February 15, 2012 - New York faith leaders gathered at a Harlem church on Wednesday to celebrate what they call a victory in their battle for "living wage" legislation. Odyssey Networks has been following this story since it emerged in May 2011 and had an inside track to the Read more.

February 15, 2012 - I write this with a heavy heart. As we all know Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was in Memphis fighting for economic justice when he was assassinated. He believed we could pull people out of poverty with a living wage and dignity. Read more.

February 10, 2012 - Members of the City Council are being urged to pass the Fair Wages for New Yorkers Act, which could give workers an hourly wage of $11.50. Read more.

February 6, 2012 - Last week, Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver (D-Manhattan) introduced a bill that would raise New York’s minimum wage 17 percent, from $7.25 to $8.50 an hour. Read more.

February 1, 2012 - Albany lawmakers are considering raising the minimum wage from $7.25 to $8.50 an hour making it the third highest rate in the country. Read more.

February 1, 2012 - Over one million New Yorkers who barely survive now on minimum wage, could soon catch a breather. Read more.

January 30, 2012 - “I strongly support Speaker Sheldon Silver, Assembly Member Keith Wright and the entire New York State Assembly in their proposal to raise the State’s minimum wage to $ 8.50 an hour. If passed, this bill will represent a positive step towards changing the Read more.

January 29, 2012 - Assembly Democrats Monday will propose a hike in the minimum wage to $8.50 an hour, the Daily News has learned. Read more.

January 29, 2012 - The Occupy Wall Street encampment at Zuccotti Park is no more, but the focus it brought to income inequality is having an impact in Albany and beyond. Read more.

January 26, 2012 - $7.25 per hour has been the minimum wage in New York since 2004. Over the past eight years, low-wage workers across the state have seen their cost of living increase and the price of basic necessities like food and shelter jump. However, wages have stagna Read more.

January 20, 2012 - Last week, New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn and the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU) announced that a deal had been struck, amending New York City's living wage law to include more city residents. This is a meaningful step Read more.

January 20, 2012 - Letitia James, City Council Member from District 35 in Brooklyn, discusses the living wage bill, paid sick leave and other City Council issues. Read more.

January 19, 2012 - Stuart Appelbaum, President of the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union, On the Living Wage Bill Read more.

January 17, 2012 - Retail workers across New York are stuck with low wages, subpar benefits and erratic schedules, but Bronx workers have it the worst, a new study claims. Read more.

January 13, 2012 - City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, Councilman Oliver Koppell and Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr. announced a compromise on living wage legislation on Jan. 13. Read more.

January 13, 2012 - “I am extremely happy that we have reached an agreement on the ‘Fair Wages for New Yorkers’ Act, and that this important bill will finally see a vote in the City Council. Read more.

January 12, 2012 - If Mayor Bloomberg hoped that his announcement today that he was backing Shelly Silver’s push to raise the minimum wage would de-fang the coalition pushing a living wage for New York City, he was wrong. Read more.

January 12, 2012 - The Jewish Labor Committee, which is headed by Stuart Appelbaum, is hosting their annual dinner as labor makes their big push for living wage legislation. Mr. Appelbaum is also the President of the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU). Read more.

January 6, 2012 - Brooklyn Brewery president Steve Hindy today endorsed the "living wage" bill, saying that, "workers who benefit from this legislation will put their pay increase right back into the local economy." Read more.

January 6, 2012 - Steve Hindy, president of the Brooklyn Brewery, has endorsed the Fair Wages for New Yorkers Act, which establishes minimum salaries of at least $10 for businesses and developers receiving $1 million or more in discretionary subsidies from the city. Read more.

January 6, 2012 - Pressure is mounting on City Council Speaker Christine Quinn — a 2013 mayoral hopeful — to take a stand on a living-wage bill that would mandate higher pay for employees of companies receiving major city subsidies. Read more.

January 4, 2012 - A list of best wishes as 2012 rings in Read more.

