{"id":22125,"date":"2013-02-06T13:40:17","date_gmt":"2013-02-06T18:40:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.uncommongoods.com\/?p=22125"},"modified":"2013-02-07T13:27:48","modified_gmt":"2013-02-07T18:27:48","slug":"state-officials-ny-states-min-wage-live-on","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uncommongoods.com\/blog\/2013\/state-officials-ny-states-min-wage-live-on\/","title":{"rendered":"Help Us Let State Officials Know that NY State’s Min. Wage is Not Enough to Live On"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Dear New York State UncommonGoods Customers:<\/p>\n

As you know, UncommonGoods, since its founding, has pursued the goal of running a sustainable business. We seek out goods that are handmade, recycled and organic, and print our catalogs on recycled paper approved by the Forest Stewardship Council.<\/p>\n

But to us, \u201csustainability\u201d means more than just being \u201cgreen.\u201d We believe true sustainability starts with integrity in everything we do. Being a founding member of B Corporation<\/a> is one example of that philosophy. So is our Better to Give program<\/a>. Integrity and care in our dealings with you, our customers, is another. And so is providing a living wage to our employees.<\/p>\n

At UncommonGoods, we pay all our workers, including people who are just here for the holiday season, well above the minimum hourly wage. That\u2019s because New York State\u2019s current minimum wage, $7.25\/hr, is too little to live on.<\/p>\n

I, along with 80% of New York State voters, feel strongly that all of our state\u2019s workers must be paid a fairer wage, asap. We\u2019ve gone 6 years with zero increase. 19 other states have higher minimum wages than New York. If minimum wage had kept pace with inflation since 1970, it would be $11.15 an hour.<\/p>\n

A vote about raising New York\u2019s minimum wage, and automatically adjusting it to inflation, is coming up soon in the New York State government. Signing one of the below petitions could truly make a huge difference to a great number (hundreds of thousands) of your fellow New Yorkers.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve written up my thoughts on the issue in this piece:
\nhttp:\/\/www.timesunion.com\/opinion\/article\/Yearly-minimum-wage-hikes-help-everyone-4209844.php<\/a><\/p>\n

If you agree, please let our state officials know that New York State\u2019s lowest-paid workers need a raise to help get them out of poverty.<\/p>\n

Business owners, sign this one. (The signatures of business owners will have the most impact on our politicians.)
\nhttp:\/\/businessforafairminimumwage.org\/New-York-Minimum-Wage-Statement-2013<\/a><\/p>\n

Individuals, sign this one.
\nhttp:\/\/action.groundswell-movement.org\/petitions\/raise-the-new-york-minimum-wage<\/a><\/p>\n

Thanks for reading, and, I hope, for signing. Please share this message with other NY State businesses that you think would want to support this.<\/p>\n

Dave Bolotsky<\/strong>
\nFounder and CEO, UncommonGoods<\/p>\n

If you would like to do more, contacting your local state senator will have a real impact:<\/p>\n

Find my New York State Senator: http:\/\/www.nysenate.gov\/senators<\/a>
\n(Enter your address and it finds yours.)
\nYou can also Google “Twitter Senator (add their name)” and find their Twitter feed.
\nDitto for Facebook.
\nFor example:
\nhttps:\/\/twitter.com\/dianesavino<\/a>
\nhttps:\/\/www.facebook.com\/SenatorDianeSavino<\/a><\/p>\n

To contact the Governor:
\nNew York Governor Andrew Cuomo
\nTel: (518)474-8390
\nEmail: gov.cuomo@chamber.state.ny.us
\nhttp:\/\/www.state.ny.us\/governor<\/a>
\nhttps:\/\/www.facebook.com\/GovernorAndrewCuomo<\/a>
\nhttps:\/\/twitter.com\/NYGovCuomo<\/a><\/p>\n

If you\u2019re interested in reading more about minimum wage, this website is chock-full of clear and understandable information: http:\/\/raisetheminimumwage.org\/<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

At UncommonGoods, we pay all our workers, including people who are just here for the holiday season, well above the minimum hourly wage. That\u2019s because NY State\u2019s current minimum wage, $7.25\/hr, is too little to live on.
\n
<\/br>
\nI, along with 80% of NY State voters, feel strongly that all of NY State\u2019s workers must be paid a fairer wage, asap. We\u2019ve gone 6 years with zero increase. 19 other states have higher minimum wages than NY. If minimum wage had kept pace with inflation since 1970, it would be $11.15 an hour.<\n<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":22239,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24],"tags":[52,31],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uncommongoods.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22125"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uncommongoods.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uncommongoods.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uncommongoods.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uncommongoods.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22125"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.uncommongoods.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22125\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uncommongoods.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22239"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uncommongoods.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22125"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uncommongoods.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22125"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uncommongoods.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22125"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}