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awu19ahs-blog · 6 years

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The 3 P’s Assessment: Parties, Political Interest Groups, and PACs

1) Republican Party:

a) In order to address the worsening economic state of America and rising poverty rates, Republicans urge tax reform, proposing “fair and simple taxes for growth” rather than the complexities of the current “top-down” system. They claim that a good tax system will drive the American economy back to prosperity. They wish to lower taxes and eliminate policies that promote class warfare.

b) To an extent, I agree with the Republican party. I agree that changes need to be made in order to revive a dying economy and rising poverty rates, however, I’m not sure I agree with the fairness aspect of their objective. While less taxation as a whole may stimulate the economy, “economic inclusion” may put stress on lower classes, whereas the current policy imposes higher taxes on those who can afford it, and the money goes back in to benefit the community as a whole. Simply lowering taxes and dispersing it doesn’t address the true issues of poverty and income inequality in America. I believe that their policies are more concerned with the economy as a whole versus the immediate issues at hand.

2) Democratic Party:

a) Democrats recognize America’s broken economic system, especially in regards to poverty and income inequality. It has become increasingly difficult fot the middle class to simply survive, while the top one percent are consistently recieving new income and wealth. The Democrats believe that supporting workers through higher wages, workplace protections, policies to balance work and family, and other investments will help rebuild the system.

b) I agree with the Democrats because their support of the workers benefits the economy in the long run as well as improves the lives of millions of struggling Americans. Raising wages allows money to be put back into the economy through spending, as well as raises the standard of living for the average citizen. Furthermore, protecting all demographics of Americans will ensure the revival of the middle-class characteristic to American life.

3) Libertarian Party:

a) Libertarians emphasize a free market, where the government’s only role in the economic realm is to protect property rights, adjudicate disputes, and provide a legal framework. They states that “all efforts by government to redistribute wealth, or to control or manage trade, are improper in a free society”. Due to this philosophy, Libertarians call for the repeal of income taxes, as well as the abolishment of the Internal Revenue Service and all federal programs/services not required by the Constitution.

b) I mainly disagree with the Libertarians. While I agree that a free market is good, and citizens should reap the benefits of their work, I do not think that income taxes should be repealed. Income taxes allow the government to provide for the community, benefitting everyone, and repealing this would present a new host of problems rather than address the issue of poverty and income inequality in the United States.

4) Green Party:

a) The Green Party thoroughly addresses the inherent problems of communities stressed by poverty, violence and despair which should be the economic priority of America. They recognize that “our ability to meet the challenges of the post industrial age are critically impaired”, and in order to fix these pressing issues for future generations, it is necessary that there is a radical increase in support for those in need through welfare and a fair and progressive tax system (income tax) to ensure that incomes remain above the poverty level.

b) I agree with the view of the Green Party. I agree that a direct approach to addressing these pressing issues will be effective in the long run, and that by focusing on the welfare of struggling individuals in society, the economy will witness benefits in the long run.

5) Peace and Freedom Party:

a) The Peace and Freedom Party is committed to socialism, democracy, ecology, feminism, racial equality, and internationalism; representing the working class. In order to address the inherent problems of poverty and income inequality plaguing America (and the middle class especially). the Peace and Freedom Party wants to raise wages, ensure dignified incomes for all, provide full benefits/welfare, defend workers rights, support unions, promote public programs.

b) I agree with the position of the Peace and Freedom Party in most. I believe that their proposed changes are doable, and could benefit working class Americans without causing harm. I think that their solutions address poverty and income inequality adequately.

In terms of which party I identify most closely with, I am between the Democratic Party and the Green Party, which was slightly surprising. I agree with the majority of the positions proposed by the Democrats, however, I believe that more can be done in terms of income tax, as proposed by the Green Party. Initially, I thought I would identify most with the Democratic Party, however, upon reading the platform of the Green Party, my opinions coincided with their positions as well. Overall, the Green Party proposes more change and I would vote for either party’s candidate.

2) National Interest Group:

a) American Family Voices

b) American Family Voices was founded in 2000 to be a strong voice for middle and low-income families on economic, health care and consumer issues

AFV was founded with the mission to take on necessary projects that more traditional DC groups weren’t taking on. AFV was to be a center of innovation in political strategy equipped with the ability to make rapid change without the presence of bureaucracy.

AFV serves as an umbrella group that “helps foster a broad network of organizations – including civil rights, environmental, women’s rights, consumer advocacy, and healthcare organizations, and multi-issue think tanks – and build their infrastructure, both in the field and in communications”

Progressive action by being “lean and mean” to avoid the bureaucracy and institutional defensiveness that keep organizations from innovating and risk-taking

Drives change in 3 ways: Utilizing an inside/outside strategy (ties to elected officials [Clinton, Pelosi] as well as activists/groups), creating innovative and provoking content that drives conversations, and launching strategic initiatives that build the progressive movement (summits, etc.).

Seek to fill gaps in the progressive movement by conducting research and connecting to the public, driving new media stories. AFV feeds findings and research to reporters and bloggers, delivers daily internet feeds to activists/progressive groups/general public, and introduces ads to get more attention to the story. In addition, they have a phone calling program to educate voters on important issues and to help fuel grassroots organizing and lobbying at all levels of government.

d) American Family Voices endorses the Climate Action Now Act of 2018, where the deteriorating condition of our Earth’s climate is addressed, and changes such as electrification are proposed in order to introduce change.

e) American Family Voices is stationed in Washington, DC, and there are no local meetings to attend.

f) There are no volunteer opportunities. On the website, you can either donate or buy merchandise to support the cause.

g) It’s interesting that the AFV is available on all social media platforms, indicating that they are truly committed to their goal of being innovative.

3) State Interest Group:

a) Spirit of Democracy

b) This political action committee works to elect candidates who are committed to building an efficient and functioning government that solves problems, treating tax money with respect-- candidates who will help renew “California’s greatness”.

c) Spirit of Democracy is committed to electing and supporting candidates who will bring California back to its “greatness” through treating tax money with respect (making sure it goes to rightful causes). In order to achieve this goal, Spirit of Democracy, and primarily Chairman Charles T. Munger Junior, selects candidates and approves independent expenditures done on their behalf, including television, radio, and direct mail. This is done with complete transparency, where Spirit of Democracy makes no direct contact with candidates, and all information regarding campaign efforts is listed on their website.

d) In addition to supporting current candidates such as Catherine Baker (per their website), Spirit of Democracy has sponsored many propositions, including Proposition 20, in November 2010, which extended Prop 11's redistricting reforms to include California's 53 Congressional districts.

e) Spirit of Democracy is located in Sacramento, California, and there are not any meetings I could attend.

f) There are no volunteer opportunities except donations.

g) It’s interesting that the committee puts such emphasis on transparency in their support of candidates so as to prove their trustworthiness.

4) Compare: Which one seems more organized? More successful? Who is their target audience? Supporters?

American Family Voices seems more organized than Spirit of Democracy due to their more modern format (plus social media), versus the outdated website of the latter organization. In addition, it seems that American Family Voices is more successful and able to accomplish much more due to their wider support base which includes all Americans who support the same cause. For Spirit of Democracy, their target audience is also the same, however, their target issue is much more refined in comparison to the wide platform of AFV. Furthermore, American Family Voices has a large number of contributors/supporters, while Spirit of Democracy’s primary contributor is the Chairman (with occasional donations).

5) PACs

a) American Federation of State/County/Municipal Employees

b) AFSCME is a union diverse people who are committed to public service by advocating for the vital services that keep families safe and communities strong. They also advocate for prosperity and opportunity for all of America’s working families. Their mission is to not only stand for fairness at the bargaining table, but to fight for fairness in our communities and in the halls of government.

c) They have raised a total of $17, 511, 983; spent a total of $14, 944, 034; and they currently have $1, 411, 507 on hand.

d) They spend $1, 788, 900 on Democrats, and $6,000 on Republicans

e) The listed donors are mostly/all members of the AFSCME who support their liberal cause, therefore because the donations are from the left, the PAC primarily spends its money on supporting Democratic causes, such as the Democratic Parties of various states as well as other ‘blue’ organizations.

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sinrau · 4 years

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At this moment of profound crisis, we have the opportunity to build a more resilient, sustainable economy – one that will put the United States on an irreversible path to achieve net-zero emissions, economy-wide, by no later than 2050. Joe Biden will seize that opportunity and, in the process, create millions of good-paying jobs that provide workers with the choice to join a union and bargain collectively with their employers.

President Trump has a devastating pattern of denying science and leaving our country unprepared and vulnerable. Amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, he ignored public health experts, praised the Chinese government, and failed to take the actions needed to protect the American people. And as the crisis accelerated, Trump rolled back environmental standards that protect public health — adding to the 100 similar environmental and public health protections he has rolled back since taking office — even though early data suggests a link between exposure to pollution and serious negative health impacts from the virus.

Just as with COVID-19, Donald Trump has denied science and failed to step up in the face of the climate crisis. He has called it a hoax. He has allowed our infrastructure to deteriorate and farmers’ fields to flood. He has held back American workers from leading the world on clean energy, giving China and other countries a free pass to outcompete us in key technologies and the jobs that come with them. And instead of supporting more tax credits that keep solar and wind workers employed here at home, Trump showered tax cuts on multinational companies that encourage offshoring. His actions have not only set us back in terms of progress on environmental justice and clean energy jobs, they have made us more vulnerable – weaker and less resilient – as a nation.

Joe Biden’s Build Back Better plan ensures that – coming out of this profound public health and economic crisis, and facing the persistent climate crisis – we are never caught flat-footed again. He will launch a national effort aimed at creating the jobs we need to build a modern, sustainable infrastructure now and deliver an equitable clean energy future.

The current coronavirus crisis destroyed millions of American jobs, including hundreds of thousands in clean energy. It has exacerbated historic environmental injustices. And all this comes at a moment when the science tells us there is no time for delay on climate change. Biden will immediately invest in engines of sustainable job creation – new industries and re-invigorated regional economies spurred by innovation from our national labs and universities; commercialized into new and better products that can be manufactured and built by American workers; and put together using feedstocks, materials, and parts supplied by small businesses, family farms, and job creators all across our country.

We need millions of construction, skilled trades, and engineering workers to build a new American infrastructure and clean energy economy. These jobs will create pathways for young people and for older workers shifting to new professions, and for people from all backgrounds and all communities. Their work will improve air quality for our children, increase the comfort of our homes, and make our businesses more competitive. The investments will make sure the communities who have suffered the most from pollution are first to benefit — including low-income rural and urban communities, communities of color, and Native communities. And, Biden’s plan will empower workers to organize unions and bargain collectively with their employers as they rebuild the middle class and a more sustainable future. Biden will make a $2 trillion accelerated investment, with a plan to deploy those resources over his first term, setting us on an irreversible course to meet the ambitious climate progress that science demands.

Biden will make far-reaching investments in:

Infrastructure: Create millions of good, union jobs rebuilding America’s crumbling infrastructure – from roads and bridges to green spaces and water systems to electricity grids and universal broadband – to lay a new foundation for sustainable growth, compete in the global economy, withstand the impacts of climate change, and improve public health, including access to clean air and clean water.

Auto Industry: Create 1 million new jobs in the American auto industry, domestic auto supply chains, and auto infrastructure, from parts to materials to electric vehicle charging stations, positioning American auto workers and manufacturers to win the 21st century; and invest in U.S. auto workers to ensure their jobs are good jobs with a choice to join a union.

Transit: Provide every American city with 100,000 or more residents with high-quality, zero-emissions public transportation options through flexible federal investments with strong labor protections that create good, union jobs and meet the needs of these cities – ranging from light rail networks to improving existing transit and bus lines to installing infrastructure for pedestrians and bicyclists.

Power Sector: Move ambitiously to generate clean, American-made electricity to achieve a carbon pollution-free power sector by 2035. This will enable us to meet the existential threat of climate change while creating millions of jobs with a choice to join a union.

Buildings: Upgrade 4 million buildings and weatherize 2 million homes over 4 years, creating at least 1 million good-paying jobs with a choice to join a union; and also spur the building retrofit and efficient-appliance manufacturing supply chain by funding direct cash rebates and low-cost financing to upgrade and electrify home appliances and install more efficient windows, which will cut residential energy bills.

Housing: Spur the construction of 1.5 million sustainable homes and housing units.

Innovation: Drive dramatic cost reductions in critical clean energy technologies, including battery storage, negative emissions technologies, the next generation of building materials, renewable hydrogen, and advanced nuclear – and rapidly commercialize them, ensuring that those new technologies are made in America.

Agriculture and Conservation: Create jobs in climate-smart agriculture, resilience, and conservation, including 250,000 jobs plugging abandoned oil and natural gas wells and reclaiming abandoned coal, hardrock, and uranium mines – providing good work with a choice to join or continue membership in a union in hard hit communities, including rural communities, reducing leakage of toxics, and preventing local environmental damage.

Environmental Justice: Ensure that environmental justice is a key consideration in where, how, and with whom we build – creating good, union, middle-class jobs in communities left behind, righting wrongs in communities that bear the brunt of pollution, and lifting up the best ideas from across our great nation – rural, urban, and tribal.

Biden will ensure these investments create good, union jobs that expand the middle class. American workers should build American infrastructure and manufacture the materials that go into it, and all of these workers must have the choice to join a union and collectively bargain. Biden will include in the economic recovery legislation he sends to Congress a series of policies to build worker power to raise wages and secure stronger benefits. This legislation will make it easier for workers to organize a union and collectively bargain with their employers by including the Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act, card check, union and bargaining rights for public service workers, and a broad definition of “employee” and tough enforcement to end the misclassification of workers as independent contractors. His bill will also go further than the PRO Act by holding company executives personally liable when they interfere with organizing efforts. He will also ensure that all companies benefitting from his infrastructure and clean energy investments meet the labor protections in Senator Merkley’s Good Jobs for 21st Century Energy Act, applying and strictly enforcing Davis-Bacon prevailing wage guidelines, and that those benefiting from transportation investments meet transit labor protections so that new jobs are good-paying jobs with family sustaining benefits. And, as called for in his plan to strengthen worker organizing, collective bargaining, and unions, Biden will require that companies receiving procurement contracts are using taxpayer dollars to support good American jobs, including a commitment to pay at least $15 per hour, provide paid leave, maintain fair overtime and scheduling practices, and guarantee a choice to join a union and bargain collectively.

Biden will ensure these jobs are filled by diverse, local, well-trained workers – including women and people of color – by requiring federally funded projects to prioritize Project Labor and Community Workforce Agreements and employ workers trained in registered apprenticeship programs. Biden will make investments in pre-apprenticeship programs and in community-based and proven organizations that help women and people of color access high-quality training and job opportunities. Biden’s proposal will make sure national infrastructure and clean energy investments create millions of middle-class jobs that develop a diverse and local workforce and strengthen communities as we rebuild our physical infrastructure.

Biden also reaffirms his commitment to fulfill our obligation to the workers and communities who powered our industrial revolution and decades of economic growth, as outlined in his original climate plan . This includes securing the benefits coal miners and their families have earned, making an unprecedented investment in coal and power plant communities, and establishing a Task Force on Coal and Power Plant Communities, as the Obama-Biden Administration did for Detroit when the auto industry was in turmoil.