January 3, 2012 - For Canal Side Community Alliance members, the idea that subsidized businesses should pay living wages continues to be an imperative. Read more.

January 3, 2012 - But there is lot more to do in 2012 to ensure that New Yorkers are receiving the services they need to succeed. Here are a few of the tasks: Read more.

January 2, 2012 - Action Alert Update: Close the Gender Wage Gap for Retail Workers in NYC Read more.

December 28, 2011 - Councilman Oliver Koppell’s controversial Fair Wages for New Yorkers Act never made it to the City Council floor for a vote this year, but there was still plenty of action. Read more.

December 28, 2011 - Last week, Community Board 1, serving Lower Manhattan, joined four other local community boards in supporting the Living Wage Bill, or Fair Wages for New Yorkers Act. Read more.

December 28, 2011 - The "living wage" bill currently being debated in the New York City Council may get a boost soon, according to sources who tell City & State that "one or more" City Council members are going to announce their support for the legislation "in the coming day Read more.

December 28, 2011 - In an editorial printed on Christmas day, the New York Times endorsed the controversial living wage bill that’s been lingering in the City Council for nearly two years–the second major endorsement the legislation’s received this month. Read more.

December 27, 2011 - Statement from Borough President Diaz RE: The New York Times Endorsement of 'Living Wage' Read more.

December 27, 2011 - Self-anointed King of the 1%, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, is currently trying to defeat the “Fair Wages for New Yorkers Act” that is currently before City Council. Read more.

December 25, 2011 - New York City provides hundreds of millions of dollars a year in taxpayer-financed subsidies to private developers. It is only right that the jobs created by those projects pay a decent wage. The Fair Wages for New Yorkers Act, widely known as the living- Read more.

December 23, 2011 - While the City Council continues to haggle over whether or not to pass the Fair Wages for New Yorkers Act, also known as the living wage bill, a recent Quinnipiac University poll indicates that nearly 85 percent of Black voters believe that the bill is a Read more.

December 20, 2011 - United Federation of Teachers President Michael Mulgrew sent a letter to all 51 members of the City Council asking them to support the “Fair Wages For New Yorkers Act,” better known as the “Living Wage Bill.” Read more.

December 20, 2011 - We begin downtown, where Goldman Sachs, that exemplar of 0.001 percent America, reaps a multimillion-dollar tax break for its office tower, a deal accompanied by a multimillion-dollar landscaping clause. (You expected Lloyd C. Blankfein to yank weeds, may Read more.

December 16, 2011 - On a cold afternoon, a crowd of Living Wage NYC Coalition supporters lined up outside the downtown Emigrant Savings Bank Building, picket signs in hand, to enter a City Council hearing on the Fair Wages for New Yorkers Act. Read more.

December 15, 2011 - IF you think New York City is where its happening, think again, one of the most expensive cities in America San Fransico has become one of the first cities in the nation to bring the minimum wage to top $10. Back in 2003 a proposition was assessed that re Read more.

December 15, 2011 - 74% of city voters said they thought it was a good idea to mandate higher wages for projects that receive taxpayer subsidies. Among Republicans, support was 56%, and among Democrats it was 83%. Read more.

December 15, 2011 - New York Communities for Change is specifically targeting Councilman Lew Fidler’s vote as they push for the City Council to pass the Living Wage Bill. Read more.

December 14, 2011 - City residents are overwhelmingly in favor of a living wage bill, a Quinnipiac University poll released Wednesday found. This comes as good news for Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr., one of the leading supporters of a living wage. Read more.

December 14, 2011 - A new poll out today by Quinnipiac University finds overwhelming support for a living wage in New York City. Read more.

December 14, 2011 - Almost three-quarters of respondents say the living wage proposal before the city council is a “good idea” in a Quinnipiac University poll released on Wednesday, Dec. 14. Read more.

December 14, 2011 - Members of Manhattan Community Board 4 (CB4) gathered on December 7 at Roosevelt Hospital for a full board meeting, and public hearings on issues including the NYC Living Wage Campaign and a parking garage project. Read more.

