As Diane Ravitch says, this
message from New York City parents and students "is addressed to Mayor-Elect Bill de Blasio but it could just as well be addressed to every governor, state legislator, Congressman, and mayor in the nation."
Continue reading below the fold for more of the week's education and labor news.
A fair day's wage
- Oh, look. Wall Street raking in huge fees from New York's public pensions. Who could have predicted huge fees as an outcome of having Wall Street handle those pensions?
- The Washington town of SeaTac passed a $15 minimum wage, but barely. A recount is likely.
- A new report from Demos casts doubt on Detroit's supposed $18 billion of debt:
“The real issue is about the cash, and in fiscal year 2014 it is about an $198 million cash shortfall,” said Turbeville. He blames the shortfall on a number of factors, including the Great Recession, a dwindling tax base, and declining state aid. But pension obligations, which have stayed mostly flat over the past five years, are not a significant factor in Turbeville’s analysis.
A much larger factor appears to be city’s debt to Wall Street. As of 2011, Detroit owed $3.8 billion to major financial institutions because of financial instruments called interest rate swaps.
But that would leave much less excuse for demonizing public workers and taking their pensions, so don't expect to hear this as widely quoted as the $18 billion number.
- Ugh. Is this beloved New York City bread company stealing workers' wages?
- The top 10 myths about working retail—at the holidays and beyond.
- Justin Timberlake's tour dancers are now going to be covered by a union contract.
- It took an eight-year fight, but:
UAW graduate employees have reached an unprecedented agreement with New York University in which the administration will remain neutral and respect the results of an election for more than 1,200 GAs, TAs, and RAs to vote on Union representation. In an election expected to happen on December 10th and 11th, a majority vote by graduate employees would restore collective bargaining and put the Union in position to have a new contract in place by the end of the academic year.