MONDAY @ 3pm: Top national experts on work scheduling convene in Seattle

As Mayor Murray and Seattle City Council move forward on a landmark secure scheduling ordinance, three of the nation’s preeminent experts on the extent and impacts of unpredictable & unstable scheduling practices will convene Monday afternoon in downtown Seattle to share their research & policy expertise.

Who: Three of the nation’s preeminent experts on work scheduling practices: Anna Haley-Lock, Daniel Schneider, and Kristen Harknett

What: Share their research & policy expertise as it relates to the movement for secure scheduling in Seattle.

When: TODAY — Monday, August 22, 2016 at 3pm

Where: Working Washington office in downtown Seattle: 719 3rd Ave, Seattle, WA 98104

Note: Space is limited; please RSVP to sage@workingwa.org if you plan to attend.

BIOGRAPHICAL INFO:

Dr. Anna Haley-Lock is Associate Professor at Rutgers University’s School of Social Work. She previously was on the faculties of the University of Wisconsin-Madison and University of Washington. Her work investigates employers’ choices about designing, managing, and rewarding jobs, including an ongoing study of big box retailer Costco; and how those practices relate to a range of employment outcomes experienced by organizations and their workforces, most recently including parental engagement in and experiences with their children’s schooling and care. Prof. Haley-Lock has focused on low-wage or “working poverty” jobs in for-profit, nonprofit and public settings, including retail stores, restaurants, long-term care facilities, domestic violence services programs, the US Postal Service, and occupations disproportionately held by vulnerable groups of workers such as women and primary or sole family caregivers. Her findings have identified “upstream” strategies for changing workplaces and public employment policies to promote worker, family, and community economic and social wellbeing, and have been published in varied journals (e.g., Social Service Review, Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, Work & Occupations, Industrial Relations, Harvard Civil Rights-Civil Liberties Law Review, and Community, Work & Family).

Daniel Schneider is an Assistant Professor of Sociology at UC Berkeley. After receiving his Ph.D. in Sociology from Princeton, he was a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Scholar in Health Policy Research at UC Berkeley from 2012-2014. His research focuses on household economic security and on how economic inequality shapes the settings in which children grow up. His recent research documents the effects of the Great Recession on American families. Schneider’s current research examines how work schedule instability and unpredictability in the retail sector shape worker and child health and wellbeing.  His research has been published in the American Journal of Sociology, Social Forces, Demography, and other outlets.

Dr. Kristen Harknett is an Adjunct Associate Professor in the Sociology Department at the University of Pennsylvania and a Visiting Scholar at UC Berkeley's Department of Demography. Her research focuses on how policies impact the lives of low-income families, economic influences on family stability, and the reliance on kin support among low-income families. Her prior work has been published in the American Sociological Review, Demography, Social Forces, and several other journals. She is currently collaborating with Daniel Schneider from UC Berkeley on the Retail Work and Family Life Study, a study of scheduling practices in the retail sector and their effects on workers' health, well-being, and family life. This study has collected survey data from several thousand retail and food service workers nationwide.

More information:

Diverse leaders to hold community meeting, call for investigation of racist and anti-Muslim practices in SeaTac government

Attorney General urged to investigate discrimination in SeaTac city government

A broad array of community and faith leaders are coming together and calling for change after reports that the SeaTac city manager sought to create a “tactical map” of Muslim residents in the city and engaged in other unacceptable and discriminatory behavior — all in just a few months. These actions have raised grave concerns about the intentions of the newly-elected leadership on the SeaTac City Council, in particular regarding their relationship to the diverse Muslim, immigrant and refugee communities they are supposed to represent.

Numerous organizations are also formally calling on Attorney General Bob Ferguson to investigate all policies and practices by SeaTac city officials that could inappropriately and illegally disrespect and dishonor the diversity of their community.

Who: Community and faith leaders, including Michael Ramos (Church Council of Greater Seattle); Sheikh Ali Garaad (Islamic Center of Seattle); Hira Bhullar (Sikh Community); Amina Ahmed (Somali Community); and a representative of the Council on American-Islamic Relations Washington.

What: Come together to celebrate diversity, unite against bigotry, and call for an investigation of SeaTac city government. 

When: 11 am, Friday, June 3, 2016

Where: Abu-Bakr Islamic Center, 14101 Tukwila International Blvd S

The Diverse Communities in Action town hall was convened by the Interfaith Economic Justice Coalition, and is sponsored by a broad array of community, faith, and worker organizations.

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Contact: Sage Wilson, Working Washington: sage@workingwa.org

US Supreme Court rejects franchise industry challenge to Seattle's $15 minimum wage law

 Working Washington released a statement regarding today's move by the US Supreme Court to reject the International Franchise Association's appeal of Seattle's $15 minimum wage law:

"The poverty wage fast food industry's worst fear is coming true — Seattle's $15 wage law is working & the economy is thriving. The big business lobby has thrown everything they got at Seattle workers — but they keep on losing, and the economy continues to boom. Today's ruling is another another win for workers & people of Seattle and another defeat for McDonald’s & friends."

Underpaid workers from Seattle to Vancouver to Yakima & beyond will “Raise the alarm” about poverty wages & workers rights as part of national day of action

Marches, rallies, an initiative to raise the minimum wage, and more across Washington State on Thursday, April 14th: baristas, grocery store workers, homecare workers, fast food workers, nursing home workers, janitors, adjunct professors, student workers, and other workers will take part in a national day of action to raise the alarm on poverty wages, secure scheduling, and efforts to turn back the clock on progress.

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Workers across Washington to "raise the alarm" as part of national day of action 4/14

Baristas, grocery store workers, homecare workers, fast food workers, nursing home workers, janitors, adjunct professors, student workers, and other workers will come together across the state to raise the alarm on workers rights, poverty wages, and efforts to turn back the clock on progress. It all culminates at 2:00 pm with a major rally to raise the alarm for secure scheduling and workers rights outside the 1st & Yesler Starbucks.

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