The key elements of the Biden Plan to Build a Modern, Sustainable Infrastructure and an Equitable Clean Energy Future include:

Build a Modern Infrastructure

Position the U.S. Auto Industry to Win the 21st Century with technology invented in America

Achieve a Carbon Pollution-Free Power Sector by 2035

Make Dramatic Investments in Energy Efficiency in Buildings, including Completing 4 Million Retrofits and Building 1.5 Million New Affordable Homes

Pursue a Historic Investment in Clean Energy Innovation

Advance Sustainable Agriculture and Conservation

Secure Environmental Justice and Equitable Economy Opportunity

BUILD A MODERN INFRASTRUCTURE

Biden will create millions of good, union jobs building and upgrading a cleaner, safer, stronger infrastructure – including smart roads, water systems, municipal transit networks, schools, airports, rail, ferries, ports, and universal broadband access – for all Americans, whether they live in rural or urban areas.

Americans deserve infrastructure they can trust: infrastructure that is resilient to floods, fires, and other climate threats, not fragile in the face of these increasing risks. We need infrastructure that supports healthy, safe communities, rather than locking in the cumulative impacts of polluted air and poisonous water. And we need infrastructure, like universal broadband, that unleashes innovation and shared economic progress and educational opportunity to every community, rather than slowing it down.

Biden will rely on American union labor and American-made materials and products to build this infrastructure. He will create jobs in planning and management, from architects to engineers to designers. And, he will invest in the pre-development, development, and construction of this new and necessary infrastructure, building it in places and with the advanced materials – like clean steel and cement – in a way that promotes the livability of our communities and the accessibility of opportunity. Biden will create good, union jobs that expand the middle class by:

Transforming our crumbling transportation infrastructure – including roads and bridges, rail, aviation, ports, and inland waterways – making the movement of goods and people faster, cheaper, cleaner, and manufactured in America while preserving and growing the union workforce. Biden will also transform the energy sources that power the transportation sector, making it easier for mobility to be powered by electricity and clean fuels, including commuter trains, school and transit buses, ferries, and passenger vehicles. The resulting reduction in air pollution will save thousands of lives and millions in medical costs burdening families.

Sparking the second great railroad revolution. Biden will make sure that America has the cleanest, safest, and fastest rail system in the world — for both passengers and freight. His rail revolution will reduce pollution, connect workers to good union jobs, slash commute times, and spur investment in communities that will now be better linked to major metropolitan areas. To speed that work, Biden will tap existing federal grant and loan programs at the U.S. Department of Transportation, and improve and streamline the loan process. In addition, Biden will work with Amtrak and private freight rail companies to further electrify the rail system, reducing diesel fuel emissions.

Revolutionizing municipal transit networks. Most Americans do not have access to high-quality and zero-emissions options for affordable, reliable public transportation; and where transit exists, it’s often in need of repair. As a result, workers and families rely on cars and trucks, which can be a big financial burden and clog roadways. Biden will aim to provide all Americans in municipalities of more than 100,000 people with quality public transportation by 2030. He will allocate flexible federal investments with strong labor protections to help cities and towns install light rail networks and improve existing transit and bus lines. He’ll also help them invest in infrastructure for pedestrians, cyclists, and riders of e-scooters and other micro-mobility vehicles and integrate technologies like machine-learning optimized traffic lights. And, Biden will work to make sure that new, fast-growing areas are designed and built with clean and resilient public transit in mind. Specifically, he will create a new program that gives rapidly expanding communities the resources to build in public transit options from the start.

Ensuring clean, safe drinking water is a right in all communities – rural to urban, rich and poor – investing in the repair of water pipelines and sewer systems, replacement of lead service pipes, upgrade of treatment plants, and integration of efficiency and water quality monitoring technologies. This includes protecting our watersheds and clean water infrastructure from man-made and natural disasters by conserving and restoring wetlands and developing green infrastructure and natural solutions.

Expanding broadband, or wireless broadband via 5G, to every American – recognizing that millions of households without access to broadband are locked out of an economy that is increasingly reliant on virtual collaboration. Communities without access cannot leverage the next generation of “smart” infrastructure. As the COVID-19 crisis has revealed, Americans everywhere need universal, reliable, affordable, and high-speed internet to do their jobs, participate equally in remote school learning and stay connected. This digital divide needs to be closed everywhere, from lower-income urban schools to rural America, to many older Americans as well as those living on tribal lands. Just like rural electrification several generations ago, universal broadband is long overdue and critical to broadly shared economic success.

Cleaning up and redeveloping abandoned and underused Brownfield properties, old power plants and industrial facilities, landfills, abandoned mines, and other idle community assets that will be transformed into new economic hubs for communities all across America.

Revitalizing communities in every corner of the country so that no one is left behind or cut off from economic opportunities. Biden’s plan will ensure that our infrastructure investments work to address disparities – often along lines of race and class – in access to clean air, clean water, reliable and sustainable transportation, connectivity to high-speed internet, and access to jobs and educational opportunities. This includes ensuring tribes receive the resources and support they need to invest in roads, clean water, wastewater, broadband, and other essential infrastructure needs. It also means funding investments in local and regional strategies to prevent a lack of transportation options in urban, rural, and high-poverty areas from cutting off after-school opportunities for young people and job opportunities for workers seeking better jobs and more economic security for their families.

POSITION THE AMERICAN AUTO INDUSTRY TO WIN THE 21ST CENTURY

Eleven years ago, Joe Biden helped save the auto industry. Today, the industry once again faces a crisis. Not only has Trump overseen a manufacturing recession on his watch, but through neglect and failed trade policies, he has allowed China to race ahead in the competition to lead the auto industry of the future. China is on track to command more than four times the global market share compared to the U.S. in electric vehicle production, even as the Chinese government’s approach threatens to slow down or set back the long-term prospects of clean vehicle innovation.

As called for in his Plan to Ensure the Future is Made in All of America by America’s Workers, Biden will use all the levers of the federal government, from purchasing power, R&D, tax, trade, and investment policies to reverse this trend and position America to be the global leader in the manufacture of electric vehicles and their input materials and parts. Biden will vigorously enforce trade rules in response to currency manipulation, overcapacity, and Chinese government abuses in this sector. Here at home, he will spur an expansion of factory floors and a re-tool of existing manufacturing capacity, and create 1 million new jobs in auto manufacturing, auto supply chains, and auto infrastructure. And he’ll ensure those workers have good-paying jobs with a choice to join a union. Between 1979 and 2018, American workers have increased their productivity by 70%, while their real wages have only grown by 12% — in large part due to the decline in union density. Biden will reverse this trend, by ensuring that auto workers have jobs with strong labor standards and working to pass the PRO Act to ensure auto workers can more easily choose to join a union and bargain collectively with their employers. Leveraging the remarkable talents of U.S. auto workers, he will position the auto industry to win the 21st century.

Use the power of federal procurement to increase demand for American-made, American-sourced clean vehicles. As part of his historic commitment to increasing procurement investments, Biden will make a major federal commitment to purchase clean vehicles for federal, state, tribal, postal, and local fleets, making sure that we retain the critical union jobs involved in running and maintaining these fleets. By providing an immediate, clear, and stable source of demand, this procurement commitment will help to dramatically accelerate American industrial capacity to produce clean vehicles and components, while accelerating the upgrade of the 3 million vehicles in these fleets.

Encourage consumers and manufacturers to go clean. Senators Schumer, Stabenow, Brown, and Merkley, alongside organizations like the United Automobile, Aerospace and Agricultural Implement Workers of America and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers and leading environmental groups, crafted a Clean Cars For America proposal. Biden will build on their leadership by providing consumers rebates to swap old, less-efficient vehicles for these newer American vehicles built from materials and parts sourced in the United States. These rebates will be accompanied by significant new targeted incentives for manufacturers to build or retool factories to assemble zero-emission vehicles, parts, and associated infrastructure here at home.

Make major public investments in automobile infrastructure — including in 500,000 electric vehicle charging stations — to create good jobs in industries supporting vehicle electrification. These investments are a key part of Biden’s commitment to reinvent the American transportation system from the factory line to the electric vehicle charging station, while promoting strong labor, training, and installation standards. This includes ensuring the workforce is trained in high quality training programs like the Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Training Program (EVITP).

Accelerate research on battery technology and support the development of domestic production capabilities. The Chinese government, along with other countries, has used state subsidies and industrial strategies to advance its interests. America must accelerate its own R&D with a focus on developing the domestic supply chain for electric vehicles. A specific focus of Biden’s historic R&D and procurement commitments will be on battery technology – for use in electric vehicles and on our grid, as a complement to technologies like solar and wind – increasing durability, reducing waste, and lowering costs, all while advancing new chemistries and approaches. And Biden will ensure that these batteries are built in the United States by American workers in good, union jobs.

Set a goal that all new American-built buses be zero-emissions by 2030, which will create significant demand for the manufacturing of new, clean American-built buses utilizing American-manufactured inputs – and accelerate the progress by converting all 500,000 school buses in our country — including diesel — to zero emissions. Biden will ensure that the existing — and future — workforce is trained and able to operate and maintain this 21st century infrastructure.

Establish ambitious fuel economy standards that save consumers money and cut air pollution . Biden will negotiate fuel economy standards with workers and their unions, environmentalists, industry, and states that achieve new ambition by integrating the most recent advances in technology. This will accelerate the adoption of zero-emissions light- and medium duty vehicles, provide long-term certainty for workers and the industry and save consumers money through avoided fuel costs. Paired with historic public investments and direct consumer rebates for American-made, American-sourced clean vehicles, these ambitious standards will position America to achieve a net-zero emissions future, and position American auto workers, manufacturers, and consumers to benefit from a clean energy revolution in transport.

CREATE MILLIONS OF JOBS PRODUCING CLEAN ELECTRIC POWER FOR AMERICAN FAMILIES AND BUSINESSES

Transforming the U.S. electricity sector – and electrifying an increasing share of the economy – represents the biggest job creation and economic opportunity engine of the 21st century. These jobs include every kind of worker from scientists to construction workers to electricity generation workers to welders to engineers. Existing iron casting and steel fabrication plants will have new customers in the solar and wind industries. Workers with experience welding and installing complex wiring will have new job opportunities. Properties idled in communities left behind, like brownfields, will once again become critical hubs for the growth of our economy. If we move ambitiously to generate clean, American-made electricity, while building the infrastructure to electrify major sectors of our economy, we will meet the existential threat of climate change, create millions of good union jobs; make economic growth more accessible in every state and across Indian Country, and lead the world in inventing, manufacturing, and exporting clean energy technologies. Biden will:

Marshal an historic investment in energy efficiency, clean energy, electrical systems and line infrastructure that makes it easier to electrify transportation, and new battery storage and transmission infrastructure that will address bottlenecks and unlock America’s full clean energy potential – built by American workers, using American-made materials. This revolution in the way we power our economy will leverage the breakthroughs we have already seen in distributed and large-scale renewables, onshore and offshore. And it will put welders, electricians, and other skilled labor to work in good union jobs installing the electrical systems and line infrastructure that helps the power sector – the electricity we generate at our power plants, on our roofs, and in our communities – reach a bigger market of customers and, at the same time, makes it easier for us to electrify in buildings, certain industrial processes, and transportation.

Reform and extend the tax incentives we know generate energy efficiency and clean energy jobs; develop innovative financing mechanisms that leverage private sector dollars to maximize investment in the clean energy revolution; and establish a technology-neutral Energy Efficiency and Clean Electricity Standard* (* EECES* ) for utilities and grid operators. Paired with his historic, front-loaded investments in the power sector, Biden’s EECES* will cut electricity bills and cut electricity pollution, increase competition in the market and incentivize higher utilization of assets – and achieve carbon-pollution free energy in electricity generation by 2035. Biden will scale up best practices from state-level clean energy standards, which are being implemented in a way that provides renewable credits to developers that follow high labor standards, including through Project Labor and Community Labor Agreements and paying prevailing wages. Together, these steps will unleash a clean energy revolution in America, create good paying union jobs that cannot be outsourced, and spur the installation of millions of solar panels – including utility-scale, rooftop, and community solar systems – and tens of thousands of wind turbines – including thousands of turbines off our coasts – in Biden’s first term. It would also mean continuing to leverage the carbon-pollution free energy provided by existing sources like nuclear and hydropower, while ensuring those facilities meet robust and rigorous standards for worker, public, environmental safety and environmental justice.

Leverage existing infrastructure and assets. To build the next generation of electric grid transmission and distribution, Biden will prioritize re-powering of lines that already exist with new technology. He will take advantage of existing rights-of-way – along roads and railways – and cut red-tape to promote faster and easier permitting. And he will leverage the breakthroughs we have secured in energy storage over the last decade with historic procurement and investments to bring the future within reach for big utilities and rural cooperatives alike. In addition, and in line with recommendations by climate experts, including a study by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Biden will double down on research investments and tax incentives for technology that captures carbon and then permanently sequesters or utilizes that captured carbon, which includes lowering the cost of carbon capture retrofits for existing power plants — all while ensuring that overburdened communities are protected from increases in cumulative pollution. He’ll also ensure that the market can access green hydrogen at the same cost as conventional hydrogen within a decade – providing a new, clean fuel source for some existing power plants.

UPGRADE THE BUILDING SECTOR: RETROFITTING BUILDINGS, UPGRADING SCHOOLS, AND BUILDING HOMES ACROSS AMERICA

Creating 1 million jobs upgrading 4 million buildings and weatherizing 2 million homes over 4 years. Biden will make an historic investment in energy upgrades of homes, offices, warehouses, and public buildings. This will be a win on multiple levels. It will create at least 1 million construction, engineering and manufacturing jobs, make the places we live, work, and learn healthier, and reduce electricity bills for families, businesses, and local governments. It will improve indoor air quality and indoor environmental health, thus making our buildings safer in the face of future pandemics. At this moment of crisis, when many offices and municipal buildings are shuttered and millions of skilled Americans are out of work, we have a unique, once in a generation opportunity to deliver cost-efficient retrofits in communities across the country.

Biden’s plan to upgrade 4 million commercial buildings will return almost a quarter of the savings from those retrofits to cash-strapped state and local governments. This includes mobilizing a trained and skilled American workforce to manufacture, install, service and maintain high-efficiency LED lighting, electric appliances, and advanced heating and cooling systems that run cleaner and less costly – all manufactured in the United States.

For families, Biden’s plan will include direct cash rebates and low-cost financing to upgrade and electrify home appliances, install more efficient windows, and cut residential energy bills. Biden will also significantly expand weatherization efforts, reaching over 2 million homes within 4 years, including slashing the disproportionately high energy burden for low-income rural households and rural communities of color.

Biden will also repair the building code process with the goal of establishing building performance standards for existing buildings nationwide and support this effort with new funding mechanisms for states, cities, and tribes to adopt strict building codes and labor standards to ensure quality and predictability.

Paired with legislation to set a new net-zero emissions standard for all new commercial buildings by 2030,these steps and critical investments in the Build Back Better Plan will accelerate progress to Joe Biden’s target of cutting the carbon footprint of our national building stock in half by 2035.

