NEW NEWS

The Nevada Empowered Women's (NEW) Project is a grassroots, multicultural alliance whose mission is to further the rights of women and children who are living in or near poverty by addressing relevant issues such as welfare, child care, child support, housing, and health care, and by changing negative public perceptions.

Are You Working Hard and Earning Less?

by Lisa Appelrouth Guzmán

A report recently released by the National Priorities Project, in collaboration with Jobs With Justice, shows that indeed, many American workers are working harder but earning less. The National Priorities Project (NPP) is a community education, research, and training organization that facilitates citizen involvement in shaping our nation's policy and budget priorities to promote social and economic justice. Jobs With Justice is a national campaign for workers' rights that includes coalitions of labor, community, religious, and constituency organizations.

These two organizations joined forces to publish Working Hard, Earning Less, a report that illustrates why the paychecks of hardworking people are shrinking while our country is enjoying a robust economy. Also included in the report are personal stories of workers who courageously struggled to earn a living wage and maintain dignity on the job.

The report identifies a national living wage as $32,185 for a family of four and $29,145 for a family of three. A livable wage is the minimum amount of money needed for a household to meet its basic needs. Keep in mind that this conservative estimate is significantly higher than the federal poverty guidelines, which are $16,450 for a family of four and $13,650 for a family of three. The report also includes livable wages for each state. For Nevada, a livable wage for a family of four is $33,262 and $30,774 for a family of three. These figures have profound meaning in the welfare reform debate, as poor, often unskilled workers are pushed into low-paying jobs that keep them and their families trapped in poverty.

According to Working Hard, Earning Less, 74% of all new jobs pay below a livable wage, and nearly half of the fastest-growing jobs pay less than half of a livable wage. The report identifies the four fastest-growing occupations as cashiers, cleaners (janitors / maids), retail sales, and food service. All four of these jobs pay less than half of a livable wage.

In addition to low wages, fewer workers have access to health insurance and other benefits, more and more jobs are part-time or temporary, and workers are often faced with unpleasant consequences for trying to organize unions that will help alleviate some of these problems. Union members' wages are an average of 24% higher than their non-union counterparts.

The report also shares some astonishing information about the salaries of CEOs versus the low wage workers who make their profits possible. In 1997, the average CEO's salary was 115 times that of the average worker. An average low-wage worker would have to work 143 - 812 years to match one year of a CEO's salary.

While the report sheds light on some rather depressing statistics, it also includes strategies for bringing economic justice to our country and our communities. Living wage campaigns, which have been implemented in several cities, require companies who receive public subsidies and tax breaks to pay a living wage to their employees. Union representation provides increased wages and improved working conditions via collective bargaining. Some states have approved minimum wage standards above those established by the federal government. And lastly, the federal government must be made more accountable to our country's low-wage workers by investing in job training, child care, transportation, and education. Less than one cent of every federal tax dollar is invested in these issues, while nearly 100 times that amount goes to corporate welfare.

Working Hard, Earning Less is an excellent compilation of national and state data. For more information, contact the National Priorities Project at (413) 584-9556, www.natprior.org, or Jobs with Justice at (202) 434-1106, www.jej.org.

Remembering Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

by Cyndi Stearns-Estes

On Monday, January 18, the United States will observe the birthday of the Reverend Doctor Martin Luther King, Jr. Dr. King's actual birthday is January 15, but in 1986 President Reagan declared Martin Luther King, Jr. Day a national holiday to be celebrated on the third Monday in January. All federal and most state offices are closed on that day, giving people a three-day weekend to celebrate the life of Dr. King.

Martin Luther King, Jr. was born in 1929 in Atlanta, Georgia. He began college when he was only 15 years old and became an ordained Baptist minister by the time he was 19. In addition to the Doctorate degree he earned from Morehouse College, he earned many honorary degrees from colleges and universities all over the world.

Reverend King was a deeply religious man, serving as pastor of Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama, from 1954 to 1959. He served as co-pastor with his father at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta and created the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, a civil rights organization, in 1960. He served as its President until his death in 1968.

