The last few weeks...

A few weeks ago, sorry I am a little behind; John and I participated in a demonstration in front of a Wal-Mart in Miami! The demonstration was organized by unions in the area and other groups that organize workers. I was very surprised when we showed up and discovered that we were actually allowed on the Wal-Mart property, well at least in the parking lot. We marched around the parking lot of almost an hour educating people shopping their and the workers about EFCA. At the end workers from that Wal-Mart spoke about their experiences as employees of Wal-Mart. I was excited to learn that this particular Wal-Mart is very close to unionizing!

A few days later I attended my first Wage Theft Task Force Meeting. The goal of this task force is to pass a wage theft ordinance in Miami-Dade County, which is very needed because Florida does not have a department of labor which makes it almost impossible for workers to claim unpaid wages. This first meeting was with a commissioner so we spent more of the time trying to convince her that wage theft is a serious problem here and as such it deserves a serious solution- an ordinance. It was a little disappointing to hear that she agreed with us about it being a serious problem but that with budget cuts it would be impossible to fund the enforcement of this ordinance. As a result she recommended passing a resolution first and down the road passing an ordinance. Since then I have attended two meetings with the Wage Theft Task Force alone. In these meetings we have discussed the pros and cons of a resolution. Some of the problems with it is that it has no teeth, it gives the opposition time to organize, and it allows the politicians to say they have done something when they haven’t solved the problem. Some of the advantages are that it allows us to hold three town hall meetings to raise awareness, it puts the issue on the table, and it is a step forward. We also have been working on identifying our opposition and our allies. This has all been very interesting to me because I have interned with a city managing and city planning office so I have seen many resolutions and ordinances from that perspective but I have never seen what goes into passing a resolution from the “outside” of government. It is a lot more challenging that is for sure!

Aside from these two things we have been preparing for our first membership meeting! The national co-founders will be in town for this so it is very important that we have a really good turnout. To ensure this we have send out a postcard, e-mailed everyone, and are currently calling to remind them. It has been a lot of work but it will be very exciting to see the turnout tomorrow! That is all for now from Miami!