Launching a major, multi-year national effort to modernize our nation’s schools and early learning facilities. For most American children, their public school is like a second home. It should be a place that makes them feel safe and healthy. Yet, American public school facilities received a grade of D+ from the American Society of Civil Engineers. In fact, each year the U.S. underfunds school infrastructure by $46 billion, leaving school districts responsible for the majority of construction costs and pushing long-term debt into the billions nationwide. And by not investing in the infrastructure of our public schools, too many schools are outdated, unsafe, unfit, and – in some cases – making kids and educators sick. Biden’s Build Back Better commitment includes a national effort to upgrade America’s schools and early learning facilities. In line with the Rebuild America’s Schools Act, backed by the House Education and Labor Committee, Biden will make an historic investment to improve public school buildings, with resources weighted to those lower-income rural and urban schools — all too often in communities of color — where the poor quality of school buildings is an additional barrier to equal educational opportunity. Those funds will be deployed with a set of priorities in mind: healthy kids, climate resilience, and creating greater educational equity and job creation in underserved communities. First and foremost, those funds will be used to address health risks, such as improving indoor air quality and ventilation and ensuring access to clean water, so that going to school or working at one never makes anyone sick. Second, additional funding will be used to build cutting-edge, energy-efficient, innovative, climate resilient campuses, which not only have the schools with technology and labs to prepare our students for the jobs of the future, but also become themselves the places that provide communities with green space, clean air, and places to gather, especially during emergencies. He’ll also upgrade child care and early learning facilities around the country that are not safe or developmentally appropriate for young children, who are especially vulnerable to environmental contaminants like lead and mold, and to safety hazards like electrical outlets. Biden’s investments will catalyze thousands of good, union jobs, drawing those workers from the communities most in need of economic development. These investments mean work for local businesses and support for local school districts to reduce capital costs, allowing them to spend more on teaching, learning, and other essential needs to support educators and ensure students are prepared to succeed in tomorrow’s economy.

Spurring the construction of 1.5 million homes and public housing units to address the affordable housing crisis, increase energy efficiency, and reduce the racial wealth gap. Biden is building on his housing plan by further increasing the level of federal investment in new affordable, accessible housing construction — including homes for low-income Americans, minority communities, veterans, the elderly, and persons with disabilities. He will ensure these homes are energy efficient from the start – saving the families who live there up to $500 per year. Biden will also drive additional capital into low-income communities to spur the development of affordable housing and small business creation. And, he’ll incentivize smart regional planning that connects housing, transit, and jobs, improving quality of life by cutting commute times, reducing the distance between living and leisure areas, and mitigating climate change.

PURSUE A HISTORIC INVESTMENT IN CLEAN ENERGY INNOVATION

A major focus of Biden’s commitment to increase federal procurement by $400 billion in his first term will be purchasing the key clean energy inputs like batteries and electric vehicles that will help position the U.S. as the world’s clean energy leader. And, as part of Biden’s historic commitment to accelerate R&D investment on a scale well beyond the Apollo-program, he will focus on strategic research areas like clean energy, clean transportation, clean industrial processes, and clean materials over the next four years. This funding will drive large-scale innovation in the industries of the future and create new partnerships to empower a generation of entrepreneurs, engineers, and skilled trade workers in all parts of the United States. Biden will invest these new dollars in a way that ensures sustained and sustainable job and small business growth in all parts of America – facilitating the formation of regional ecosystems of innovation, investing in the future of manufacturing communities, playing to each region’s strengths, and pulling in people from diverse backgrounds and skills. These investments will not only help us recover from the economic consequences of the Trump Administration’s dangerous decisions, they will help America build back better – an economy that is less vulnerable to shocks and better able to bounce back from future threats. As part of this effort, Biden will:

Create a new Advanced Research Projects Agency on Climate, a new, cross-agency ARPA-C to target affordable, game-changing technologies to help America achieve our 100% clean energy target, including:

grid-scale storage at one-tenth the cost of lithium-ion batteries;

advanced nuclear reactors, that are smaller, safer, and more efficient at half the construction cost of today’s reactors;

refrigeration and air conditioning using refrigerants with no global warming potential;

zero net energy buildings at zero net cost, including through breakthroughs in smart materials, appliances, and systems management;

using renewables to produce carbon-free hydrogen at a lower cost than hydrogen from shale gas through innovation in technologies like next generation electrolyzers;

decarbonizing industrial heat needed to make steel, concrete, and chemicals and reimagining carbon-neutral construction materials;

decarbonizing the food and agriculture sector, and leveraging research in soil management, plant biologies, and agricultural techniques to remove carbon dioxide from the air and store it in the ground; and

capturing carbon dioxide through direct air capture systems and retrofits to existing industrial and power plant exhausts, followed by permanently sequestering it deep underground or using it to make alternative products like cement.

Accelerate innovation in supply-chain resilience by investing in research to bolster and build critical clean energy supply chains in the United States, addressing issues like reliance on rare earth minerals.

Invest in our national laboratories, high-performance computing capabilities, and the design and construction of other critical infrastructure at and around those national laboratories and the regional innovation ecosystems and economies that they support.

Strengthen land-grant universities, Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), and other minority serving institutions (MSIs), expanding facilities, targeting grants, and supporting the training of talent.

INVEST IN SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE AND CONSERVATION

Mobilizing the next generation of conservation and resilience workers through a Civilian Climate Corps. Biden will put a new, diverse generation of patriotic Americans to work conserving our public lands, bolstering community resilience, and addressing the changing climate, while putting good-paying union jobs within reach for more Americans, including women and people of color. This initiative will be complemented by a new generation of scientists and land managers committed to ecological integrity and natural climate solutions. These workers will use sound, science-based techniques to thin and sustainably manage our forests, making them more resilient to wildfire and enhancing their carbon intake and habitat integrity; restore wetlands to protect clean water supplies and leverage greater flood protection; repair dilapidated irrigation systems to conserve water; plant millions of trees to help reduce heat stress in urban neighborhoods; protect and restore coastal ecosystems, such as wetlands, seagrasses, oyster reefs, and mangrove and kelp forests, to protect vulnerable coastlines, sequester carbon, and support biodiversity and fisheries; enhance the carbon intake of natural and working lands, wetlands, reefs, and underwater mangrove and kelp forests; remove invasive species; improve wildlife corridors; build hiking and biking trails and access to other recreational amenities; and reinvigorate landscapes and seascapes, unlocking economic and climate resilience in places like the Great Lakes, the Everglades, our nation’s great river systems including the Colorado River, and the Gulf of Mexico.

Creating more than a quarter million jobs immediately to clean up local economies from the impacts of resource extraction. Biden will direct a front-loaded investment to immediately address the backlog of remediation, reclamation, and restoration needs left behind by the CEOs whose corporations failed to meet their responsibilities to the communities where they operated. Across the country, there are several million unplugged, orphaned, and abandoned oil and gas wells that pose ongoing climate, health, and safety risks in communities. The oil, methane and brine that leaks from these wells contaminates the air and water, and the problem is only getting worse. In addition to these wells, tens of thousands of former mining sites for extraction of coal, hardrock minerals, and uranium are causing ongoing environmental damage including to local surface and groundwater supplies. By making an immediate up-front investment, Biden will create more than 250,000 good jobs with a choice to join a union to plug these oil and gas wells and to restore and reclaim these abandoned coal, hardrock, and uranium mines. This program will create jobs for skilled technicians and operators in some of the hardest hit communities in the country, while reducing leakage of toxic chemicals, methane, and other wastes and preventing local environmental damage. Biden will also hold companies accountable for the environmental damage of their operations, including by clawing back golden parachutes and executive bonuses for companies that shift the environmental burdens of their actions onto taxpayers.

Standing up for our farms and ranches. Our family farmers and ranchers were already fighting an uphill battle because of Trump’s irresponsible trade policies and consistent siding with oil lobbyists over American growers, but COVID-19 has placed new pressures on that sector and the rural economies it sustains. Biden will bring back America’s advantage in agriculture, create jobs, and build a bright future for rural communities by investing in the next generation of agriculture and conservation; providing opportunities to new farmers and ranchers, including returning veterans and minorities, to enter the economy; and making it easier to pass farms and ranches onto the next generation, and:

Helping farmers leverage new technologies, techniques, and equipment to increase productivity and profit – including by providing low-cost finance for the transition to new equipment and methods, funding research and development in precision agriculture and new crops, and a establishing a new voluntary carbon farming market that rewards farmers for the carbon they sequester on their land and the greenhouse gas emission reductions, including from methane, that they secure. These efforts to partner with farmers will help them tap into develop new income streams as they tackle the challenge of sequestering carbon, reducing emissions, and continue their track record as global leaders in agricultural innovation. Instead of making things harder for farmers, Biden will stand with them as they fight against the threats of climate change, droughts, flooding and extreme weather, while partnering with them to make American agriculture the first in the world to achieve net-zero emissions.

Pursuing smarter pro-worker and pro-family-farmer trade policies – knowing the difference between strong and effective trade enforcement and the self-defeating strategy Donald Trump has pursued. Biden will help farmers compete instead of crushing them.

Bolstering the security and resilience of our food supply, including by leveraging precision agriculture through regional demonstration projects to minimize the impacts of drought.

Making sure small and medium-sized farms and producers have access to fair markets where they can compete and get fair prices for their products – and requiring large corporations play by the rules instead of writing them – by strengthening enforcement of the Sherman and Clayton Antitrust Acts and the Packers and Stockyards Act.

Investing in diverse farmers to make our agriculture sector stronger and more resilient. American agriculture is strong in part because of our incredible range of farm types and sizes — and we’ve got to make sure that anyone who wants to serve our country as a farmer can get assistance from USDA. As President, Biden will ensure the U.S. Department of Agriculture ends historical discrimination against Black farmers in federal farm programs and that all socially disadvantaged farmers and ranchers have access to programs that support their family farms.

Expanding protections for farm workers. Farm workers have always been essential to working our farms and feeding our country. As President, Biden will ensure farm workers are treated with the dignity and respect they deserve, regardless of immigration status. He will work with Congress to provide legal status based on prior agricultural work history and ensure labor and safety rules, including overtime, humane living conditions, and protection from pesticide and heat exposure, are enforced with respect to these particularly vulnerable working people.

Building on Biden’s rural plan , which includes proposals to re-invest in land grant universities’ agricultural research so the public, not private companies, owns patents to agricultural advances.

** SECURE ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICEAND CREATE EQUITABLE ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITY**

Throughout every aspect of Biden’s plan to rebuild a resilient infrastructure and sustainable, clean energy economy, he will prioritize addressing historic, environmental injustice. Biden has a comprehensive environmental justice plan, which includes:

Setting a goal that disadvantaged communities receive 40% of overall benefits of spending in the areas of clean energy and energy efficiency deployment; clean transit and transportation; affordable and sustainable housing; training and workforce development; remediation and reduction of legacy pollution; and development of critical clean water infrastructure. In addition, Biden will directly fund historic investments across federal agencies aimed at eliminating legacy pollution — especially in communities of color, rural and urban low-income communities, and tribal communities — and addressing common challenges faced by disadvantaged communities, such as funds for replacing and remediating lead service lines and lead paint in households, child care centers, and schools in order to ensure all communities have access to safe drinking water and wastewater infrastructure. These investments will create good-paying jobs in frontline and fenceline communities.

Creating a data-driven Climate and Economic Justice Screening Tool to identify disadvantaged communities, from urban to rural to tribal communities – including those threatened by the cumulative stresses of climate change, economic distress, racial inequality, and multi-source environmental pollution. With the power of data – combined with enhanced monitoring of climate emissions, criteria pollutants, and toxics – Biden will enable agencies and the private sector to make investments in the rural, suburban, and urban communities that need them most. In addition, Biden will instruct his Cabinet to prioritize climate change strategies and technologies that reduce traditional air pollution in the disadvantaged communities identified by the Climate and Economic Justice Screening Tool.

Ensure that the Biden Administration prioritizes environmental justice issues and holds polluters accountable. Biden will overhaul and update existing programs at the White House, the Department of Justice, and the Environmental Protection Agency in order to comprehensively address the most pressing, intersectional environmental justice issues and hold polluters accountable. For example, Biden will ensure that frontline and fenceline communities are at the table when enforcement, remediation, and investment decisions affecting those communities are made. Biden will ensure working groups on these issues report directly into the White House, so that communities facing the dual threat of environmental and economic burdens have access to the highest levels of the Biden Administration. And, Biden will establish a new Environmental and Climate Justice Division within the Justice Department, as proposed by Governor Inslee, to complement the work of the Environment and Natural Resources Division and hold polluters accountable.

THE BIDEN PLAN TO BUILD A MODERN, SUSTAINABLE INFRASTRUCTURE AND AN EQUITABLE CLEAN ENERGY FUTURE

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easyfoodnetwork · 4 years

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Restaurants Must Use This Moment to Change, Too

Loic Venance/AFP via Getty Images

Dismantling racist and classist ideologies is not just about police reform; restaurants need to answer the call of protesters, too. This is how.

This is Eater Voices, where chefs, restaurateurs, writers, and industry insiders share their perspectives about the food world, tackling a range of topics through the lens of personal experience. First-time writer? Don’t worry, we’ll pair you with an editor to make sure your piece hits the mark. If you want to write an Eater Voices essay, please send us a couple paragraphs explaining what you want to write about and why you are the person to write it to [email protected].

Right now, the United States is in the middle of the hundreds of protests sparked by the death of George Floyd. With cities reopening, restaurants are also opening their doors for service again (albeit with strict guidelines due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic). Some owners and chefs are reasonably upset that their storefronts have been damaged during the protests, an additional blow to already-struggling businesses.

While restaurant owners were vocal about the losses they suffered when their businesses were shuttered because of the coronavirus, and still more spoke out when certain big-name chefs and restaurant groups received federal loans they desperately needed, many of those same owners and chefs have been quiet about the injustices that Black people face, even as protesters show up on their doorsteps.

It shouldn’t be a surprise, though; the industry is filled with instances of racism, sexism, ageism, and every other -ism there is. Discrimination comes from angry and ignorant guests, but even more so from the people who brush shoulders in restaurants every day, working in dining rooms and kitchens. Restaurants are still often obviously segregated by staff, and Black people are often denied employment or progression in fine dining and corporate restaurants. This doesn’t even begin to cover the countless acts of discrimination and stereotyping Black guests deal with in establishments all around the country.

Restaurants should become third places that tear down old racist and classist ideologies.

Throughout history, restaurants have played major roles in political movements; because they uphold unfair practices, they often become centers of protest themselves. Right now, restaurant owners, chefs, and people across the food industry should be at the frontlines with protesters, speaking as loudly about social injustices as they did about the Paycheck Protection Program and unemployment due to COVID-19. They should be fighting just as hard to end systemic racism, poverty, and the inhumane treatment of immigrants as they did to save their businesses, seeing as their entire labor force depends on it. They should become “third places” for protesters. Instead, we see our public dining institutions siding with the same people who fail to protect them time and time again.

According to the Brookings Institution, “third places” are the spaces where people spend time between home (the “first place”) and work (the “second place”). They are places of communion, where we exchange ideas and have conversations with one another. It’s no surprise that bars, restaurants, and cafes are defined as third places, but they are often spaces where Black people aren’t welcomed or don’t feel safe. So with the call for change within our communities and government institutions, we also need change to come from within the restaurant industry. New third places should be created, tearing down old racist and classist ideologies and putting systems in place that represent true inclusivity and compassion.

