Eesha Williams's Blog, page 135
June 21, 2014
Massachusetts Workers' Victory
On June 19, the Massachusetts legislature passed a bill that, if signed by governor Deval Patrick, will make the state's minimum wage higher than any other state's. If Patrick signs the bill, it will raise the state minimum wage to:
$9 an hour on January 1, 2015;
$10 an hour on January 1, 2016;
and $11 an hour on January 1, 2017.
“I think it’s a good solution,” Patrick told the Boston Globe, referring to the minimum wage bill.
June 14, 2014
Photo: Hundreds March for Higher Wages in Springfield
In Springfield on June 12, there was a march and rally for justice for poor workers. "From Wal-Mart employees to fast food workers, the momentum for change is reaching all corners of the workforce," said rally organizer Jon Weissman of the western Massachusetts chapter of www.jwj.org. About 250 people were at the event. photo by Jobs with Justice
Grassroots Victory
In a grassroots victory, a coal fired electricity generating facility in Holyoke will close permanently in October. The Mount Tom Power Plant currently burns about 1,200 tons of coal every day. “Now we will have less air pollution,” said Vilma Vazquez, a Holyoke resident who attended rallies to close the facility.
The movement to close the coal facility was organized by www.n2nma.org and www.ToxicsAction.org.
June 7, 2014
1,000 Acres in the Balance in Amherst Area
A group in Amherst that has saved more than 19,000 acres of farmland, forest, and wetlands in the Valley is fighting to protect more than 1,000 acres in the Amherst area “Range” that is at risk of being turned into parking lots, roads, strip malls, vacation homes and other kinds of so-called “development.”
May 31, 2014
Jobs with Justice
Organizers are looking for volunteers to gather signatures on a petition that would allow Massachusetts voters to decide in November if the state's minimum wage should go up to $10.50 an hour. Now it's $8 an hour. Under a law passed this year, the minimum wage for workers in Washington, DC will be $11.50 an hour starting in 2016. The minimum wage in Washington state is now $9.32 an hour.
In Vermont, where the minimum wage is now $8.60 an hour, the legislature this month passed a bill that wil...
May 24, 2014
New Apartments for Downtown Keene
Climate changed caused by humans will create famines and floods that will kill millions of people, unless people start using less gas for cars, oil for heating, and electricity generated from coal. That's according to the world's leading scientists. At Keene city hall on May 27 at 6:30 p.m., the planning board will hold a public hearing about a proposed apartment building.
May 17, 2014
12 Women Arrested at Valley Nuke
Police arrested 12 women for non-violent civil disobedience at the gates of the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant, which is three miles from Massachusetts and a stone's throw from New Hampshire.
One of the women who was arrested is Medea Benjamin, a co-founder of www.CodePink.org, a direct action for peace group with offices in California and Washington, DC.
Last year, Benjamin interrupted a nationally televised speech by President Obama and asked him to close the Guantánamo Bay prison. The...
