During the September membership meeting, Afscme local 2822 passed a resolution supporting the 15 Now MN campaign, and made a donation of $500 dollars to support this effort to raise wages in Minneapolis.
Afscme Local 2822 Supports 15 Now Minnesota
September, 2016
Background and reasons:
The 15 Now Minnesota campaign gathered nearly 20,000 signatures on a petition to raise the minimum legal wage in Minneapolis to $15 per hour by 2020 for big businesses and by 2022 for medium and small businesses.
The Minneapolis City Council and the Minnesota Supreme Court sided with big businesses to keep this initiative off the ballot this November, but the campaign to raise wages through a city ordinance will continue next year.
During our local's last contract campaign, we fought for a $15 minimum in our bargaining unit, and we did so not only to improve the lives of our own members, but also because we believe all workers deserve a decent wage.
A higher minimum wage in Minneapolis would tend to put upward pressure on our own wages, as our employer would likely have to pay more to attract and retain its workforce in future years.
Women, people of color, and immigrants are very disproportionately the people in Minneapolis who earn the lowest wages, so the $15 minimum is an important way to combat systemic racism, sexism, and bias against immigrants in our society.
Many of us work directly with the public, whether in public health departments, social services, criminal justice, libraries, services centers, or other public-facing units, so we not only empathize with Minneapolitans who earn low wages, we also know that our own jobs would be less stressful and emotionally draining if poverty in Minneapolis were reduced and if it were harder for people to fall into homelessness in this city.
For these reasons, we take the following actions:
Afscme local 2822 declares its support for 15 Now MN and encourages its members to participate in this campaign's events and to educate their friends, coworkers, and neighbors about its importance.
We donate a sum of $500 to 15 Now MN from our political fund.
We challenge Afscme Council 5 and the other Afscme locals in Hennepin County and in Minneapolis to act in accordance with the labor movement's values by supporting the 15 Now campaign and to donate generously as they are able.