The Woolworth sit-in in Greensboro, North Carolina, may be the most famous example of a restaurant taking center stage in a movement. In 1960, four young Black men, all students at the historically Black college and university North Carolina A&T, were fed up with the segregation they faced despite the 1954 Brown v. Board of Education ruling that “separate but equal” was unconstitutional. Inspired by Gandhi’s nonviolent activism, the students sat at the “white-only” counter at their local Woolworth. They returned day after day with more and more people, despite being spit on, beaten, and taunted, until Woolworth and other restaurants throughout the South agreed to fully integrate.

Violence surrounded the peaceful protesters who used restaurants and other small businesses as their third place — and restaurant owners, workers, and diners allowed and participated in this violence. This story of silence and permission, tacit or otherwise, has found its way back into mainstream American life, and once again, restaurants are sites of history. At Halls Chophouse in Charleston, South Carolina, staff, diners, and protesters clashed after an employee brandished a gun and fired it to disperse a crowd that had formed outside the business. No one was severely injured in the altercation. Two days after the shooting incident in Charleston, chef David “BBQ Man” McAtee was shot and killed by members of the Louisville Police Department. According to McAtee’s nephew, he’d been standing in front of his restaurant trying to protect his niece, who had also been shot by officers, after police were called to disperse a large crowd nearby. Police officers said that they heard gunshots and opened fire in return, although accounts across social media allege otherwise.

The contrast between these two incidents underscores the total disregard for life that law enforcement and white people have for Black people: While a restaurant employee was allowed to shoot into the air amid a crowd of protesters with no intervention or retaliation from cops, a Black restaurant owner lost his life. While I’ve noticed many, many well-known chefs asking for donations to save their restaurants, I haven’t seen many send their condolences or coins to chef McAtee’s family to help keep his business open after his unexpected death.

Sociologist Ray Oldenburg, who coined the term “third places,” says that although many of our third places are virtual, the most effective spaces are ones that allow people to easily and consistently connect with each other on a physical level. To build community, society needs places where people of different races, ages, genders, sexualities, and socioeconomic statuses are on a level playing field. Restaurants and other food businesses can fit that description exactly.

Restaurants that fail to see themselves as third spaces, and that don’t go out of their way to ensure their spaces truly function as such, will be on the wrong side of history.

To create change and mobilize their businesses as third places, restaurant owners need to listen. Listen to Black communities and comprehend what is happening, how they feel, and what they need from you. Let them tell you your role before assuming one. It may be your kitchen, but you serve your community. Chefs, you can also do what you do best: feed people. Start a food bank, give out free meals, create community grocery stores and bartering programs, give protesters drinks as they walk down the streets fighting for your rights. And if your restaurant is closed because of the pandemic, or for any other reason, allow people to safely use those spaces as places of rest and repose. Let people meet and organize and know they have a safe place to go to if they’re in trouble or danger, and that you will support them to the best of your ability.

To create change and mobilize as third places now, restaurant owners need to listen.

The work needs to continue after the protests stop. Hire people from the community, and not just to feel better about meeting whatever diversity quota you’ve set. It is even more important to hire Black people if you’re operating a business in a majority Black city or neighborhood: If that’s the case, you are an unwelcome guest who time and time again finds your way into Black spaces uninvited. Your accolades only add to our burdens. But since you’ve decided to infiltrate our neighborhoods, hire people from the community. And once you hire your staff, pay them equal and fair wages, teach them, and promote them; if you don’t want to do that, let them move on and flourish elsewhere. When you don’t do this, you’re upholding a racist ideology and system.

Train yourself and your staff to commit to fighting injustices inside and outside of the dining room. It shouldn’t take someone dying on camera for you to watch a video on anti-racism and advocate for appropriate workplace behavior. Fight for Black food workers, owners, writers, and chefs to have equal footing when it comes to being promoted, securing investors, benefiting from marketing, making connections, getting paid fairly, and having decent health care and work-life balance; anything you have or want, they should have too. Use your voice and your resources (including your money) to support the people who work at and frequent your businesses. Stop relegating Black culture and appreciation to one month a year, or when a hot topic arises. Food media, give stories about Black culture to Black writers, but don’t be so asinine as to attempt to put them into one box (that goes for Black chefs, cooks, photographers, etc).

Be accessible to your community. Not only should your business feel sincerely welcoming, guests should understand what’s on your menu. If you use historically Black recipes or ingredients, source them from Black farmers and businesses; if you collaborated with Black minds to create your concepts, speak about it in your pressers and in your dining rooms. You should be vocal about the harm that is done to Black people regularly, so that people know that when they come into your space, they are making a choice to support who and what you support.

Black people have always created third places for themselves and for others, especially during social movements, usually for their own safety. For Black chefs and food people, your role in this movement is to do absolutely nothing more than what you already do every single day. Keep surviving. Keep feeding your communities. Keep uplifting one another. Keep spreading knowledge. Help when you feel the need to, but take care of yourself first.

Chefs, owners, and staff who are white and non-Black people of color, we aren’t asking you to invite us into your spaces. We aren’t asking you to become allies. We can and have fought this fight without you, and will continue to do so as long as it’s necessary. It’s your time to do the work and stop asking an already emotionally taxed and physically exhausted group of people to help you do it. There is no reason you should have to be taught how to be a decent human being in 2020. I find it hard to believe you all don’t know how to be any better, but I’m sure that once again, you’ll be given the benefit of the doubt. If you choose to stay silent or act against us, that speaks volumes about your character, not ours. The time of carrying your loads while you reap the benefits of our physical and intellectual labor is over.

To those who have finally decided to answer the call to protest injustice, who wrote those beautifully worded posts and blacked out their profile pictures in solidarity, and who promised that their restaurant or publication or business will do better, remember that Black lives are worth more than your business. At the end of the day, your windows can be replaced. Your looted alcohol can be rebought. You might lose some of your clientele. Just keep in mind: You have only lost your livelihood for a moment. Black people have been losing their lives forever.

Amethyst Ganaway is a chef from North Charleston, South Carolina, and winner of the 2020 LDEI Culinary Legacy Award.

from Eater - All https://ift.tt/3f2j63p https://ift.tt/3dLFmyf

Loic Venance/AFP via Getty Images

Dismantling racist and classist ideologies is not just about police reform; restaurants need to answer the call of protesters, too. This is how.

Restaurants should become third places that tear down old racist and classist ideologies.

Restaurants that fail to see themselves as third spaces, and that don’t go out of their way to ensure their spaces truly function as such, will be on the wrong side of history.

To create change and mobilize as third places now, restaurant owners need to listen.

Amethyst Ganaway is a chef from North Charleston, South Carolina, and winner of the 2020 LDEI Culinary Legacy Award.

from Eater - All https://ift.tt/3f2j63p via Blogger https://ift.tt/2YiN38y

#Blogger #cooking #Eater #food #recipes

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mdye · 7 years

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President Donald Trump’s pick for head of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office for Civil Rights will lead a division that is supposed to crack down on discrimination—and has a lengthy anti-LGBT record.

Roger Severino, a former lawyer with the Becket Fund, a law firm that advocates for religious liberty, was one of the leading attorneys in the 2006 Conaway v. Deane case, banning same-sex couples from marriage in Maryland. In August 2006, Severino penned an op-ed for the Philadelphia Inquirer saying that the concept “live and let live” doesn’t apply to gay rights and religious beliefs.

That was about a month before Severino and Anthony R. Picarello, a former colleague and now vice president and general counsel of the Becket Fund, filed a brief with the Maryland Court of Appeals that used religion as a basis to reject health benefits to same-sex partners (PDF).

The case involved an effort by nine Maryland couples to win marriage rights in the state. According to the brief, Severino and his partner filed, “If legalized same-sex marriage becomes more common, employees will likely ask their religious employers to extend spousal health and retirement benefits to those partners, just as they would to different sex spouses. Some religious employers may be willing to overlook or ignore an employee’s same-sex marriage, but may also refuse to subsidize it, or otherwise treat it as the equivalent of traditional marriage on religious grounds.”

The brief continued: “Legalized same-sex marriage will create an unprecedented level of legal confusion and consequent litigation in public accommodation and employment law, and over government funding with the only certainty being that they will challenge the workings of religious institutions like never before.” And it asked: “Will state governments force religious institutions to place orphan children under their care within same-sex ‘families’?”

Severino has just assumed leadership of the Office for Civil Rights at HHS, he will oversee and enforce patient privacy protections and defend the public against discrimination in health care, according to the Office for Civil Rights website.

During the Obama era, the Office for Civil Rights implemented section 1557 in the Affordable Care Act (ACA), which protected transgender individuals based on gender identity and prohibited religious exemption. Given Servino’s anti-LGBT record, he might reverse these protections. He has written scathing critiques about the ACA’s new gender mandates, while also safe-guarding doctors that use religion as a defense to neglect transgender patients.

Before his current post, Severino worked as the director of the DeVos Center for Religion and Civil Society at the Heritage Foundation, a research tank that analyzes the impact of religion on civic life and public policy in the United States.

“Roger Severino has a distinguished record of fighting for the civil rights and freedoms of all Americans. We have no doubt that Roger in his role at HHS will protect the civil rights of all Americans,” said Marguerite Bowling, a spokeswoman for Heritage.

Neither the Becket Fund nor HHS responded to direct requests for comment. A spokesperson for Becket said he couldn’t find an attorney to comment before press time for The Daily Beast’s emailed questions. However, in a statement sent to The Daily Beast, Eric Rassbach, deputy general counsel at Becket, said Severino worked “tirelessly to defend civil rights for all Americans in accordance with Becket’s mission of defending religious liberty for people of all faiths. He will be an outstanding director of the Office of Civil Rights.”

For nearly seven years, Severino worked as a trial attorney for the Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division where he enforced the Fair Housing Act, the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act, and Title II and Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, according to his HHS bio.

Advocacy groups with knowledge of Servino’s past have mixed views on his appointment.

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More than 10 years ago, Lambda Legal, a legal group defending LGBT communities, was a plaintiff on the Conaway case. In 2006, Lambda defended nine same-sex couples, including one gay widower, who sued the state of Maryland after being denied marriage licenses. Lambda lost the case.

Sharon McGowan, the director of strategy at Lambda, said she isn’t “optimistic” about Servino’s new role at HHS. “The arguments put forth by Severino and others at the Becket Fund during the marriage struggle were indicative of the scare tactics folks were trying to use to somehow pit equality for LGBT people against religion,” McGowan said. “The attempt of Roger Severino to suggest that religious liberty will come to an end if LGBT people are given equal rights under law… certainly, gives insight on where he would strike a balance if he were given the opportunity, that he has now been given to make civil rights laws.”

The National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR), a non-profit law firm advocating for LGBT constituents, said that Severino’s designation to the HHS is “deeply concerning” to the LGBT community.

“It’s a continuation of President Trump’s pattern of appointing people to lead important federal agencies who fundamentally disagree with the agencies’ mission,” said NCLR’s director of policy, Julianna Gonen. “Severino was a very vocal critic of the most important rules that he’s supposed to enforce which is prohibiting sex discrimination in health care under the affordable care act.”

In a blog post Severino co-wrote for Heritage, he complained that the Affordable Care Act’s gender identity mandate will interfere with the religious beliefs of doctors. “These regulations propose to penalize medical professionals and healthcare organizations that, as a matter of faith, moral conviction, or professional medical judgment, believe that maleness and femaleness are biological realities to be respected and affirmed, not altered or treated as diseases,” the post said.

Severino has even used the anti-LGBT vision of a local Boy Scouts chapter to object to gay rights. In an op-ed for the Philadelphia Inquirer, Severino spoke up for a Boy Scouts branch in Philadelphia that lost government-affiliated campsites and buildings after excluding LGBT students. In January, the Boy Scouts reversed rules that banned transgender members.

“If the gay-rights movement is willing to trample on the moral beliefs of the Boy Scouts for the sake of `tolerance,’ will religious institutions that also provide social services and oppose gay rights on religious grounds fare any better?” wrote Severino for the Philadelphia Inquirer in 2006.

In January, the Boy Scouts of America reversed rules that banned transgender members.

Tatyana Bellamy-Walker covers LGBT politics. Her work has appeared in the New York Daily News, New York Amsterdam News and Women’s eNews. She tweets at @bell_tati.

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biguns60plus · 4 years

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WHAT HAS PRESIDENT TRUMP & HIS CABINET ACCOMPLISHED BESIDES DODGING DARTS FROM PELOSI & THE MEDIA????

I Posted Obama's "Accomplishments" Or Lack Thereof. It's Only Fair To Post President Trump's Accomplishments!!!

1. Trump recently signed 3 bills to benefit Native people. One gives compensation to the Spokane tribe for loss of their lands in the mid-1900s, one funds Native language programs, and the third gives federal recognition to the Little Shell Tribe of Chippewa Indians in Montana.

2. Trump finalized the creation of Space Force as our 6th Military branch.

3. Trump signed a law to make cruelty to animals a federal felony so that animal abusers face tougher consequences.👀👀

4. Violent crime has fallen every year he’s been in office after rising during the 2 years before he was elected.

5. Trump signed a bill making CBD and Hemp legal.👀👀

6. Trump’s EPA gave $100 million to fix the water infrastructure problem in Flint, Michigan.

7. Under Trump’s leadership, in 2018 the U.S. surpassed Russia and Saudi Arabia to become the world’s largest producer of crude oil.

8. Trump signed a law ending the gag orders on Pharmacists that prevented them from sharing money-saving information.

9. Trump signed the “Allow States and Victims to Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act” (FOSTA), which includes the “Stop Enabling Sex Traffickers Act” (SESTA) which both give law enforcement and victims new tools to fight sex trafficking.👀👀

10. Trump signed a bill to require airports to provide spaces for breastfeeding Moms.

11. The 25% lowest-paid Americans enjoyed a 4.5% income boost in November 2019, which outpaces a 2.9% gain in earnings for the country's highest-paid workers.

12. Low-wage workers are benefiting from higher minimum wages and from corporations that are increasing entry-level pay.

13. Trump signed the biggest wilderness protection & conservation bill in a decade and designated 375,000 acres as protected land.

14. Trump signed the Save our Seas Act which funds $10 million per year to clean tons of plastic & garbage from the ocean.👀👀

15. He signed a bill this year allowing some drug imports from Canada so that prescription prices would go down.

16. Trump signed an executive order this year that forces all healthcare providers to disclose the cost of their services so that Americans can comparison shop and know how much less providers charge insurance companies.

17. When signing that bill he said no American should be blindsided by bills for medical services they never agreed to in advance.

18. Hospitals will now be required to post their standard charges for services, which include the discounted price a hospital is willing to accept.

19. In the eight years prior to President Trump’s inauguration, prescription drug prices increased by an average of 3.6% per year. Under Trump, drug prices have seen year-over-year declines in nine of the last ten months, with a 1.1% drop as of the most recent month.

20. He created a White House VA Hotline to help veterans and principally staffed it with veterans and direct family members of veterans.👀👀

21. VA employees are being held accountable for poor performance, with more than 4,000 VA employees removed, demoted, and suspended so far.

22. Issued an executive order requiring the Secretaries of Defense, Homeland Security, and Veterans Affairs to submit a joint plan to provide veterans access to access to mental health treatment as they transition to civilian life.

23. Because of a bill signed and championed by Trump, In 2020, most federal employees will see their pay increase by an average of 3.1% — the largest raise in more than 10 years.