Dr. King is probably best known for his work as a leader in the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 1960s. He was active in the bus boycott started in the South by Rosa Parks in 1955, which led to a Supreme Court decision that made bus segregation illegal. In 1963, Dr. King and his supporters achieved the desegragation of stores, restaurants, and schools in Birmingham, AL. It was during a Civil Rights march in Washington, DC of that same year that he delivered his famous "I Have a Dream" speech to a crowd of more than 250,000 protesters. Dr. King did not stop there in his quest for Civil Rights. He went on to form the Poor People's Campaign, which focused on jobs and freedom for the poor of all races. Always stressing how important it was to work toward his goals peacefully, he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize at age 35.

Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. is a great inspiration to all of us working toward empowerment. After all, he was the model for how great strides in equality can be made by people who were forced into segregation by the color of their skin. As Nevada Empowered Women, we can work toward the same strides for poor and low-income women who are discriminated against because of their gender and / or status in society.

Take the time to learn about Dr. King. His words and philosophies are an incentive for us to continue working for equality for all.

"...we will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream."

Martin Luther King, Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" oration, 1963

For info. on local MLK Day events, call the Reno NAACP at 322-2992 or the LV MLK Day Committee at 631-1913.

Message From The President Teresa Benitez

Greetings to all NEW Project members! How did you start off your New Year? Many of the well to do in Nevada celebrated at large, catered parties in designer clothing. The topic of conversation? Stocks that did well, tax aversion, and the wonderful new line of Tiffany jewelry. All the while, busboys, waitresses, and other workers went unnoticed. Issues of inequality were not discussed, and neither was the sad economic state of Reno. The sudden closing of the Riverboat Casino that left hundreds unemployed during the holidays was not discussed. The steady decline of jobs due to the ever-closing downtown casinos was not discussed. And why should it be, when the economic well-being of the wealthy doesn't depend on it? They don't live paycheck to paycheck, and they don't feed their kids with their tips. If I were one of them, I might not care either. But since I'm not, and since you're not, I think maybe it's time for us to do something about this.

Start the New Year off Healthy: Enroll Your Children in

Nevada Check Up

If you've been with us for a while, you may remember our February 1998 article about Nevada Check Up, a child health insurance program for low-income working families. Nevada Up resulted from Congress's Balanced Budget Act of 1997, which gave states the option to expand their Medicaid programs or establish a new insurance program for low-income children of working parents. Nevada opted to create a separate insurance program, and Nevada Up began in October 1998.

Nevada Up is a comprehensive insurance program that covers regular doctor and dental visits, as well as vision, hearing, mental health, hospital visits, and many other services for children ages 0 - 18. It is different from Medicaid because Nevada Up families pay reasonable quarterly premiums based on family size and income, while there is no cost to Medicaid families. The income guidelines for Medicaid are lower than those for Nevada Up. If you apply for Nevada Up and are found eligible for Medicaid, you will be asked to complete a Medicaid application as well.

Although Nevada Up applications were sent home with all school-aged children throughout Nevada, only a small number of the estimated 60,000 uninsured children in our state have been enrolled in the program. If you did not receive this information or if you have any questions about the program, please call the Nevada Up office at 687-4176, ext. 254 (Northern Nevada), or (800) 360-6044 statewide. We also have applications at the NEW Project offices.

Come Learn About

the Legislature!

The Nevada Legislature is made up of state Senators and Assemblypersons who meet in Carson City every two years to make laws and policy decisions that affect all Nevadans. The 1999 Legislative Session will begin on February 1 this year. Past sessions ran for several months, but last November voters elected to limit the Legislative Session to 120 days. This means a lot will happen in a very short time! Many important issues will be decided on, and we want to be ready to fight for policies that will benefit low-income children and families. Some relevant issues that may surface during the 1999 session include: finger printing for welfare recipients (to prevent "fraud"), increased domestic violence protection for welfare recipients, child care, construction of a women's and children's shelter, housing, fluoridation of drinking water, phone service for low-income customers, child support, Medicaid, and emergency and utility assistance for low-income families. The Nevada Up Program will also be an issue. Due to our state's budget deficit, new Governor Kenny Guinn has announced that he will cut funding for the children's health insurance program. Please come to our Legislature 101 meeting on Wednesday, January 20th to learn about the legislative process and how you can have YOUR voice heard on issues that are important to you. Jan Gilbert (Progressive Leadership Alliance of Nevada) and Jon Sasser (Washoe Legal Services) will give us the nuts and bolts of the political process and how we can work together to bring about change in our state. Please plan to attend! See back page for details.