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'One Job Should Be Enough': How Charlotte's Low-Wage Jobs Make Housing Unaffordable

Pam Kelley

November 04, 2019 |

WFAE |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Charlotte, North Carolina

Living-wage advocates in North Carolina have turned to the business community to address low minimum wages which prevent employees from escaping poverty. Where local and state governments are unable to pass higher minimum wages, businesses have been encouraged to increase their minimum wages and consider the benefits of lower employee turnover and less money spent on recruitment and training, despite the increased payroll costs. Nonprofits like Just Economics of Western North Carolina calculate the living wage a person should make in a specific area depending on whether they have dependents or not.

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Bringing Pro-Worker Home Care Practices from the Bronx to the Pacific Northwest and Beyond

Oscar Perry Abello

October 09, 2019 |

Next City |

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1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Washington

Worker cooperatives offer a scalable model through which to ensure and protect the rights of home care workers. The Home Care Workers Purpose Trust, started by the Bronx-based Cooperative Home Care Associates, brings the worker co-op model to other home care programs across the country. The group, which partners with multiple worker advocacy organizations, most recently began a joint venture to serve southern Washington state.

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Drive-thru brothels: why cities are building 'sexual infrastructure'

Nate Berg

September 02, 2019 |

The Guardian |

Multi-Media |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: Germany, Cologne, North Rhine-Westphalia

Attitudes towards the legalization of sex work are changing around the world, and now some cities have even started considering public spaces for sex work while developing urban infrastructure plans. From Cologne, Germany (where there are "sex drive-throughs" that are equipped with safety features, facilities for rest, and toilets for the workers) to Amsterdam (where they are developing new rules for window-based sex work), governments are now increasingly inviting sex workers and their representatives to the negotiating table.

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Paid Family Leave Is a Game Changer for New Parents' Health, Not Just Their Economic Security

Benjamin Ryan

August 12, 2019 |

The Nation (New York) |

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1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, California

The United States is the only developed nation to not have a national paid family leave policy, so several states are enacting their own form of the policy in order to better serve families and child development. The handful of states that have implemented a policy that allows for time off work with at least partial pay, have reported a myriad of successful outcomes including a decrease in infant and maternal mortality rates and overall better health of the child.

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When Arizona catches fire, prisoners step up

Maya L. Kapoor

August 05, 2019 |

High Country News |

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Over 3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Arizona

As the cost of fighting wildfires rises and the number of firefighters declines, Arizona found a solution: paying incarcerated men and women to do the same job for just five percent of the standard rate for firefighting. Arizona’s Inmate Wildfire Program, while fundamentally exploitative, is seemingly more complex. Those that go through the program find a sense of meaning and are given the opportunity to learn leadership and teamwork skills – things they can translate in life upon release.

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Will Labor Apps Save Workers?

Libby Watson

May 01, 2019 |

Splinter |

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1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States

Workers who seek to unionize in a bid for fairer working conditions are up against strong anti-union sentiments from powerful companies adept at preventing labor from mobilizing. That's where technology has been able to help. Walmart workers were able to successfully organize and stay informed about their rights through an app called WorkIt. Some apps have failed to gain traction, but others have resulted in limited reforms such as the Coworker app which is a tool to create petitions. Starbucks was forced to provide needle disposal bins after employees mobilized.

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Paid internships are a reality again in Congress after public shaming

Paul Kane

March 12, 2019 |

The Washington Post |

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800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Washington, District of Columbia

Paying Congressional interns gives lower income students a chance to engage with the legislative process. By bringing increased attention to the lack of paid internships on Capitol Hill, the nonprofit, Pay Our Interns, succeed in pressuring Congress to allocate funds for intern stipends. The funding makes opportunities on the Hill more accessible to those who cannot rely on family financial support to accept an unpaid internship.

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The $15 Minimum Wage Doesn't Just Improve Lives. It Saves Them.

Matthew Desmond

February 21, 2019 |

The New York Times |

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1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Emeryville

Economists have often debated the positives of a higher minimum wage in the United States as a matter of productivity, profits, and losses but in this article, Matthew Desmond explores another way that the success of increasing minimum wage can be measured: through public health and impacts on things like depression, anxiety, stress, and more. Studies have shown that higher minimum wages have been connected to lower rates of teenage alcohol consumption and preventing premature deaths.

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Gig economy platform Thumbtack is helping its users get benefits

Eillie Anzilotti

February 19, 2019 |

FastCompany |

Text |

Under 800 Words

Response Location: United States, New York, New York

The National Domestic Workers Alliance created a platform called Alia to deliver job benefits to home cleaners. Now, the NDWA is partnering with Thumbtack, a gig economy platform, in order to deliver this service to thousands more workers around the country. Alia allows employers to pay into a portable benefits fund for each cleaning session, funding paid time off and other job benefits.

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'Dignity and respect': Dominican factory vows to never be a sweatshop

Milli Legrain

February 14, 2019 |

The Guardian |

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1500-3000 Words

Response Location: Dominican Republic, Villa Altagracia

In the Dominican Republic, employees at the Alta Gracia factory are paid 2.5 times the national minimum wage, a salary that is widely unheard of in the garment factories that make t-shirts and sports merchandise for American consumers. While the business has sometimes struggled to maintain investors and turn a profit, the guarantee of a living wage has introduced much deserved financial stability in the lives of workers who are often relegated to substandard conditions and minimal wages.

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