24. Trump signed into a law up to 12 weeks of paid parental leave for millions of federal workers.

25. Trump administration will provide HIV prevention drugs for free to 200,000 uninsured patients per year for 11 years.👀👀

26. All-time record sales during the 2019 holidays.

27. Trump signed an order allowing small businesses to group together when buying insurance to get a better price👀👀

28. President Trump signed the Preventing Maternal Deaths Act that provides funding for states to develop maternal mortality reviews to better understand maternal complications and identify solutions & largely focuses on reducing the higher mortality rates for Black Americans.

29. In 2018, President Trump signed the groundbreaking First Step Act, a criminal justice bill which enacted reforms that make our justice system fairer and help former inmates successfully return to society.

30. The First Step Act’s reforms addressed inequities in sentencing laws that disproportionately harmed Black Americans and reformed mandatory minimums that created unfair outcomes.👀👀

31. The First Step Act expanded judicial discretion in sentencing of non-violent crimes.

32. Over 90% of those benefitting from the retroactive sentencing reductions in the First Step Act are Black Americans.

33. The First Step Act provides rehabilitative programs to inmates, helping them successfully rejoin society and not return to crime.

34. Trump increased funding for Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) by more than 14%.👀👀

35. Trump signed legislation forgiving Hurricane Katrina debt that threatened HBCUs.

36. New single-family home sales are up 31.6% in October 2019 compared to just one year ago.

37. Made HBCUs a priority by creating the position of executive director of the White House Initiative on HBCUs.

38. Trump received the Bipartisan Justice Award at a historically black college for his criminal justice reform accomplishments.

39. The poverty rate fell to a 17-year low of 11.8% under the Trump administration as a result of a jobs-rich environment.👀👀

40. Poverty rates for African-Americans and Hispanic-Americans have reached their lowest levels since the U.S. began collecting such data.

41. President Trump signed a bill that creates five national monuments, expands several national parks, adds 1.3 million acres of wilderness, and permanently reauthorizes the Land and Water Conservation Fund.

42. Trump’s USDA committed $124 Million to rebuild rural water infrastructure.👀👀

43. Consumer confidence & small business confidence is at an all-time high.

44. More than 7 million jobs created since election.

45. More Americans are now employed than ever recorded before in our history.

46. More than 400,000 manufacturing jobs created since his election.

47. Trump appointed 5 openly gay ambassadors.👀👀

48. Trump ordered Ric Grenell, his openly gay ambassador to Germany, to lead a global initiative to decriminalize homosexuality across the globe.

49. Through Trump’s Anti-Trafficking Coordination Team (ACTeam) initiative, Federal law enforcement more than doubled convictions of human traffickers and increased the number of defendants charged by 75% in ACTeam districts.

50. In 2018, the Department of Justice (DOJ) dismantled an organization that was the internet’s leading source of prostitution-related advertisements resulting in sex trafficking.

51. Trump’s OMB published new anti-trafficking guidance for government procurement officials to more effectively combat human trafficking.

52. Trump’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations arrested 1,588 criminals associated with Human Trafficking.

53. Trump’s Department of Health and Human Services provided funding to support the National Human Trafficking Hotline to identify perpetrators and give victims the help they need.

54. The hotline identified 16,862 potential human trafficking cases.

55. Trump’s DOJ provided grants to organizations that support human trafficking victims – serving nearly 9,000 cases from July 1, 2017, to June 30, 2018.👀👀

56. The Department of Homeland Security has hired more victim assistance specialists, helping victims get resources and support.

57. President Trump has called on Congress to pass school choice legislation so that no child is trapped in a failing school because of his or her zip code.👀👀

58. The President signed funding legislation in September 2018 that increased funding for school choice by $42 million.

59. The tax cuts signed into law by President Trump promote school choice by allowing families to use 529 college savings plans for elementary and secondary education.👀👀

60. Under his leadership ISIS has lost most of their territory and been largely dismantled.

61. ISIS leader Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi was killed.

62. Signed the first Perkins CTE reauthorization since 2006, authorizing more than $1 billion for states each year to fund vocational and career education programs.

63. Executive order expanding apprenticeship opportunities for students and workers.

64. Trump issued an Executive Order prohibiting the U.S. government from discriminating against Christians or punishing expressions of faith.

65. Signed an executive order that allows the government to withhold money from college campuses deemed to be anti-Semitic and who fail to combat anti-Semitism.

66. President Trump ordered a halt to U.S. tax money going to international organizations that fund or perform abortions.

67. Trump imposed sanctions on the socialists in Venezuela who have killed their citizens.

68. Finalized new trade agreement with South Korea.

69. Made a deal with the European Union to increase U.S. energy exports to Europe.👀👀

70. Withdrew the U.S. from the job killing TPP deal.

71. Secured $250 billion in new trade and investment deals in China and $12 billion in Vietnam.

72. Okay’ d up to $12 billion in aid for farmers affected by unfair trade retaliation.👀👀

73. Has had over a dozen US hostages freed, including those Obama could not get freed.

74. Trump signed the Music Modernization Act, the biggest change to copyright law in decades.

75. Trump secured Billions that will fund the building of a wall at our southern border.

76. The Trump Administration is promoting second chance hiring to give former inmates the opportunity to live crime-free lives and find meaningful employment.

77. Trump’s DOJ and the Board Of Prisons launched a new “Ready to Work Initiative” to help connect employers directly with former prisoners.👀👀

78. President Trump’s historic tax cut legislation included new Opportunity Zone Incentives to promote investment in low-income communities across the country.

79. 8,764 communities across the country have been designated as Opportunity Zones.

80. Opportunity Zones are expected to spur $100 billion in long-term private capital investment in economically distressed communities across the country.

81. Trump directed the Education Secretary to end Common Core.👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀

82. Trump signed the 9/11 Victims Compensation Fund into law.

83. Trump signed measure funding prevention programs for Veteran suicide.👀👀

84. Companies have brought back over a TRILLION dollars from overseas because of the TCJA bill that Trump signed.

85. Manufacturing jobs are growing at the fastest rate in more than 30 years.

86. Stock Market has reached record highs.

87. Median household income has hit highest level ever recorded.

88. African-American unemployment is at an all-time low.(was until Covid bullshit)

89. Hispanic-American unemployment is at an all-time low.

90. Asian-American unemployment is at an all-time low.

91. Women’s unemployment rate is at a 65-year low.

92. Youth unemployment is at a 50-year low.

93. We have the lowest unemployment rate ever recorded.

94. The Pledge to America’s Workers has resulted in employers committing to train more than 4 million Americans.

95. 95 percent of U.S. manufacturers are optimistic about the future— the highest ever.

96. As a result of the Republican tax bill, small businesses will have the lowest top marginal tax rate in more than 80 years.👀👀

97. Record number of regulations eliminated that hurt small businesses.

98. Signed welfare reform requiring able-bodied adults who don’t have children to work or look for work if they’re on welfare.🙌🙌

99. Under Trump, the FDA approved more affordable generic drugs than ever before in history.

100. Reformed Medicare program to stop hospitals from overcharging low-income seniors on their drugs—saving seniors 100’s of millions of $$$ this year alone.👀👀

101. Signed Right-To-Try legislation allowing terminally ill patients to try experimental treatment that wasn’t allowed before.

102. Secured $6 billion in new funding to fight the opioid epidemic.❤️❤️

103. Signed VA Choice Act and VA Accountability Act, expanded VA telehealth services, walk-in-clinics, and same-day urgent primary and mental health care.👀👀

104. U.S. oil production recently reached all-time high so we are less dependent on oil from the Middle East.

105. The U.S. is a net natural gas exporter for the first time since 1957.

106. NATO allies increased their defense spending because of his pressure campaign.

107. Withdrew the United States from the job-killing Paris Climate Accord in 2017 and that same year the U.S. still led the world by having the largest reduction in Carbon emissions.👀👀

108. Has his circuit court judge nominees being confirmed faster than any other new administration.

109. Had his Supreme Court Justice’s Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh confirmed.

110. Moved U.S. Embassy in Israel to Jerusalem.👀👀

111. Agreed to a new trade deal with Mexico & Canada that will increase jobs here and $$$ coming in.

112. Reached a breakthrough agreement with the E.U. to increase U.S. exports.

113. Imposed tariffs on China in response to China’s forced technology transfer, intellectual property theft, and their chronically abusive trade practices, has agreed to a Part One trade deal with China.

114. Signed legislation to improve the National Suicide Hotline.👀👀

115. Signed the most comprehensive childhood cancer legislation ever into law, which will advance childhood cancer research and improve treatments.

116. The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act signed into law by Trump doubled the maximum amount of the child tax credit available to parents and lifted the income limits so more people could claim it.

117. It also created a new tax credit for other dependents.

118. In 2018, President Trump signed into law a $2.4 billion funding increase for the Child Care and Development Fund, providing a total of $8.1 billion to States to fund child care for low-income families.

119. The Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit (CDCTC) signed into law by Trump provides a tax credit equal to 20-35% of child care expenses, $3,000 per child & $6,000 per family + Flexible Spending Accounts (FSAs) allow you to set aside up to $5,000 in pre-tax $ to use for child care.

120. In 2019 President Donald Trump signed the Autism Collaboration, Accountability, Research, Education and Support Act (CARES) into law which allocates $1.8 billion in funding over the next five years to help people with autism spectrum disorder and to help their families.👀👀

121. In 2019 President Trump signed into law two funding packages providing nearly $19 million in new funding for Lupus specific research and education programs, as well an additional $41.7 billion in funding for the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the most Lupus funding EVER.

122. Another upcoming accomplishment to add: In the next week or two Trump will be signing the first major anti-robocall law in decades called the TRACED Act (Telephone Robocall Abuse Criminal Enforcement and Deterrence.) Once it’s the law, the TRACED Act will extend the period of time the FCC has to catch & punish those who intentionally break telemarketing restrictions. The bill also requires voice service providers to develop a framework to verify calls are legitimate before they reach your phone.

123. US stock market continually hits all-time record highs.

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humantraffickingproject · 4 years

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Human Trafficking and Prison Labor

Most people assume that the Thirteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution wholly abolished legal slavery in the United States in any form. The reality, however, is that the Thirteenth Amendment contained one important exception: Prison labor. Those who have been “duly convicted” of a crime can still, legally, be forced to work in this country, and that exception has been a driving force for how our prison system looks today and the mass incarceration of Black Americans. Increasingly, formerly incarcerated people are speaking out about their experiences and asking the anti-trafficking movement to join the fight to improve working conditions and pay, and end forced labor in prisons and detention centers. Beginning in 2019, Polaris began hosting listening sessions with advocates in the criminal justice reform and immigrant rights movements to deepen our own understanding and identify ways the anti-trafficking movement can support the criminal justice reform and immigrant rights movements to address exploitation in prisons and detention centers. The United States defines labor trafficking as the recruitment, harboring, transportation, provision, or obtaining of a person for labor or services, through the use of force, fraud, or coercion for the purpose of subjection to involuntary servitude, peonage, debt bondage, or slavery. Prison labor often fits this description. All prison labor has some financial benefit to the entity – private or governmental – running the prison. The most common type of prison labor is institutional. These are the jobs that support the operations of the prison or detention facility. They may include cooking, cleaning, laundry, landscaping, and other jobs. Most of this work is for low pay, on average $0.14-$0.63 an hour, or no pay at all. In many of these jobs, without the use of this free or heavily discounted labor, the facility would need to hire a civilian employee to do the work at market rate. This difference in pay translates into a profit for the state or private company that is incarcerating individuals, creating an incentive to continue incarcerating more and more people. The second type of labor incarcerated individuals typically perform is working for either a state or federal government correctional industry – businesses or corporations run by the government in question that operate in correctional facilities and utilize incarcerated individuals as free or cheap laborers. The type of work can include manufacturing, furniture building, agriculture, making license plates or signs, and making uniforms or apparel. Most products from correctional industries can only be sold to government agencies and non-profits within the state. The exception is for agricultural goods, which can be sold to anyone, including directly to consumers. The third type of labor incarcerated individuals perform affects only a small number of incarcerated individuals (approximately 5,000 nationwide) who work for private companies through a program called the Prison Industry Enhancement Certification Program (PIECP). This program allows private companies to contract with state governments to hire incarcerated individuals to work for them. Large companies such as Victoria’s Secret, Walmart, Microsoft, Starbucks, and Whole Foods have or had products produced with prison labor in their supply chains (typically through subcontractors’ use of incarcerated individuals’ work).

Why is prison labor a problem?

In many cases, incarcerated individuals have no choice but to participate in work programs that enrich the private prison companies or the state or local governments operating the facility. They are mandated to work unless medically unable. The average wage per hour for incarcerated individuals is typically less than a dollar an hour and in several states inmates are not paid at all but still required to work. With criminal justice fees, fines, and paycheck deductions for room, board, and medical facilities, most people who get out of prison wind up owing the government money for their incarceration, making imprisonment a revenue generator. In other cases, prison work programs are “voluntary,” meaning that incarcerated people can choose not to participate. But the choice looks a lot like coercion to people who are in dire financial need or who are threatened with physical harm if they do not perform the work. In prison, for example, a person without any outside source of income would not have the means to put money into their commissary accounts to purchase food, hygiene products, pay for medical visits, or make phone calls. Story after story has emerged from immigrant detention centers where detainees who have not been convicted of crimes have been forced to work to support the operations of the detention center. Under the threat of solitary confinement, relocation into more violent dormitories, withholding of food or essential supplies like sanitary pads, or other coercive tactics, detainees acquiesce to “voluntary” work. Increasingly, we are learning that the ways in which prison labor is being done by for-profit prison businesses is exploitative, with little consideration given to the exploitation of the incarcerated workers themselves. A number of lawsuits against GEO Group and CoreCivic, the two largest private prison corporations, are now emerging alleging forced labor and human trafficking. In a lawsuit against GEO Group, more than 62,000 complainants have joined a class action suit alleging forced labor in the Aurora Detention Center in violation of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act. In a lawsuit filed by Project South and the Southern Poverty Law Center against the Stewart Correctional Facility in Lumpkin, GA, CoreCivic is accused of similar violations. Incarcerated and detained individuals’ communication is monitored and this means that it is difficult for them to report abuses or violation of their rights. Even if they could report exploitative working conditions, many protections are unavailable for them as they are not considered “employees” in the traditional and legal sense and therefore are not protected by the Equal Pay Act, the Fair Labor Standards Act, the National Labor Relations Act, or the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA).

What can be done?

There is some hope on the horizon that things could improve. A recent court decision by the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals held that the Trafficking Victims Protection Act covers the conduct of private contractors operating federal immigration detention facilities. This ruling is a good foundational step but a great deal more work is necessary to uphold the protections afforded by the Trafficking Victims Protection Act to incarcerated individuals in prisons, jails, and immigration detention facilities. State and federal oversight agencies need to ensure that all labor programs within detention facilities, prisons or jails are truly voluntary – that is free from coercion or force. Incarcerated or detained workers should be paid adequately for their work so as to not undermine local employment markets. Proper safety protocols and worker protections should be put into place to decrease the risk of contracting COVID-19, workplace injury, or death. The United States demonstrates its leadership by condemning regimes and nations that condone or perpetuate forced labor. The U.S. State Department’s annual Trafficking in Persons Report considers state-sanctioned forced labor and prison labor within its grading of anti-trafficking efforts. And the Department of Homeland Security refuses to allow the import of products into the United States that are the result of forced labor. As we hold other countries to these standards, we should also look to our own actions, and make the changes we need to at home. To learn more about prison labor:

Fact Sheet: Human Trafficking & Forced Labor in For-Profit Detention Facilities by Human Trafficking Legal Center

Institutional Maintenance in Private Prisons: A Case of Labor Exploitation report by OL Pathy Family Foundation

Prison Labor in the United States: An Investor Perspective report by NorthStar Asset Management

The Kill Line feature by Southern Poverty Law Center on incarcerated individuals working in poultry processing facilities

Prison By Any Other Name: A Report on South Florida Detention Facilities by Southern Poverty Law Center

IMPRISONED JUSTICE: Inside Two Georgia Immigrant Detention Centers report by Project South and Penn State Law’s Center for Immigrants’ Rights Clinic

Prison Legal News: a monthly magazine that reviews prisoners’ rights, court rulings, and news on criminal justice issues. Some of the areas covered include prison labor, the private prison industry, medical and mental health care for prisoners, misconduct, and abuse by prison and jail staff, and settlements and verdicts in lawsuits against detention facilities.

