Supporting Durham City Workers’ Campaign for Fair Pay
By Jen Douglas
Durham city workers organizing with UE150—a member group of the UFE-coordinated Raising Wages NC coalition —are out in the streets and testifying at City Council for fair pay. UFE is there with our movement supports.
The City Works Because We Do!
In comparatively well-resourced Durham—with above-average incomes overall—city workers cannot afford to live in the city, and many are living in poverty. Willie Brown, worker at Durham Public Works, told the crowd, “Right now, we come humbly asking for fair pay. . . . It is ridiculous that we have to take time away from our second jobs and our families to come out here because we don’t make enough money on our first job.”
UE150 members worked every day through the pandemic. They are essential, and they want to be treated as essential. As Jimmy Ivey, worker at Durham Solid Waste, said, “We clean the city. We are the ones that make Durham what it is, and [we] can’t afford even to live here.”
Fair Pay and Fair Treatment
Workers organizing with UE150 are demanding:
$25/hour minimum wage
Flat equal annual pay raises for all
End the unfair merit pay system
Reclassify solid waste workers
Homeownership assistance program
Training pay
No increases to health insurance
UFE—Showing Up in Support
UFE provides critical movement support to NC organizations leading the way for workers’ rights and fair wages, including:
Coordination of a statewide coalition, Raising Wages NC
Trainings for worker-leaders
Targeted support for local campaigns (communications, interpretation, outreach, child care, food, and more)
Creative communications
So much more!!
We took some of the footage and funded costs of production for a video to uplift their efforts. Check it out, to see UE150 worker-leaders in the streets and in front of City Council, fighting for fair pay and fair treatment.
United for a Fair Economy is a nonprofit organization working for economic justice, with offices in Boston Mass. and Durham, N.C.
Source: faireconomy.org, May 17, 2024