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Northampton, Mass., City Council Backs Living Wage |
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With working families trying to stretch every dollar to make ends meet, the City Council in Northampton, Mass., last night unanimously gave final approval to a resolution defining a living wage as a human right. The nonbinding resolution also states the city will attempt to do business with employers that pay living wages and will encourage people to patronize those businesses.
The resolution was sponsored by the 16-member Northampton Living Wage Coalition, most city council members, the Human Rights Commission and the mayor. The resolution defines a living wage as a salary sufficient to meet basic needs such as housing, transportation, food and health care. Using data from the Northampton Housing Authority and the Crittenton Women’s Union, the coalition calculated a living wage in Northampton for a single person without children at $11.90 per hour. The minimum wage in Massachusetts is $8 per hour.
The resolution urges employers who pay less than $11.90 an hour to provide other benefits, such as food and transportation discounts.
Fiore Grassetti, president of the Hampshire/Franklin Central Labor Council, one of the Living Wage Coalition members, says:
Unions hold employers to higher community standards regarding wages, hours and working conditions. The Hampshire/Franklin CLC got behind the Northampton Living Wage Coalition as a broader way to do that, with community allies. We very much appreciate the City Council getting on board and will be reaching out to other municipalities to follow suit.
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Open Letter to all Americans
I was so blessed to be born an American of the USA over 75 years ago. No generation of people has ever had it as good as we did. Many have described us as the greatest generation. Only a fool would believe that. I would describe us as the orphaned lion cub that had been taken in and nourished to adult hood by human beings. The lion then turns around and destroyed those that loved it.
As an American of the USA I was free to pick and choose my God. As a child I was taught to believe in and fear an Almighty God before I was taught to be an American of the USA. The God I came to know in life may or may not be the same God. I believe God speaks to us loud and clear through history and nature. The only reason I have found to fear God is that God will destroy human beings before he will allow them to over populate and destroy his Earth.
All histories have proven that God needed a Nation with a Society of open minded Common sense people to be an example for the rest of the World. That is why I believe that God inspired our forefathers to write the most admired document ever written, the Constitution of the United States. If God wanted us to all think alike he would have given us all like minds. Our Constitution calls for us to unite those minds in the best interest for everyone. The history of the Second World War had proven that Nation after Nation was lining up with us, up through the Second World War. With their help we defeated the three most powerful Nations in the World. That war is the last war we have won on the battlefield. History has also proven that fear-mongering has always been the most effective weapon in dividing and conquering.
The most forgotten Americans are the Hero’s of the Korean and Vietnam Wars. They sacrificed their lives for the love of their Country. They believed that they were stopping the spread of the Communist Atheist Nations. The Flag they gave their lives for is now made in the Communist Atheist Nation that supplied the arms to kill them. CEO’s of Corporate America are getting filthy rich while over 10% of our work force is going without because our Labor Unions have been sold out to that Nation. Everything from the products we use to celebrate the birth of Christ to our clothing is made in that Nation. No one seems to remember or care that our Labor Unions gave us a middleclass. I am proud I served my Country during our Cold War with the Soviet Union. They were not a Korea or Vietnam. They were a supper power and had all the weapons of mass destruction they needed to destroy us. That did not stop our Commander in Chief who had the wisdom and courage to up hold our Constitution and not attack them. He set up a block aid around Cuba and dared them to cross it. He forced them to remove their missiles from Cuba and no Troops were lost. We won that battle and there was only one Hero, President Kennedy our Commander in Chief.
Nothing disturbs me more than knowing that our Veterans took the fall for the failures in the Korean and Vietnam Wars. Common sense tells me that if we the people that are supposed to be in charge had done our duty we would have insisted that at least the Commander in Chief of the Vietnam War be held accountable to his sworn duty to uphold our Constitution. If we had done that there would not be an Iraq War and our Troops would have already destroyed those that attacked us on 9/11. We know that the Iraq war was based on a lie and still no one seems to care. Common sense tells me that a United Society is not good for Corporate America especially a United Labor Force.
I wonder how many Americans have noticed the News Media is frantically promoting Newt Gingrich to be our next President. If my memory serves me correctly he was the Senator that masterminded the marriage of the Religious Right and Corporate America and took over the old Republican Party. Up until that time we were the United States of America. We are now divided into the red and blue states. I believe he was caught stealing tax payers money to promote his ideology and had to resign from the Senate. We are exactly were our leaders have lead us. They have de-regulated Corporate American and left our young people totally at the mercy of Corporate America. The only Americans that should be proud of themselves are our Black Leaders. It took our Civil War to prove that God did not give us Black People to be slaves for the wealthy. Their leaders have proven ever since that they can march through hell to promote a free Society.
Our young people not my generation defeated all odds and elected President Obama to re-unite our Nation. Until I am proven wrong I will support them and him in War and affordable Health care. Common sense tells me that Corporate America will fight to keep us divided to the bitter end… United We Stand.
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