American Prison: A Reporter’s Undercover Journey into the Business of Punishment by Shane Bauer

https://www.humantraffickingproject.com/human-trafficking-and-prison-labor/

#humantraffickinghelp #labortrafficking #humantraffickingnews

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vinayv224 · 4 years

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Republicans prepare to unveil long-awaited $1 trillion coronavirus relief package

Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin and White House chief of staff Mark Meadows at the US Capitol amid July’s stimulus package negotiations. | Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc./Getty Images

Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin says the GOP is angling to reduce enhanced unemployment insurance to $200 a week.

With time running out to pass another coronavirus stimulus package, Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin said on Sunday that Republicans are now prepared to unveil their long-awaited coronavirus relief plan — and that it would include another round of $1,200 stimulus checks as well as a smaller version of the enhanced unemployment insurance that has been credited with helping to keep the US economy afloat.

Democrats put forward their stimulus plan earlier in the year, with the Democratic-controlled House of Representatives passing the $3 trillion HEROES Act in May, but Republicans have struggled to answer it with legislation of their own, failing to share their plan as promised last week.

Passing the bill — which will involve striking a deal with Democrats — is a deeply urgent matter for Congress. Unemployment benefits are set to expire after July 31, a federal eviction moratorium imposed by the previous stimulus bill, the CARES Act, expired last week, and the Senate breaks for August recess on August 7.

But Mnuchin suggested Sunday that a compromise is imminent, saying on Fox News Sunday that “the [Trump] administration and the Senate Republicans are completely on the same page” now — a development that seemed far off as recently as last week, when the White House and Republican lawmakers fought fiercely over the provisions that should make it into the aid package.

Mnuchin said those provisions include something that has long been a GOP priority: Ending expanded insurance aid, which currently provides the unemployed with an additional $600 per week on top of their state unemployment payments, and which Democrats favor maintaining as a policy. In the Republican package, the program will be replaced by “something which pays people about 70 percent wage replacement, which I think is a very fair level,” Mnuchin said. He added that would amount to cutting the additional payment down to roughly $200 a week.

Mnuchin also said the GOP will be including liability protections for businesses, which Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has advocated for, meant to protect businesses from coronavirus-related lawsuits that could come from customers and employees.

One executive branch priority that is no longer on the table is a payroll tax cut — President Donald Trump’s preferred method for stimulating the economy. “It was very clear that the Democrats were not going to give us a payroll tax cut,” Mnuchin said. “So that’s something the president will come back and look at later in the year.”

But as Wallace pointed out in a follow-up question, the payroll tax cut was not favored by all Republicans — it was opposed by some prominent figures in the party, such as Republican Sens. John Thune, John Cornyn, and Chuck Grassley.

National Economic Council Director Larry Kudlow also discussed details of the forthcoming coronavirus relief package on CNN’s State of the Union Sunday, telling host Jake Tapper that the GOP “will lengthen the eviction [moratorium]” that has now expired. That policy, favored by Democrats as well, protects all tenants living in buildings that have mortgages guaranteed by the US government from being forced out of their homes if they are unable to make payments.

Congress is under a tight timeline for passing the bill, in part because Republicans slowed down the legislative process after passing the CARES Act in March, both out of reluctance to spend money on relief and because they relied on highly optimistic predictions of improvement in the state of the pandemic and the economy.

“Everyone assumed months ago schools would be reopening, the economy would be re-engaging. That is not necessarily true in many places,” Sen. James Lankford (R-OK) told the New York Times last week. “So while I understand ‘Hey, you have had months and months of time,’ every week the ground shifts on us and you have to be careful with other people’s money.”

The House Democrats have said they are eager to begin final negotiations. “We’ve been anxious to negotiate for two months and ten days, when we put forward our proposal,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said on CBS’s Face the Nation on Sunday. “They’re in disarray and that delay is causing suffering for America’s families.”

There’s still a distance to go

After Senate Republicans introduce their legislation this week, they’ll have to go head-to-head with House Democrats in negotiating a compromise bill.

While the details of the Republican bill won’t be available until the draft legislation is released, Kudlow and Mnuchin’s interviews — as well as reporting by Vox’s Li Zhou — illuminate the GOP’s priorities. As Zhou reported last week, there are realms where both Democrats and Republicans are likely to agree in spirit on relief measures: A second stimulus check; funding for coronavirus vaccine development, testing, and treatment; funding for schools; and more support for small businesses. And this is reflected in the White House’s statements Sunday. There are, however, likely to be debates over how much funding goes toward any of those specific issues.

But there will be clashes over issues like Republicans’ interest in passing liability shields for businesses and Democrats’ focus on getting more funding for state and local governments.

And the fight over enhanced unemployment insurance is likely to be one of the most high-profile issues. When asked if Democrats would allow the federal enhancement to drop below $600, Pelosi said, “You don’t go into a negotiation with a red line, but you do go in with your values.”

Republicans have argued that the current system disincentives unemployed people from returning to work, noting that thanks to the federal payments, some make more than they would have while working. Some proponents of the insurance argue that at a time when staying home is still considered the best way to stem the tide of the virus, providing financial incentive for people not to seek work unnecessarily is wise public health policy.

On a purely economic level, the federal addition to state aid is crucial for helping people who have no prospect of getting a job again in the near future pay their bills, as Zhou explained: “[Unemployment insurance] has served as a critical safety net for millions of workers whose jobs have effectively been eliminated in the near term. According to an analysis by the Economic Policy Institute, as many as 11.9 million workers have zero chance of returning to their prior jobs as temporary job losses become permanent ones.”

It’s unclear where lawmakers will settle on the question of how much aid should be given to the unemployed. There is, however, clear agreement on one thing: Time is of the essence.

Support Vox’s explanatory journalism

Every day at Vox, we aim to answer your most important questions and provide you, and our audience around the world, with information that has the power to save lives. Our mission has never been more vital than it is in this moment: to empower you through understanding. Vox’s work is reaching more people than ever, but our distinctive brand of explanatory journalism takes resources — particularly during a pandemic and an economic downturn. Your financial contribution will not constitute a donation, but it will enable our staff to continue to offer free articles, videos, and podcasts at the quality and volume that this moment requires. Please consider making a contribution to Vox today.

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jobsinchicago911 · 4 years

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Arity-Product Manager – Insurance Telematics

Founded by The Allstate Corporation in 2016, Arity is a data and analytics company focused on improving transportation. We collect and analyze enormous amounts of data, using predictive analytics to build solutions with a single goal in mind: to make transportation smarter, safer and more useful for everyone.

At the heart of that mission are the people that work here—the dreamers, doers and difference-makers that call this place home. As part of that team, your work will showcase both your intelligence and your creativity as you tackle real problems and put your talents towards transforming transportation.

That’s because at Arity, we believe work and life shouldn’t be at odds with one another. After all, we know that your unique qualities give you a unique perspective. We don’t just want you to see yourself here. We want you to be yourself here.

The Team

Looking to join a strong team with a vision to build the future of transportation? At Arity, achieving our goals requires a product manager eager to work in the trenches with the development team to solve tough problems and produce great results. Just as importantly, they’ll need to collaborate regularly with our engineers, designers, customers, and stakeholders to understand what must be done and why. We’re looking for a dynamic new teammate who’s comfortable scoping out the use cases of a new API one moment, providing design critique the next, and finishing up by building out a roadmap around a new feature—or has the willingness to learn these skills. Above all, an Arity product manager should possess insatiable curiosity and attention to detail. Want to join our team? Let’s chat!

The Role

The Product Manager on the Mobility Intelligence team manages strategic product vision, product discovery, roadmaps, and backlog to maximize the customer value provided by their product. Successful Product Managers help to identify assumptions and validate those assumptions through the use of product discovery techniques. The Product Manager is responsible for working closely with key stakeholders and partners, ensuring the successful definition and execution of go-to market and communications strategies for their products. Product Managers are also responsible for actively participating in our learning culture; including coaching and mentoring staff, stakeholders and peers.

Responsibilities

Responsible for vision, strategy, and product backlog for Emerging Pricing product portfolio.

Use customer feedback, detailed market analysis, and data gathering to make decisions about product strategy.

Define and manage metrics to measure the success of your efforts and to inform the overall product strategy.

Know your customer; invest significant time speaking with your current and potential customers to understand their needs & habits.

Engage in discovery/test & learn activities to quickly validate assumptions and product direction.

Decompose complex problems into smaller manageable tasks by creating and prioritizing a backlog for your scrum team.

Manage the product backlog, create an effective vision and provide timely stakeholder feedback on development iterations.

Ensure the successful execution of development standards to ensure tight feedback loops and clear product definition.

Coach and mentor members of the team as well as members of the cross-functional development organization on how to collaborate and conduct idea generation, consumer research, test design and execution, measurement, product implementation, customer interactions and roll out.

Qualifications

Clear passion for insurance telematics and/or mobility data

7-10 years relevant new product or technology development experience working in a fast-paced environment

Deep experience & love for working within the Scrum framework at an enterprise level.

Entrepreneurial with a strong inclination towards action, preferably with experience shipping software.

Experience operating in an environment driven by KPIs where you had the accountability to determine the best course of action to meet your goals

Ability to communicate complex and innovative concepts to a new product development team with proven experience in data-driven decision making

Ability to analyze and interpret moderate to complex concepts

Understanding of and experience working in a development environment

Demonstrated ability to communicate across multiple levels of leadership

Experience in the insurance industry preferred.

Undergraduate degree in engineering, finance, computer science, marketing or related business degree. MBA preferred.

The candidate(s) offered this position will be required to submit to a background investigation, which includes a drug screen.

That’s the day-to-day, now let’s talk about the rest of it. As we mentioned, Arity was founded by The Allstate Corporation. But you’ll be working for—and at—Arity. It’s the best of both worlds. You’ll get access to the full suite of Allstate benefits and work in a fast-paced startup culture. That’s more than just free breakfasts and brain breaks. It’s a culture that encourages you to be you.

Sound like a fit? Apply now! We can’t wait to meet you.

Arity.com Instagram Twitter LinkedIn

Allstate generally does not sponsor individuals for employment-based visas for this position.

Effective July 1, 2014, under Indiana House Enrolled Act (HEA) 1242, it is against public policy of the State of Indiana and a discriminatory practice for an employer to discriminate against a prospective employee on the basis of status as a veteran by refusing to employ an applicant on the basis that they are a veteran of the armed forces of the United States, a member of the Indiana National Guard or a member of a reserve component.

For jobs in San Francisco, please click “here” for information regarding the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance.

For jobs in Los Angeles, please click “here” for information regarding the Los Angeles Fair Chance Initiative for Hiring Ordinance.

To view the “EEO is the Law” poster click “here”. This poster provides information concerning the laws and procedures for filing complaints of violations of the laws with the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs

To view the FMLA poster, click “here”. This poster summarizing the major provisions of the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) and telling employees how to file a complaint.

It is the Company’s policy to employ the best qualified individuals available for all jobs. Therefore, any discriminatory action taken on account of an employee’s ancestry, age, color, disability, genetic information, gender, gender identity, gender expression, sexual and reproductive health decision, marital status, medical condition, military or veteran status, national origin, race (include traits historically associated with race, including, but not limited to, hair texture and protective hairstyles), religion (including religious dress), sex, or sexual orientation that adversely affects an employee’s terms or conditions of employment is prohibited. This policy applies to all aspects of the employment relationship, including, but not limited to, hiring, training, salary administration, promotion, job assignment, benefits, discipline, and separation of employment

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tecezeposts · 4 years

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TOP 5 Compliance That Every Organization Must Be Aware Off

What Is Corporate Compliance and Why It’s Important?

Regardless of your organization’s business, corporate compliance is an essential part of operations.

What is compliance with the corporate? Simply put, corporate compliance is the process of ensuring that the rules, legislation, guidelines and ethical practises that apply to your organisation are practised by the company and employees.

Good corporate regulation may include domestic policies and rules as well as federal and state legislation.

The regulation of corporate policy compliance should allow the business to prevent and identify breaches of laws. This can save the company from fines and criminal proceedings.

Corporate compliance also sets out employee conduct standards, helps your employees stay focused on the overall objectives of your company, and helps smooth operations.

This process is expected to continue. Many companies are setting up a corporate compliance system to assist policy and enforcement management.

The Top Regulatory Compliance Frameworks

GDPR. PCI-DSS. HIPAA. ISO 27001. These are just some of the acronyms names that organizations need to know today about large regulatory compliance systems. And with so many obscure acronyms to deal with, it can be difficult to keep track of what regulatory frameworks are applicable to what.

GDPR

The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is the new and biggest regulatory compliance mechanism to be unveiled.

The GDPR which came into force in May 2018 is a law of the European Union. Nevertheless, since its provisions typically cover any company that does business in the European Union in some way or communicates with citizens of the European Union, the GDPR is applicable to many businesses outside the European Union.

The GDPR criteria are too lengthy to explain here, but you can check out some of our other GDPR reporting for more information— including What Is General Data Protection Regulation? The Basics Of GDPR

PCI DSS

Credit card information is a category of data that is quite important, for obvious reasons. The Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard, or PCI DSS, is a regulatory standard developed by credit card companies to help protect cardholder data. It was released in 2004.

PCI DSS refers to you if you process, store or transmit credit card data.

To know more about this compliance, you can check out What Is PCI-DSS, The Complete Guide To Online Payments Security.

HIPAA

One of the best-known regulatory compliance structures for customers in the United States is the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, or HIPAA. Established in 1996, it sets, among other things, different standards and requirements with regard to health data. HIPAA is relatively high-level and was introduced at a time when platforms of technology looked very different than they do today (although they have been updated a little since then). As such, HIPAA does not include much in the way of specific technical criteria for how health data are protected, and the regulations of HIPAA are subject to a fair amount of interpretation as to how they should be applied from a technological point of view. Nonetheless, if you manage health data in one way or another on any of the IT infrastructures, it is a good idea to work with HIPAA security experts to ensure that you adhere to best practises for storing and processing data in ways that the authorities will find HIPAA-compliant. To know more about HIPAA compliance you can check out Requirements for HIPAA

Cyber Essential Plus

Cyber Essentials Plus is the highest level of certification available under the Cyber Essentials scheme, an official UK-wide, government-backed certification that helps companies cope with the most common cyber threats and reduce their risk by at least 80%. Cyber Essentials Plus ensures that you have the five necessary technical checks in place, but independently verify your cyber security.

