Progressive Maryland's immediate priority is getting tipped workers included in new minimum-wage legislation in Montgomery County, with a meeting June 7 and a hearing June 21. Progressive Prince George's meets June 9.

Greetings Progressive Marylanders,

Welcome to the June 1 weekly catch-up and summary memo from Progressive Maryland. If you missed blog posts, see the links below.

We are gearing up for early June meetings of the Montgomery County (June 7) and Prince George’s (June 9) chapters to tackle important issues.

Progressive Maryland is engaging with the nationwide Fight For Fifteen, a significant boost to the minimum wage, starting in Montgomery County.

The campaign will kick off June 7th with Progressive Maryland's first Montgomery County chapter meeting.

By organizing our members throughout the county, we helped pass paid sick leave last summer, improved wage enforcement, and now we're going to make sure every Montgomery County worker is paid a fair living wage. 

If you want to join the movement, this is the place to be. RSVP and invite your friends. Help us build power for working families to change the system that keeps so many in poverty. Here’s why it matters, and why Montgomery County activists should also point toward the June 21 public hearing before the Montgomery County Council.

Across the nation, workers are struggling to make ends meet on low wages as the cost of living continues to soar. Even in Montgomery County where the minimum wage has gradually increased since 2013, workers are finding it more and more difficult to meet their basic needs such as housing, food, and child care in what is consistently ranked as one of the most expensive regions in the country. 

The County Council is considering a bill that would raise the minimum wage in Montgomery County to $15 by 2020. Unfortunately, the bill does not include tipped workers, who currently only receive a substandard minimum wage of $4.00 per hour and must make up the rest in tips which may fluctuate wildly based on individual customers, the shifts assigned, or even the weather outside.

Women make up 60% of all tipped workers and 70% of servers, so the current tip structure serves as legal wage inequity. Furthermore, 90% of women working as servers report being sexually harassed by customers and two-thirds experienced sexual harassment from a supervisor. Many feel pressured to sexualize themselves on the job to increase tips.

 Sign the petition to urge the Council to include tipped workers.

Our growing chapter Progressive Prince George’s meets June 9 at 6:30 at Local 400, UFCW first floor meeting room, 8400 Corporate Drive, Landover Md. 20785. It’s near the New Carrollton Metrorail station on the Route 50 side.  Email [email protected] about carpooling, if you can offer a ride or need a ride.

An agenda driven by what the participants decide will probably include Prince George’s County Council legislation and the county budget; neighborhood issues such as Walmart intrusions; continued efforts on police reforms; school performance; the rewrite of the zoning code and planning documents and how to keep them pro-people; environmental justice and power plant and (threatened) incinerator siting, and the county’s dependent relationship with the state for law and funds. That’s what our activist members have been talking about, so that’s what Progressive Maryland prioritizes.

 AND MORE:

Last week the BlogSpace told you about these important activist issues; here are links in case you missed them:

• The Fight for Fifteen initiative (above) has important impacts on every worker in our area, emphatically including those who work for tips and get shortchanged because of it. Progressive Maryland lead organizer Justin Vest details how many ways today’s wage scale impoverishes working people trying to get to stable lives.
• Last week’s Weekly Memo first signaled this new phase of work for Progressive Maryland and activists for social and economic justice.
• Justin Vest outlined how last week's presidential order on overtime pay will help all US workers, including 800,000 in Maryland, who are currently pushed for more than 40 hours' work a week without compensation because of outdated rules.

Stick with Progressive Maryland to stay informed, and with our Facebook page to stay updated as the primary election approaches. As always, the hard day to day work of citizenship and fighting for ordinary people is on the table. Power yields nothing without a demand, Frederick Douglass said, and being organized gives us power to fight back.

AND REMEMBER THIS BLOGSPACE IS FOR THE PROGRESSIVE VOICES OF MARYLAND. Want to include your voice? Send a submission, or questions, to the moderator at [email protected]