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McDonald’s to Employees: Get a (Second) Job

Posted on July 26, 2013 by The Soul Brother

McDonald’s (Photo credit: gnta)

By Tom Philpott

Since I last knocked heads with The Atlantic’s David Freedman over Big Food and its potential to “end obesity”—see his piece, my response, his #odd# response to my response, our joint appearance on a Minnesota Public Radio show, and one more follow-up by me—there has been more fast food news than I can keep up with, most of it involving McDonald’s, a company Freedman places at the vanguard of the anti-obesity effort.

The first item involves wages. It doesn’t seem to have occurred to Freedman that one way Big Food contributes to our national weight problem is by paying its vast army of workers a pittance. Poverty is heavily associated with obesity and other chronic health conditions. The industry profits by holding costs down, and it does that in part by paying as little as possible. A 2012 analysis by the Food Chain Workers Alliance found that 86 percent of the 20 million people who work within the food chain—that’s a sixth of the overall US workforce—bring home less than a living wage. Food-system workers are 50 percent more likely to rely on food stamp (SNAP) benefits than the overall working population, the report found. Not surprisingly, the food-system workforce is getting restive—hence recent strikes by Walmart workers, as well as walk-offs by fast-food employees in New York City, Detroit, Seattle, and St. Louis and fast-food/retail worker strikes in Chicago and Milwaukee. Fast-food workers in seven cities plan to strike next week.

Posted in News from the Soul Brother | Tagged employment, fast food, job, Living wage, McDonald, unemployment, Wage, Walmart, workers | Leave a comment

Caribbean nations seeking compensation for slavery

Posted on July 26, 2013 by The Soul Brother

United Nations (Photo credit: Ashitakka)

By Ralph Gonsalves

Leaders of more than a dozen Caribbean countries are launching a united effort to seek compensation from three European nations for what they say is the lingering legacy of the Atlantic slave trade.

The Caribbean Community, a regional organization that typically focuses on rather dry issues such as economic integration, has taken up the cause of compensation for slavery and the genocide of native peoples and is preparing for what would likely be a drawn-out battle with the governments of Britain, France and the Netherlands.

Caricom, as the organization is known, has enlisted the help of a prominent British human rights law firm and is creating a Reparations Commission to press the issue, said Ralph Gonsalves, the prime minister of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, who has been leading the effort.

The legacy of slavery includes widespread poverty and the lack of development that characterizes most of the region, Gonsalves said, adding that any settlement should include a formal apology, but contrition alone would not be sufficient.

“The apology is important but that is wholly insufficient,” he said in a phone interview Wednesday with The Associated Press. “We have to have appropriate recompense.”

Posted in News from the Soul Brother | Tagged Associated Press, Atlantic slave trade, Caribbean, Caribbean Community, France, Netherlands, reparations, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, United Nations | Leave a comment

Program gets homeless off streets, into own apartments

Posted on July 26, 2013 by The Soul Brother

Around the Corner, Phoenix Warehouse District (Photo credit: cobalt123)

By Michelle Ye Hee Lee

Two weeks ago, Betty Kelleher was sleeping with one eye open in a noisy, putrid downtown parking lot with about 250 other homeless people. Today, she sleeps on a full-size bed in a studio with such good air-conditioning that she gets cold if it’s on too long.

Her new place is modest: a bed, a sink, a stove, a small fridge and a closed-off area with a toilet and tub. But it’s home. And for Kelleher, who has been homeless on and off for three years, it means hope.

Lime green and mustard yellow walls add a splash of color to an already sunny hallway with floor-to-ceiling windows. The rooms come fully furnished – including pots and pans, soap, shampoo, and a TV.

“It’s so much better than the streets. It’s like a castle,” Kelleher, 58, said, sitting on a newly washed blanket on her bed while pinto beans simmered on the stove.

Kelleher is one of 90 chronically homeless people who will have a home at the newly refurbished downtown Phoenix housing complex by next month. A third of the property’s nearly 300 units will house the area’s most desperate population, easing some of the strain on an overflow parking lot near the state Capitol where homeless people have congregated for the last three months.

The move-in to the apartment complex is among several efforts in the Phoenix area to quickly find housing for the chronically homeless. Those defined as chronically homeless have a documented disability and have been on the streets for a year or more, or have been homeless on and off at least four times in the past three years.

Posted in News from the Soul Brother | Tagged Apartment, Betty Kelleher, Downtown Phoenix, homelessness, Phoenix | Leave a comment

Five Real Issues Facing The People Of New York City That Dont Involve Anthony Weiners Sex Life

Posted on July 26, 2013 by The Soul Brother

New York City (Photo credit: kaysha)

By Rebecca Leber

Ever since reports emerged linking former Congressman and New York City mayoral candidate Anthony Weiner (D) to another sex scandal, news media have opted to heavily recycle stories about Weiner’s sex life. One story printed in the Washington Post read, “The reporters — and most of New York, really — wanted to talk only about Anthony Weiner.”

Of course, the details of Weiner’s affairs do not actually affect the vast majority of New Yorkers. While they may not be tabloid-worthy, there are a number of real policy issues, from poverty to climate adaptation, facing New York right now:

1. Stop and frisk and racial profiling: On Tuesday, Mayor Michael Bloomberg vetoed measures to curb racial profiling and expand oversight for the city’s controversial stop and frisk policy, setting up a fight with the City Council to attempt to override. In fact, Bloomberg’s defense of the program is to claim police stop whites too much and “minorities too little.” However, stop and frisk is overwhelmingly used to target innocent African-Americans and Latinos.

2. Immigrants in poverty: NYC’s immigrant population faces many obstacles, particularly for the undocumented. The city has taken recent steps to help its undocumented youth get jobs and pursue higher education. At the same time, the city’s aging immigrant population is slipping into poverty. While just under half of the city’s population over age 65 is foreign-born, the Center for an Urban Future found that two out of every three elderly people living in poverty are immigrants. “Many in this group are not only poised to strain the social safety net but fall through it entirely,” the study concludes.

3. Public housing cuts: The New York Times reports this week that, for the first time, there are more New Yorkers on the waiting list for public housing than there are even public housing units available. There are more than 200,000 people waiting for a little over 5,000 vacancies each year. Meanwhile, federal budget cuts from sequestration will only force more into homelessness: The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities found that more than 100,000 families will be cut from housing choice vouchers, affecting as many as 6,000 New Yorkers.

Posted in News from the Soul Brother | Tagged Anthony Weiner, Center for an Urban Future, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, housing, immigration, life, Michael Bloomberg, New York, New York City, poverty, stop and frisk | Leave a comment

Green paint splattered on the Lincoln Memorial

Posted on July 26, 2013 by The Soul Brother

Lincoln Memorial (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

By Associated Press

The U.S. Park Police in Washington say the Lincoln Memorial has been temporarily closed after someone splattered a splash of green paint on the statue.

Police say the apparent vandalism was discovered around 1:30 a.m. Friday on the statue, the pedestal and the floor. No words, letters or symbols were visible in the paint.

Capt. Steven Booker says the paint spill “appears intentional based off of the splatter.” He says police are reviewing security camera footage to try to identify possible suspects.

Police say the memorial will be closed until the National Park Service maintenance crew can clean up the paint, which is expected to happen later Friday.

The memorial, one of the most popular sites on the National Mall, was dedicated in 1922 to the nation’s 16th president