Our success towards achieving Cyber Essentials Plus

1. Quote

Our team can build a quote starting at £ 999. The estimate will be based on the scope of your IT and business solutions.

2. Preparation

You will need to make sure you meet the certification requirements. The method is quick and easy with the CyberSmart app, even for those with no professional IT support.

3. Audit

An audit by one of our evaluators will highlight any final issues and we will guide you in achieving the certification standard required.

4. Certify

Once the questionnaire and the technical audit have been completed, our assessor will help you submit your application and your certificate will be issued on the same day. To know more about this check out Cyber essentials and its benefits

ISO 27001

Compliance with ISO 27001 is the most standard and most applicable to the implementation of information security management (ISMS) standards. Originally published in 2005, in the midst of growing data breaches and safety lapses, the ISO family of standards for managing information security has recently received more attention. These are still not as common as HITRUST or SOC 2 audits.

ISO 27001 is a PCI or HIPAA compliance regulation. Within the ISO family there are about a dozen standards, but 27001 is the most common and most relevant to the provision of information security management system (ISMS) requirements. First introduced in 2005, the ISO standards were revised in 2013.

What is an ISMS?

An ISMS is essentially how you choose to approach the protection of your sensitive data. These data may include financial records, medical information, internal employee data or any other information that a third party has entrusted to you. The ISMS is not only the information itself, but the staff, procedures and software that surrounds it, which requires a system of risk management. The ISMS ‘ goal is to help organisations maintain secure information.

Who is involved in achieving ISO 27001 compliance?

Since ISO is a standard of management, this means that everyone is involved in the management team, not just the IT department. This includes your team’s CEO, CFO, and anyone else. Because each organisation is actively involved in achieving enforcement, making the entire management team part of the process makes it much easier to enforce security controls and a compliance culture across the board.

To know more about HIPAA compliance you can check out ISO 27001 consultancy service

How can compliance be implemented in the company?

To introduce and enforce compliance within the organisation, a compliance management system (CMS) is required. This system ensures compliance with all regulations and enables quick identification of breaches of laws. The aim of this CMS is to enforce and sustain a compliance culture that is straightforward, unambiguous and easily understandable. Nonetheless, the design of a CMS is not a simple undertaking due to the variety of topics and areas of interest that can influence the definition of enforcement. For a project like this, even medium-sized enterprises often lack the necessary know-how. There will be specific criteria for implementation depending on the sector, company size and form as well as the organisational structure, so there is no generally applicable protocol. The following, however, is a rough explanation of the most important steps.

Step 1: Assemble a team to comply

Every CMS starts with a company management commitment to enforcement and a concept that is unique to the client individually. This is the only way to make sure all those responsible get together and avoid misunderstandings about the project’s nature and scope. From how much personal capacity and expenditure they are willing to spare can already be seen how serious the management team is about this pledge. The active compliance group should be comprised of professionals from all organization divisions (e.g. staff management, financial management, legal department). It is only in this manner that all possible areas of interest and risk in the business can be defined and protected. It is possible to obtain additional professional experience from lawyers, tax advisors, and management consultants. Involving the works council in all decision-making processes is also legally necessary and advisable. It is necessary, for example, to decide whether to change existing employment contracts or operating agreements. A reasonable timeline and a clearly defined task distribution (including a knowledgeable team leader) will help manage costs and produce a timely outcome.

Step 2: Compliance analysis

The main task of the team is to analyse the current situation. It could be that the company already has (at least rudimentary) compliance structures that apply among employees in the form of “unwritten rules.” The target state is then defined on the basis of this pre-evaluation: which measures and mechanisms need to be supplemented, modified or completely recreated in order to do justice to the concept of compliance of the company? Identifying the interfaces of civil society that the company has to deal with in its daily business is worthwhile. Hiring a company with enforcement services that could manage processes and operations in line with existing regulatory regulations and requirements could even be worthwhile. Many companies work with workers to teach them how to integrate regulation into the environment of the internal workplace and offer many benefits as well: • Ensure compliance with all federal and state laws • Keeping a firm ethical footing • Transparent procedures for reporting • Processes that are well defined to increase efficiency • Reduced litigation scope and other legal issues • More efficient processes of auditing

Step 3: Formulate and communicate guidelines for compliance

There are various compliance policy trends on the internet, but content and structure do not have a general requirement. Alternatively, it is recommended that all guidelines be adjusted explicitly to the company’s individual needs and circumstances. The following could be one possible structure: • Specific laws of conduct • Complex problems (e.g. business partners ‘ gifts, competitor behaviour, workplace equal treatment) • Contact individuals and violation notification formalities • Mechanisms for recording infringements • Sanctions (e.g. reminder/caution, relocation, (extra)ordinary dismissal, reduction of wages, payment, police reports) When completed, it is necessary to communicate the enforcement guidelines freely throughout the organization. This is achieved by newsletters, intranet articles, and information events. Regular training sessions are required to raise awareness of the new compliance culture among all those involved in the company (including contractual partners and suppliers). It is also essential that all employees are bound by their contracts of employment through appropriate additional clauses. Many companies also decide in the form of a “Code of Conduct” or “Mission Statement” to place a reduced version of their compliance policy on their website. Being so open will strengthen customer and business partners ‘ confidence and draw candidates in the branding of employers. Nonetheless, the most important thing is that managers constantly set a good example and both internally and externally exemplify the culture of compliance.

Step 4: Implementation and adjustment in regular operation

Although the company management has the main responsibility and full liability for compliance, this responsibility can be given to a single chief compliance officer, a complete compliance team, or a company with compliance solutions (as mentioned above) can take over the work. These are then responsible, among other items, for the following tasks: • Implementing the CMS • Organizing training courses • Continuous control of quality • Conduct surveys of employees • Monitoring for improvements in law • If required, adapt, invest and further improve the CMS • Documentation of violations • Daily leadership statements Such a complex task requires professional and assertive workers, which is why hiring requires special care. In order to be able to work effectively, the compliance officer does not necessarily have to be at the highest level of management but should have a direct, reliable and shortest possible relation. This is the only way to ensure that compliance efforts are ultimately successful.

Is compliance a “business obstacle”?

In the light of existing laws and corporate social responsibility, the benefits and objectives of compliance measures are evident. This does nothing, however, to change the fact that in some management circles the theory has a very questionable image-challenging established procedures and hampering business activity.

Some find the main challenge in the enforcement concept’s inherent complexity and changeability. Companies, especially global players, face a real flood of domestic, regional, and industry-specific rules and bans. Themes are also constantly changing. As a result, robust compliance management systems are often seen only in large corporations, whereas in small and medium-sized enterprises the subject is often of secondary importance.

It makes it all the more relevant (and urgent) to ensure compliance with the regulations for all those responsible in the business and to appoint a trained and experienced compliance officer to address the job description challenges.

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easyfoodnetwork · 4 years

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Loic Venance/AFP via Getty Images Dismantling racist and classist ideologies is not just about police reform; restaurants need to answer the call of protesters, too. This is how. This is Eater Voices, where chefs, restaurateurs, writers, and industry insiders share their perspectives about the food world, tackling a range of topics through the lens of personal experience. First-time writer? Don’t worry, we’ll pair you with an editor to make sure your piece hits the mark. If you want to write an Eater Voices essay, please send us a couple paragraphs explaining what you want to write about and why you are the person to write it to [email protected]. Right now, the United States is in the middle of the hundreds of protests sparked by the death of George Floyd. With cities reopening, restaurants are also opening their doors for service again (albeit with strict guidelines due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic). Some owners and chefs are reasonably upset that their storefronts have been damaged during the protests, an additional blow to already-struggling businesses. While restaurant owners were vocal about the losses they suffered when their businesses were shuttered because of the coronavirus, and still more spoke out when certain big-name chefs and restaurant groups received federal loans they desperately needed, many of those same owners and chefs have been quiet about the injustices that Black people face, even as protesters show up on their doorsteps. It shouldn’t be a surprise, though; the industry is filled with instances of racism, sexism, ageism, and every other -ism there is. Discrimination comes from angry and ignorant guests, but even more so from the people who brush shoulders in restaurants every day, working in dining rooms and kitchens. Restaurants are still often obviously segregated by staff, and Black people are often denied employment or progression in fine dining and corporate restaurants. This doesn’t even begin to cover the countless acts of discrimination and stereotyping Black guests deal with in establishments all around the country. Restaurants should become third places that tear down old racist and classist ideologies. Throughout history, restaurants have played major roles in political movements; because they uphold unfair practices, they often become centers of protest themselves. Right now, restaurant owners, chefs, and people across the food industry should be at the frontlines with protesters, speaking as loudly about social injustices as they did about the Paycheck Protection Program and unemployment due to COVID-19. They should be fighting just as hard to end systemic racism, poverty, and the inhumane treatment of immigrants as they did to save their businesses, seeing as their entire labor force depends on it. They should become “third places” for protesters. Instead, we see our public dining institutions siding with the same people who fail to protect them time and time again. According to the Brookings Institution, “third places” are the spaces where people spend time between home (the “first place”) and work (the “second place”). They are places of communion, where we exchange ideas and have conversations with one another. It’s no surprise that bars, restaurants, and cafes are defined as third places, but they are often spaces where Black people aren’t welcomed or don’t feel safe. So with the call for change within our communities and government institutions, we also need change to come from within the restaurant industry. New third places should be created, tearing down old racist and classist ideologies and putting systems in place that represent true inclusivity and compassion. The Woolworth sit-in in Greensboro, North Carolina, may be the most famous example of a restaurant taking center stage in a movement. In 1960, four young Black men, all students at the historically Black college and university North Carolina A&T, were fed up with the segregation they faced despite the 1954 Brown v. Board of Education ruling that “separate but equal” was unconstitutional. Inspired by Gandhi’s nonviolent activism, the students sat at the “white-only” counter at their local Woolworth. They returned day after day with more and more people, despite being spit on, beaten, and taunted, until Woolworth and other restaurants throughout the South agreed to fully integrate. Violence surrounded the peaceful protesters who used restaurants and other small businesses as their third place — and restaurant owners, workers, and diners allowed and participated in this violence. This story of silence and permission, tacit or otherwise, has found its way back into mainstream American life, and once again, restaurants are sites of history. At Halls Chophouse in Charleston, South Carolina, staff, diners, and protesters clashed after an employee brandished a gun and fired it to disperse a crowd that had formed outside the business. No one was severely injured in the altercation. Two days after the shooting incident in Charleston, chef David “BBQ Man” McAtee was shot and killed by members of the Louisville Police Department. According to McAtee’s nephew, he’d been standing in front of his restaurant trying to protect his niece, who had also been shot by officers, after police were called to disperse a large crowd nearby. Police officers said that they heard gunshots and opened fire in return, although accounts across social media allege otherwise. The contrast between these two incidents underscores the total disregard for life that law enforcement and white people have for Black people: While a restaurant employee was allowed to shoot into the air amid a crowd of protesters with no intervention or retaliation from cops, a Black restaurant owner lost his life. While I’ve noticed many, many well-known chefs asking for donations to save their restaurants, I haven’t seen many send their condolences or coins to chef McAtee’s family to help keep his business open after his unexpected death. Sociologist Ray Oldenburg, who coined the term “third places,” says that although many of our third places are virtual, the most effective spaces are ones that allow people to easily and consistently connect with each other on a physical level. To build community, society needs places where people of different races, ages, genders, sexualities, and socioeconomic statuses are on a level playing field. Restaurants and other food businesses can fit that description exactly. Restaurants that fail to see themselves as third spaces, and that don’t go out of their way to ensure their spaces truly function as such, will be on the wrong side of history. To create change and mobilize their businesses as third places, restaurant owners need to listen. Listen to Black communities and comprehend what is happening, how they feel, and what they need from you. Let them tell you your role before assuming one. It may be your kitchen, but you serve your community. Chefs, you can also do what you do best: feed people. Start a food bank, give out free meals, create community grocery stores and bartering programs, give protesters drinks as they walk down the streets fighting for your rights. And if your restaurant is closed because of the pandemic, or for any other reason, allow people to safely use those spaces as places of rest and repose. Let people meet and organize and know they have a safe place to go to if they’re in trouble or danger, and that you will support them to the best of your ability. To create change and mobilize as third places now, restaurant owners need to listen. The work needs to continue after the protests stop. Hire people from the community, and not just to feel better about meeting whatever diversity quota you’ve set. It is even more important to hire Black people if you’re operating a business in a majority Black city or neighborhood: If that’s the case, you are an unwelcome guest who time and time again finds your way into Black spaces uninvited. Your accolades only add to our burdens. But since you’ve decided to infiltrate our neighborhoods, hire people from the community. And once you hire your staff, pay them equal and fair wages, teach them, and promote them; if you don’t want to do that, let them move on and flourish elsewhere. When you don’t do this, you’re upholding a racist ideology and system. Train yourself and your staff to commit to fighting injustices inside and outside of the dining room. It shouldn’t take someone dying on camera for you to watch a video on anti-racism and advocate for appropriate workplace behavior. Fight for Black food workers, owners, writers, and chefs to have equal footing when it comes to being promoted, securing investors, benefiting from marketing, making connections, getting paid fairly, and having decent health care and work-life balance; anything you have or want, they should have too. Use your voice and your resources (including your money) to support the people who work at and frequent your businesses. Stop relegating Black culture and appreciation to one month a year, or when a hot topic arises. Food media, give stories about Black culture to Black writers, but don’t be so asinine as to attempt to put them into one box (that goes for Black chefs, cooks, photographers, etc). Be accessible to your community. Not only should your business feel sincerely welcoming, guests should understand what’s on your menu. If you use historically Black recipes or ingredients, source them from Black farmers and businesses; if you collaborated with Black minds to create your concepts, speak about it in your pressers and in your dining rooms. You should be vocal about the harm that is done to Black people regularly, so that people know that when they come into your space, they are making a choice to support who and what you support. Black people have always created third places for themselves and for others, especially during social movements, usually for their own safety. For Black chefs and food people, your role in this movement is to do absolutely nothing more than what you already do every single day. Keep surviving. Keep feeding your communities. Keep uplifting one another. Keep spreading knowledge. Help when you feel the need to, but take care of yourself first. Chefs, owners, and staff who are white and non-Black people of color, we aren’t asking you to invite us into your spaces. We aren’t asking you to become allies. We can and have fought this fight without you, and will continue to do so as long as it’s necessary. It’s your time to do the work and stop asking an already emotionally taxed and physically exhausted group of people to help you do it. There is no reason you should have to be taught how to be a decent human being in 2020. I find it hard to believe you all don’t know how to be any better, but I’m sure that once again, you’ll be given the benefit of the doubt. If you choose to stay silent or act against us, that speaks volumes about your character, not ours. The time of carrying your loads while you reap the benefits of our physical and intellectual labor is over. To those who have finally decided to answer the call to protest injustice, who wrote those beautifully worded posts and blacked out their profile pictures in solidarity, and who promised that their restaurant or publication or business will do better, remember that Black lives are worth more than your business. At the end of the day, your windows can be replaced. Your looted alcohol can be rebought. You might lose some of your clientele. Just keep in mind: You have only lost your livelihood for a moment. Black people have been losing their lives forever. Amethyst Ganaway is a chef from North Charleston, South Carolina, and winner of the 2020 LDEI Culinary Legacy Award. from Eater - All https://ift.tt/3f2j63p

http://easyfoodnetwork.blogspot.com/2020/06/restaurants-must-use-this-moment-to.html

#EasyFoodNetwork #ComfortFoodRecipes #EasyRecipes #GoodFood #BestComfortFoodRecipes #TastyFoodv

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alexandriaharton-blog · 6 years

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Booze Understanding Training class May Soon Be Compulsory.

