Dear friends,
First, I am including this just because it’s bizarre: Matt Gaetz, who is under investigation for sex trafficking, is a featured speaker at Women for America First’s summit on Friday. Okay, one more: Andrew Giuliani, golfing buddy to the last president and son of you-know-who, is toying with a run for governor of NY.
Meanwhile, serious people are pursuing important goals.
This has been an important week for climate activism. NY Renews, which has been our guide in campaigns to stop the Williams Pipeline and the expanded Liquefied Natural Gas facility in North Brooklyn, has organized dozens of lobby visits with state legislators to win support for the Climate & Community Investment Act. I am participating in one of these later today with my senator, Kevin Parker, who is the sponsor of the legislation. This is the right time to push for progressive climate legislation and to find out how we can help build momentum behind the legislation.
“Local Law 97 was years in the making, the result of painstaking work and thorough analysis by many people, and to swoop in and try to override it through the state process was a huge mistake,” said Senate Deputy Leader Michael Gianaris. “I am proud we stood up and defeated efforts by big real estate interests to circumvent this important new law.”
There is no wrong time to push for climate legislation AND the political winds are at our backs. The new head of the EPA, Michael Regan, has directed staff to combat environmental racism by protecting BIPOC communities from projects that pollute. He highlighted the permitting process, which is the bureaucratic mechanism that perpetuates the grievous tradition of poisoning low-income communities of color.
If you are interested in better understanding the issues and asking questions about climate policy, you could have exciting plans this Friday night.
Sign up to attend a Climate, Jobs, and Justice Town Hall with Senator Schumer & State Senator Gianaris tomorrow night.
Organizing and action kept Fair Pay for Home Care on the negotiating table until a few days ago, which was no small achievement. NY Caring Majority is committed to the marathon we have to run to win on this issue. This hits home for me because I employ caregivers and I see every day the value and necessity of their work. I also know that elsewhere in NYS, the fast food minimum wage will go up to $15/hour this summer while wages for caregivers who work in people’s homes will be stuck at $12.50/hour. This will worsen the current shortage of people doing care work.
If you’re on Twitter, please tweet these messages at Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie and the governor to let them know we haven’t given up.
The rich got richer during COVID while home care workers kept our family members alive. Older and disabled people, home care workers, and family caregivers got the message of our electeds loud & clear: we don’t matter. We deserve #FairPay4HomeCare @CarlHeastie @NYGovCuomo
Our state warehouses older & disabled people, pushing us out of our homes & communities. It's oppression pure and simple. We saw what happened in nursing homes. But still, elected officials failed to invest in home care. It's shameful & frightening. @NYGovCuomo @CarlHeastie
If you’re not on Twitter, make some calls to keep Fair Pay 4 Home Care on the agenda.
Organizing won another small triumph you may have missed: the state legislature passed a bill to repeal The Emergency or Disaster Treatment Protection Act, with which Cuomo provided liability-protection to nursing homes and other facilities early in the pandemic. On Tuesday, amid the budget negotiations, Cuomo signed the repeal.
Recently, I have been ending each day by checking on the status of the tally in the union vote at the Bessemer warehouse. Last night’s news hunt turned up this excellent, readable article. The count is in slow-motion because of questions about voter-eligibility, which are usually resolved before people vote in person. Because the NLRB permitted mail-in voting, the challenges moved into the period following the vote. Sooner or later, we’ll know something.
Have a good day!
with love,
L