News & Articles

Mothers everywhere warn children not to put any food in their mouths unless they know where it came from. The same should apply to putting information in our heads.
For instance, the Employment Policy Institute has recently run full-page newspaper ads alerting the public and policymakers that an impressive group of some 650 economists who are supporting an increase in America’s minimum wage includes many who are “radical researchers.” The institute’s message is that no one should listen to, much less respect, this group of economists.
But wait – “many” in the group are radical? How many? The ads only list eight and offer only innuendo as “proof” of their radicalism.
And, by the way, what and who is the Employment Policy Institute? Sounds legit, but is it? Not at all. It’s a non-profit front group run by longtime corporate operative Richard Berman. It gets millions of dollars in tax-exempt donations from fast-food chains and other corporate interests trying to kill the wage increase, then funnels that money into Berman’s for-profit PR firm, which also represents the restaurant industry.
To make its case, the institute has cited several “academic” reports that assail the wage increase on multiple fronts. But, just as Berman refuses to disclose the names of the corporate giants funding him, he also never mentions that more than half of the economists whose papers he cites are paid by him. One, Joseph Sabia, has been given a quarter-million dollars in eight grants from Berman’s institute. In addition, an independent analysis of one of Sabia’s reports found that the data was skewed to make it seem that a New York wage hike had a negative impact on employment, which simply was not true.
This phony institute is a scam and a scandal – so momma says don’t put any of its stuff in your head.

“Ad – Heard about all those economists who support raising the minimum wage?” The Employment Policy Institute, 2014.

“Fight Over Minimum Wage Illustrates Web of Industry Ties,” www.nytimes.com, February 9, 2014.

From farm workers to cheerleaders – we’re all in this together

It doesn’t take an IQ much higher than room temperature to realize that it’s way past time to raise America’s sub-poverty minimum wage of $7.25 an hour. But let’s also pay attention to the millions of people trying to make ends meet on – believe it or not –America’s sub-minimum wage.
Some of our country’s richest corporations have turned national wage laws into Swiss cheese, riddling them with special loopholes that let them escape paying even today’s miserly minimum wage. This amounts to wholesale daylight robbery of restaurant workers, farm workers, domestic workers, pro-football cheerleaders, taxi drivers, and … wait a minute… back up… cheerleaders?
Yes, super-rich NFL football teams, which sop up billions of dollars in subsidies from us taxpayers, pay peanuts to their highly-publicized cheerleading squads. Widely assumed to be a glamour job, it’s actually a poverty job that requires long hours of arduous practice, involves frequent travel (at their own expense) for media appearances and charity events, and subjects the women to abusive treatment by supervisors.
Members of the Oakland Raiders’ squad calculate that their pay works out to less than $5 an hour, while the Cincinnati Bengals’ cheerleaders (who bear the burden of being called “Ben-Gals”) are paid about $2.85 an hour. Astonishingly, though, a recent ruling by the U.S. Labor Department says that this does not violate federal law. Why? Because the macho sports industry got its cheerleaders categorized as “seasonal amusement” employees – a loophole that exempts them from our national pay rules.
The Powers That Be are trying to transform our Land of Opportunity into their low-wage, plutocratic province. From farm workers to cheerleaders, we’re all in this together – and it’s time for us to get together to stop the plutocrats.

“U.S. Labor Department Calls NFL Cheerleaders ‘Seasonal Amusement’ – Says They Don’t Deserve Minimum Wage,” www.alternet.org, April 1, 2014.

“Feds end Raiderette wage probe with no action,” www.sfgate.com, March 20, 2014.

“Oakland Raiderette Cheerleader Wage Lawsuit Proceeds Despite Unfavorable Federal Ruling,” www.cbslocal.com, March 20, 2014.