Tag Archives: NYC

Labor and Community Job Opportunities, Opportunities

Program Manager, Worker Cooperative Business Development Initiative (NYC Dept of Small Business Services)

See original posting at NYC.gov

The New York City Department of Small Business Services (SBS) is a vibrant, client-centered agency whose mission is to serve New York’s small businesses, jobseekers and commercial districts. SBS makes it easier for companies in New York City to start, operate, and expand by providing direct assistance to business owners, supporting commercial districts, promoting financial and economic opportunity among minority- and women-owned businesses, preparing New Yorkers for jobs, and linking employers with a skilled and qualified workforce. SBS continues to reach for higher professional standards through innovative systems, new approaches to government, and a strong focus on its employees.

About the Worker Cooperative Business Development Initiative: The Worker Cooperative Business Development initiative will support the creation of jobs in worker cooperatives by coordinating education and training resources and by providing technical, legal, and financial assistance. The initiative will fund a comprehensive citywide effort to reach cooperative entrepreneurs, provide for the start-up of new worker cooperative small businesses, and assist existing cooperatives. The initiative will offer workforce development and concrete skills for unemployed, underemployed and discouraged workers in high-needs neighborhoods.

Job Description: The Program Manager oversees efforts and initiatives designed to sustain and enhance the level of service delivery provided to worker cooperatives and entrepreneurs. The responsibilities of the Manager are both strategic, in developing best practices and processes, and operational, in creating quality, consistency and accountability across all service providers. This is an exciting opportunity for a strategic leader to manage all day-to-day strategy, operations, and partnership development for the initiative as well as provide ongoing leadership, vision, and support for all service provider staff as they strive to develop and grow the impact of the services they deliver.

See full posting and application instructions here.

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News Roundup 7/1/15

What a couple of weeks. Civil rights tragedies and victories, both. Marriage equality, a supreme court upholding of the Affordable Care Act, direct action against the confederate flag. In the wake of the South Carolina tragedy, we want to celebrate and mourn, both. And yet, we can’t help sense the march of progress moving inexorably forward. In brief:

  • Tired of waiting for the South Carolina State Representatives to get with the program, activist Bree Newsome (she of #freebree) took direct action by climbing the flag pole in front of the State House to take the confederate flag down.
  • The Supreme Court’s been an active one. In addition to same-sex marriage becoming the law of the land, sections of the Affordable Care Act have been further upheld. In less uplifting news, the EPA’s limits on power plant emissions were deemed to be in violation of the Clean Air Act, and states have been given latitude to use questionable drugs in executions. Still coming up: Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association, a high-stakes case that could transform public sector unions for the worse.
  • Over at Al Jazeera, Amy B. Dean draws connections between the labor movement and #BlackLivesMatter, asking: Is the fight for $15 the next civil rights movement?
  • Despite earlier setbacks and a strong opposition, after a 60-38 Senate vote in favor of the TPA, President Obama signed the bill into law — granting himself fast track authority to negotiate the forthcoming (and persistently opaque) Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement.
  • In These Times ran an interview by David Moberg of exiting CWA President Larry Cohen about the past and future of the labor movement. According to Cohen, “If labor is going to be just a group of unions with different strategies, it’s not going to be a movement. We need to be organizing other people.”
  • In a welcome act of common sense and dignity, New York City is banning “poor doors” — that is, developers will no longer be allowed to built separate entrances for rich and poor tenants in buildings constructed using tax breaks granted in exchange for low-income units.
  • Janitors from eight companies across the Twin Cities, representing 50 retail locations, participated in a one-day strike on July 1st, raising the profile of organizing efforts within the difficult-to-organize cleaning sector.
  • NYC is set to receive expanded wi-fi coverage with the arrival of LinkNYC, which will turn converted pay phones into wireless hubs. Three cheers for digital access and connectivity! The downside? This means the arrival of “tall, thin pillars with digital tablet interfaces and large ads slapped on the sides.” So long to the psychic environment. We hardly knew ye.
  • It’s anybody’s guess what’s going to happen in Greece and Puerto Rico in the face of un-payable national debts. Stay tuned.

Photo by Robert Couse-Baker via flickr (CC-BY).

Home, Urban Studies

Still No Deal on NYC Rent Regulations

NYC’s rent stabilization regulations are set to expire today. These regulations affect over two million New Yorkers, regulating over one million apartments. The hold up? Why Albany, of course.

Although NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio has warned landlords not to take advantage of the confusion arising from the expiration of these laws by attempting to illegally raise rents or harass tenants, Albany’s failure to come to a decision around such a fundamental aspect of the lives of so many New Yorkers is cause for concern.

Jeff Mays at DNAInfo provides a three step plan for New Yorkers if the laws do, in fact, expire: sit tight, call 311 if you’re being harassed, and, finally, “don’t bank on the rent laws changing that much.”

Photo by Ianqui Doodlie via flickr (CC-BY-NC-ND).

Home, Labor Studies, Murphy News

Happy May Day — and Happy Birthday!

It’s May Day again — that’s International Workers’ Day, for those not in the know. Here in NYC, the Guggenheim’s been occupied, Free University’s been liberating education from the university-industrial complex,  the Immigrant Workers Justice Tour has marched through Manhattan and at 5pm, we’ll be Shutting It Down for Freddie Gray, starting at Union Square. (For more on today’s events — of which there are many — check out the calendar at 99pickets.org.)

Here at Murphy, we celebrate May Day as the yearly commemoration of those who have fought for a better life for the working class — while continuing to wage our struggle.

This year’s May Day marks yet another milestone: the one-year anniversary of this blog.  Continue reading Happy May Day — and Happy Birthday! →

Home, Labor Studies, Murphy News, Urban Studies

NYC: EEOC Rules in Favor of Underpaid Minority, Female Employees

Yesterday, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, a federal commission on fair employment practices, ruled that New York City has underpaid its female and minority employees, engaging in a broad pattern of discrimination that could cost the City hundreds of millions of dollars. From the New York Times:

The ruling comes in response to a complaint brought against the administraton of former Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg on behalf of more than 1,000 administrative managers employed by the city and represented by Local 1180 of the Communications Workers of America.

Specifically, the commission found that “structural and historic problems” have resulted in the pay of minorities and women being suppressed.

“This rate of pay is much less than their white male counterparts’ in similarly situated jobs and titles,” according to the commission’s findings. Continue reading NYC: EEOC Rules in Favor of Underpaid Minority, Female Employees →

Home, Labor Studies, Media

NYTimes: Union Rates Rebounding Over 18-Month Period

On Labor Day this year, Murphy faculty members Ruth Milkman and Stephanie Luce were quoted in a New York Times article entitled Study Suggests a Rebound for Union Jobs in New York. The article describes the pair’s research findings around trends in union membership in New York City, referencing their recent “State of the Unions” report — which notes a “pretty healthy uptick” in the number of union workers in New York City. 

Read the full report here.