Pushing for a Living Wage Standard for All Workers
- We joined with the Ithaca and Buffalo Co-Labs of the Industrial and Labor Relations School at Cornell in raising the 2023 Tompkins County Living Wage to $18.45 per hour, an 11% increase over this concluding year’s LW figures of $16.61/hour.
- We worked tirelessly during the state legislative session to try to increase the statewide minimum wage to $21.25/hour by 2028. We continue to fight for this.
Supporting Workers’ Grass-Roots Organizing
- Bangs Ambulance Workers United have asked TCWC to speak in their upcoming documentary short film that is being produced about their unionization after we worked tirelessly in support of their campaign.
- We operate one of the only worker hotlines in the U.S. In a recent case, we were able to support workers and get their employer to install an HVAC system to deal with temperatures exceeding 120 degrees within the place of business.
- TCWC helped two workers in a local factory win a ruling with the NLRB to be reinstated at their jobs after being fired in retaliation for trying to organize in their workplace.
- TCWC stood in solidarity with the graduate students at Cornell trying to unionize by providing space for phone banking and meetings. They won their election in November by 95% representing folks at both the Ithaca and NYC Cornell campuses.
Demanding Respect for Labor Rights
- Our Workers’ Rights Hotline has received and dealt with over 200 new cases from November 2022 through October 31st of this year. This includes over 40 cases of wage theft.
- Cornell Students in combination with Starbucks Workers pursued a fierce battle to get Cornell to sever their contract with Starbucks and ultimately, won. Now we are asking for support for a further campaign to get Starbucks completely out of Ithaca starting with the Starbucks inside Barnes & Nobles.