tax breaks for new developments · Low interest loans such as for converting the Winthrop to a five-start hotel and condo complex · Over $60 million in free environmental clean-up for exclusive Thea Foss waterfront property · Below-market rate land sales such as the downtown Marriott Courtyard Hotel · Above-market rate land purchases such as bailing out the ill-fated Crosswater Condominium · Eminent domain threats such as the "Tombstone" parking complex · Free infrastructure like underground parking and utilities. Who Does Rick Talbert really represent? · At least 3 times, Mr. Talbert was a "no show, no call" at meetings with delegations of labor and community leaders to discuss this topic. · Rather than explore common ground, Mr. Talbert has campaigned to defend the current tax, job, and housing scheme. In public forums, he has opposed standards such as living wages, union apprenticeships, and local resident access to jobs at these subsidized projects. · Mr. Talbert publicly claims that the luxury property projects "won't pencil out" unless developers operate with poverty-wage non-union jobs and are not required to build a single affordable housing unit. This is the same thing developers said in scores of West Coast cities before proven wrong by working sustainable growth policies. Just like earlier bogus claims that these subsidized luxury projects benefit all residents, we want to see the data to support this claim. · Mr. Talbert has run from informal approaches by old friends on this topic. Instead of chatting, Mr. Talbert indirectly accused one friend in an awkward professional setting of raising inappropriate topics · Mr. Talbert claims to support urban density to reduce commuting but his scheme has people working far from homes they can afford and living in places far from the jobs that finance this high-end living. His plans are adding thousands more polluting commuters to our already clogged roads. Job and Housing Crisis in Pierce County For the last 3 years, Jobs with Justice has helped organize public forums hosted by our region's elected and community leadership to expose this crisis driven by a new low-wage service economy and property development scheme, local disinvestment and deindustrialization brought on by "free trade" treaties, broken immigration policies, and union-busting. Local governments have produced voluminous studies to identify and address this crisis. Even the pro-developer News Tribune admits to this crisis. As Tacoma Housing Authority Executive Director Michael Mirra says "if our local housing crisis was measured in food terms, we have widespread malnutrition and pockets of starvation." Development industry specialists agree that the local workforce is not paid enough to buy the newly built and soon over-saturated condos. When local workers at Tomlinson Linen, Alan Ritchey Inc, Toray Composites, Pierce County buildings, Marriott Hotels, Columbia Bank Building, and almost all local residential construction sites have to endure the scientific terrorism of the modern union-buster campaign to exercise their rights to organize for a living wage, we wonder how we reverse this crisis without worker-friendly elected leaders. Time To Take Action We have worked to build consensus around effective strategies to end this crisis among our region's elected and community leadership (see below JwJ Workers Rights Board findings and resolution to act). Sometimes we need to reconcile the "consensus to act" with real action. These are the times JwJ mobilizes to hold decision-makers accountable. South Sound office of Washington State Jobs with Justice3049 S 36th St #201 Tacoma WA 98409Phone: 253-459-5107 Fax: 206-441-5059Email: southsound@wsjwj.org Website: www.wsjwj.org Washington State Jobs with Justice Workers Rights Board Findings and Resolution To Act The Washington State Jobs with Justice Workers Rights Board makes the following findings based on the hearing testimony on December 9, 2004: · That living wage jobs and high levels of employment are integral to the health of our communities and economy · That exporting living wage jobs from our community without an effective strategy to replace those jobs and provide laid off workers transition to future decent living standards is cause for serious concern · That not enough statistical information has been collected about how much job exporting is happening and how it impacts us · That we are concerned about whether job exporting actually benefits our community as well as communities, such as India, receiving these exported jobs · That both government and the private sector should develop local sustainable economy and community strategies to address the impact of job exporting. Be it resolved that we will work to build a sustainable economy of living wage jobs and stable high employment in our community of Pierce and south King Counties by: · Identifying and focusing government subsidized development (such as business recruitment and special worker training) in industry clusters (such as biotech and enviro-energy) that provide living wage jobs · Coupling corporate disclosure of job creation statistics and government audits with direct and indirect government subsidies to companies. · Cataloguing business reasoning and how we respond to companies that resist disclosure, audits, commitments to quantifiable living wage job creation goals, and other programs that encourage and evaluate job retention and creation initiatives. · Reforming how government subsidizes the private sector to favor rewarding and growing businesses that have a track record of investing in stable living wage jobs in our community · Engaging business community leaders who support our resolution to join us in visits with local corporation leaders to discuss balancing values of profit and sustaining our community. We will also educate about an employee involvement model that evaluates and compares alternatives to job exporting on a case-by-case basis. · Approaching major media outlets to publicize the social impacts of job exporting and solutions put forth in these findings especially the employee involvement model that evaluates and compares alternatives to job exporting on a case-by-case basis. By: — Congressperson Adam Smith — Outgoing Chair of the House Trade & Commerce Committee Velma Veloria — Pierce County Executive John Ladenburg — President of Tacoma Ministerial Alliance Rev. Paul Warren — Vice Chair of the House Financial Institutions Committee Rep. Geoff Simpson — State Rep. & Business Retention Mgr of Pierce Economic Development Bd. Derek Kilmer — Executive Director Associated Ministries Rev. David Alger — Tim Strege Executive Director of William M Factory Small Business Incubator — Pierce County United Way President* Rick Allen — Tacoma Mayor Bill Baarsma — Pierce County Council Member Tim Farrell |
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