If you have a scenario set for Necessary Arbitration in Cook County, Illinois, you may need to know specifically what happens throughout the 2 hr process. You see only authorizing a request, getting your month to month car ship and also joining all instruction operates ARE GOING TO NOT GENERATE RESULTS as a lot of upline experts long for you to feel. A professional obligatory reporter should get in touch with the Team from Youngster as well as Familie's Abuse Hotline when she or he thinks abuse or neglect. Having said that, lot of times instances just could= t be actually worked out and are actually needed to trial, which undergoes Motions for Revision as well as Appeals. You could benefit from an extension to existing due dates for paying out income tax and also filing returns where you both pay as well as file making use of ROS. Defra mentioned that will certainly not be actually hurried in to a decision on the concern, in spite of telephone calls off some service one-fourths to embrace necessary reporting. For as a lot great as this may do, many individuals would certainly find this disparaging as well as possibly even unconstitutional to make such a lesson mandatory. These health & security indications are actually beneficial for both the employers as well as the staff member. The SyberWorks Training Center LMS/LCMS can be bought as an enterprise permit or held function. The instruction from potential team or staff members is actually important to the development and performance of a company. If there is a necessary sign for the auto in a particular lane to turn right, after that this needs to rotate straight. Organizations must succeed to bear in mind of the obstacles to helpful training along with the implementation from elearning training options. In Western Australia, there is actually no lawful obligation for addressing health and wellness specialists to make mandatory notifications (conditions) about people (or even customers) which are actually also health specialists in some of the managed health professions. Under this policy, that was actually quite feasible for a gamer to merely be actually evaluated when from the start of spring season instruction throughout the regular period. Mediators need to possess instruction in the field of residential violence to aid facilitate conditions where domestic physical violence exists. If they deliver any training programs, before doing that your own self you should speak with your condition and regional wellness teams to establish. However there are actually protection signs which are actually complicated and used in very niche market fields as well as tough to remember. The Necessary Residential Meal Programs are actually tax-exempt, sparing you practically 15% on taxes on the majority of meals thing obtained in 21 various sites on each schools. In Singapore a business is bound to sign up for the purposes of Goods and also services tax (GST) act when the annual turnover is above or even expected to be above 1 million SGD. That is actually highly recommended to search for the institute that offers the very best CNA training system, as this is additionally assists in obtaining a really good work. This will offer that an edge over smaller sized opponents and individual agencies, a number of which do not posses any kind of income tax policy proficiency. The costs would cut in half key obligatory minimums, make comfort under the Fair Punishing Action offered to 8,800 government split defendants locked up before 2010 and also save $4 billion in the process. Equipment suppliers are hedging their wagers, with the current line being actually that Blu-Ray-aligned Hewlett Packard has actually requested that mandatory handled duplicate and also the iHD specification be actually included in Blu-Ray's attribute set. The legislations associating with employment creates this required for companies to feature health & protection indications at work locations for the benefits of the employees. While the public thoughts has actually been a lot confused regarding the definition of the different proposals, those which comprehend the guidelines included as well as that are taking an active component in the controversy seem to be to be needlessly much apart on certain key suggestions. They ensure that little ones don't harm on their own during instruction treatments but they additionally see to it that the little ones know effective ways to defend themselves as well as their items. Yet I find that if I don't incorporate salt to my diet regimen I acquire poor muscular tissue pains when instruction. The candidates which desire to seek a clerk's career necessity concentrated training. This carries out not prevent a private off making a file to the legal kid security company if they possess worries for the protection and also wellness of a little one that do not broken within required coverage needs. Your case will certainly go via the Mandatory Adjudication process if your lawyer (or even you) have submitted a private accident fit in the First Municipal Area in Cook Area Illinois. In latest times, employers are locating that necessary to position their workers as well as prospective employees under an alcohol and drug assessment method. The teachers are actually reliable as well as they have actually got enough adventure and also knowledge demanded for instruction youngsters. In case you cherished this informative article as well as you would want to be given details relating to yellow pages advert - bitivitki-ifit22.info - generously go to our web site. The Federation from Small Business, which has actually certainly not been actually definitely pushing Federal government on obligatory disclosing previously, mentioned this might work for tiny to medium-sized organizations (SMEs), but advised a one dimension suits all" system will be actually completely unsuitable" for tiny firms. . Both the complaintant as well as the defendant could secure an acting injunction. The IRS performs certainly not prepare to set up screening up until after sign up as well as required PTIN usage is in place. In a similar way, in building websites you can easily likewise discover alert indicators like Authorized Personnel Just". In UK and also particularly in London, it is certainly not difficult to locate really good, reputable institutes which supply helpful ITIL instruction courses. At present UK has actually wrapped up over 100 tax obligation negotiations, whereas Singapore has actually concluded nearly 70. Your selection letter are going to say that you can call the DWP to request a revision. That is going to create which type your training are going to come under and how much support you are going to get off people Development staff. The electrical power of legal representative demand is a guard for you, due to the fact that this avoids unapproved people from covering your personal tax obligation issues with the IRS. The Health and Safety Team Mandatory Instruction Training program is actually a minimum required of 6 hours professional classroom instruction. If you are actually a Canadian Homeowner, at that point you are actually taxed on your worldwide profit and filing from returns to the Canadian Earnings Agency is actually compulsory. It is mandatory to include right and also full connect with address from the company. The 1st objective is to produce a case to pass additional wide range to beneficiaries considering that of the terrible income tax effects. It is compulsory to pass the auto idea exam in order to be looked at qualified for the automobile driving test.

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thelondonflowerlover · 7 years

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Beloved Flower Lover,

Melanie Poole talks about the band aid of holidays that are actually a band aid for the overworking culture we are in she claims. She says work has taken on a cycle of endless work and consumption is making us lonely, stressed and unhealthy. We’ve trapped ourselves in this cycle because of a belief that selling our labour is the only valid way to contribute. Melanie explains why you need to reject this belief – and how you do it.

She says that by taking just a tiny part of ourselves and making it the main focus of our attention has caused us much harm with public researcher pointing to Gen Y being regarding themselves as lonely and much less connected that previous generations.

People have fewer friends, and less likely to volunteer or join hobbies and instead the Escape industries are growing.

Inspired by Melanie Poole’s video we went and looked at how many hours a day that we work. We were amazed.

The history of European working time laws 1784-2015

Some of the key events that have shaped the development of working time measures in Europe:

Date Event 1784 Ten-hour day proposed at Manchester Quarter Sessions (England) 1802 First Factory Act (Health and Morals of Apprentices) 1815 Foundation in England of the ‘Ten Hours Movement’. 1818 Robert Owen presented a petition to the five leading European powers meeting at the congress of Aix-la-Chapelle. The document asked for the establishment of working hours restrictions throughout Europe in order to stop unfair competition. His submission was rejected as ‘lunatic’. 1819, 1825 British Factory Acts (not enforced) 1831, 1833 British Factory Act : Under 21s not allowed to work at night in cotton mills. Under 18s not allowed to work longer than 12 hours (9 hours on Saturday). Robert Owen begins to experiment with a co-operative system based on labour working time tokens. 1843 Ten-hour Day Act (normal working day) 1840 First strike for an eight-hour day – Wellington, New Zealand. 1841 French law limiting the hours worked by children in mines (not applied in practice). 1842 The first child labour law introduced in the USA. This regulated working hours in Massachusetts. 1844 British Factory Act: maximum working day of 12 hours for adults and 6.5 hours for children. 1847 Ten Hour Act 1850 British Factory Act: Limits for women and children introduced. Employment permissible between 6.00 am and 6.00 pm (later in winter) on weekdays and until 2.00 pm on Saturdays. 1868 US congress passed a law limiting daily working time to eight hours for federal employees. 1874 British Factory Act: Reduction of half an hour each day for textile workers. 1890 Berlin conference on working time. Resolutions on child labour, women and children in mining, and night work. 1897 ‘Eight-hour day’ strike by engineers 1899 Eight-hour day for all government workers – Puerto Rico. 1900 Foundation of the International Association for Labour. 1905 Berne Convention on night work for women 1911 Swiss federal code of obligations sets certain entitlements and safeguards for holidays and other time off work. 1913 Berne Convention (draft) on night work for children 1916 Eight Hours Act – New South Wales, Australia. 1917 New revolutionary government in Russia orders universal eight-hour day. 1919 Spain introduces national eight-hour day law. 1919 ILO established as part of Paris Peace Conference. First meeting in Washington USA. Convention 1 agreed a maximum 8 hour day and maximum weekly hours of 48. ILO eventually became part of The UN. 1921 ILO Convention 14: weekly rest breaks in industry 1930 ILO Convention 30: hours of work in commerce and offices 1935 ILO Convention 47: 40-hour week 1936 French laws introduced by labour minister Jean-Baptiste Lebas provided two-weeks paid vacation each year and a 40-hour week. 1938 US Fair Labor Standards Act introduces a standard workweek of 40 hours and pay at time and a half for overtime hours. The Act does not apply to all employees. 1948 ILO Convention 89: night work for women (revised Convention 4) 1949 Public holidays in Italy first listed in Law 260/1949. 1970 ILO Convention 132: holidays with pay (revised) 1975 EC Council Recommendation on the 40-hour maximum working week and 4 weeks paid holiday. (75/457/EEC) 1976 Finland introduces seamens’ working hours Act 1979 ILO Convention 153: hours of work and rest periods in road transport 1985 Common EC statutory limits for heavy goods vehicle and public service vehicle drivers 1993 (Nov 23rd) EC Directive on working time (93/104/EC). 48-hour week limitation (averaged), but with voluntary opt out by employees in some member states. 1994 (Jun 22nd) EC Directive on the protection of young people at work (94/33/EC). 40-hour week limitation on 16/17 year old adolescents who are not in full time education. 1996 ILO Convention 180: seafarers’ hours of work and the manning of ships. 1996 (Jun 3rd) EC Directive on parental leave requirements 1997 EC Directive on part-time work 1998 Revised EC Regulation on working and rest time (transport) 1999 EC Directive on seafarers’ hours of work 2000 EC Directive on working time in civil aviation 2000 Loi Aubry becomes mandatory in France. This sets a maximum normal working week of 35 hours in all companies employing over 20 people. The Aubry II that was passed in 2000 extended the 35-hour week to employees in small companies and to some managers (cadres). 2000 SIMAP ruling by the European Court of Justice. All hours spent in residence and on call must count as working time. 2001 BECTU ruling by the European Court of Justice. This confirmed as unlawful any qualifying period before a new employee could build up entitlements for statutory paid annual leave. 2002 EC directive on mobile road transport activities 2002 Extension of EC working time restrictions (offshore workers and doctors in training) 2003 New consolidated Working Time Directive (2003/88/EC). 2003 Jaeger ruling by the European Court of Justice. If an employee is required to be present at the workplace, or otherwise at the disposal of their employer for a period between two shifts then the rest period must be classified as working time. 2007 French National assembly passes bill that promotes overtime working. 2015 European Court of Justice Decision concerning the working time of mobile workers with no fixed workplace.

Trickle Down Economics

She got us to look at trickle-down economics a theory that says benefits for the wealthy trickle down to everyone else. These benefits are usually tax cuts on businesses, high-income earners, capital gains and dividends.

Trickle-down economics assumes investors, savers and company owners are the real drivers of growth. It assumes they’ll use any extra cash from tax cuts to expand businesses. Investors will buy more companies or stocks. It assumes that Banks will increase business lending. Owners will invest in their operations and hire workers. The theory says these workers will spend their wages, driving demand and economic growth.

Trickle-Down Economic Theory

Trickle-down economic theory is similar to supply-side economics. That theory states that all tax cuts, whether for businesses or workers, spur economic growth. Trickle-down theory is more specific. It says targeted tax cuts work better than general ones. It advocates cuts to corporations, capital gains and savings taxes. It doesn’t promote across-the-board tax cuts. Instead, the tax cuts go to the wealthy.

Both trickle-down and supply-side economists use the Laffer Curve to prove their theories. Arthur Laffer showed how tax cuts provide a powerful multiplication effect. Over time, they create enough growth to replace the government revenuelost from the cuts. That’s because the expanded, prosperous economy provides a larger tax base.

But Laffer warned that this effect works best when taxes are in the “Prohibitive Range.” This range goes from a 100 percent tax rate down to some hypothetical rate somewhere in the middle. If the tax rate falls below this range, then further cuts will only lower government revenue without stimulating economic growth.

Trickle Down Theory-Did It Work?- you decide

Universal Income is an idea which is growing.Moving away from means testing and poverty and giving everyone a modest set amount. Yes there is a lot of uncertainty in society so what about a universal income? well its being trialed in different countries around the world.

Is it a good idea?

We came across West Cheshire Poverty Truth commission who had direct experience of poverty and what we can learn from it about trust and wisdom, going beyond sympathy.

The West Cheshire Poverty Truth Commission starts with a question. What if the people who have directly faced poverty were involved in decisions about poverty? This question comes from the belief that… No lasting social change happens without the people who suffer under the status quo taking a lead in bringing about a change to that status quo. A principle that can be seen throughout the history of social change, from suffragettes to civil rights. And the status quo in parts of West Cheshire is one of inequality. The difference in educational achievement between one of the borough’s richest wards and one of its poorest is dramatic. We have one neighbourhood where more than half of children are being brought up in low income families, while in some other neighbourhoods the figure is under 2%. And male life expectancy is around 10 years more in West Cheshire’s richer wards compared to the poorer ones. But behind all these statistics are the lives of real people, and West Cheshire Poverty Truth Commission aims to give a face to the facts and provide the opportunity for those affected by poverty to tell their story. So, we gather a group of experts through experience who we call ‘Community Inspirers’ – people with direct experience of poverty in its many forms. Together this group of Inspirers spend time sharing their stories and experiences with each other and consider who in West Cheshire might have influence to bring change. Civic and business leaders are then invited to join the commission. The poverty truth commission is not about these civic and business leaders and their organisations providing the solutions, but about developing relationships of trust and empathy with Inspirers and seeing what happens when their combined resources, experience and wisdom as co-commissioners are brought together. The commission recognises that there are experts and wisdom on all sides and seeks to unlock this wisdom by really listening, going beyond communicating mere facts. Sympathy is not enough, we need to see the world through another’s eyes and reach a deep creative level where together individuals can connect to something larger than themselves and open up and commit to new future possibilities. Over time this leads to the emergence of issues and themes which, through a variety of ways, the Inspirers and civic and business leaders begin to explore and address together. Ultimately the poverty truth commission in about culture change. Changing communities, organisations and individual attitudes towards poverty and how to tackle it. And asking ‘How in West Cheshire do we deal with poverty where we all have a responsibility and a part to play?’

You decided.

Perhaps its a time for re-looking at both arguments again and come up with a plan for our societies that works for all.

The Team,

The London Flower Lover

Are we a lonely society because we work too hard? Or is it that we are scared of the poverty trap we ask? These issues flower in our hearts Beloved Flower Lover, Melanie Poole talks about the band aid of holidays that are actually a band aid for the overworking culture we are in she claims.

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