December 14, 2011 - City voters are overwhelmingly in favor of the city’s living wage bill, a Quinnipiac University poll released Wednesday found. Read more.

December 14, 2011 - Report: States Spend Billions on Economic Development Subsidies that Don't Require Job Creation or Decent Wages Read more.

December 14, 2011 - The living wage is living large in a new poll. Read more.

December 14, 2011 - Voters across party lines support a “living wage,” 74-19, According to Quinnipiac Poll Read more.

December 14, 2011 - Despite a tabloid report that the living-wage bill has been watered down, no changes have been made, a spokesman for the Living Wage NYC coalition said. “The Daily News story was inaccurate,” he said. Read more.

December 14, 2011 - A Quinnipiac University poll released today found that NYC voters disapprove of the way Mayor Bloomberg has handled the Occupy Wall Street protests, by a margin of 51 - 42 percent. About 50 percent of voters approve of the way the NYPD has handled the pro Read more.

December 14, 2011 - The "Living Wage" proposal currently before the New York City Council is a "good idea," voters say 74 - 19 percent. Support is 56 - 39 percent among Republicans, 83 - 11 percent among Democrats and 67 - 25 percent among independent voters. Read more.

December 14, 2011 - In 2009, you may or may not remember, the City Council nixed the Kingsbridge Armory mall project in the Bronx. The developers of the project were to receive $50 million in exemptions and tax credits—but the Council, after much argument, knocked it down, b Read more.

December 14, 2011 - The survey also found that an overwhelming number of city voters — including Republicans and people making more than $100,000 a year — support the so-called living wage bill, a proposal opposed by Mr. Bloomberg, which would raise wages for workers in city Read more.

December 13, 2011 - WBAI's "Building Bridges" interviews Dan Morris of Living Wage NYC on the progress of the campaign. Read more.

December 13, 2011 - The 30,000-member New York Hotel and Motel Trades Council, which endorsed the mayor in 2005 and 2009, will today urge the City Council to pass the controversial living-wage bill, joining a growing number of private-sector unions. Read more.

December 7, 2011 - Last week, the New York City Council debated the "Fair Wages for New Yorkers Act," which would establish a minimum hourly wage, or a "living wage," of $10 per hour plus benefits -- or $11.50 without benefits -- for workers hired by companies that receive Read more.

December 6, 2011 - On November 21, thousands of people from all over the City crowded into the Riverside Church in upper Manhattan to make their voices heard loud and clear: it is time for this administration to do right by the people of this City and pass the “Fair Wages f Read more.

December 1, 2011 - A sea of union workers, including some from the United Federation of Teachers and District Council 37, marched down Broadway Thursday to protest what they call an overall lack of economic opportunity. NY1's Bobby Cuza filed the following report. Read more.

December 1, 2011 - Born out of an argument fought two years ago over a proposed shopping mall at the Kingsbridge Armory, a fierce battle over legislation setting wage requirements at some publicly subsidized developments has come to a head this month. Read more.

December 1, 2011 - At a New York City Council hearing held on the Tuesday before Thanksgiving, opponents and proponents of the living wage bill sounded off. The hearing came on the heels of a well-attended pro-living wage rally held Monday at Riverside Church in Manhattan. Read more.

December 1, 2011 - The city Economic Development Corp. has taken heat for awarding a Willets Point sewer contract to a company outside the city while drawing ire on another front about the contentious topic of a living wage. Read more.

November 30, 2011 - It turns out the current battle over a living wage bill that would raise the pay of workers in a select number of city-sponsored work environments is old hat. Read more.

November 30, 2011 - Mayor Michael Bloomberg doesn’t foresee any compromise on the "living wage" bill now under consideration in the City Council Read more.

November 30, 2011 - Thousands Gather at the Historic Riverside Church to Demand Living Wage Jobs Read more.

November 30, 2011 - Everyone knows what marbled steak looks like, with the streaks of fat running through the red meat, right in front of your eyes. The marbled public works project is harder to recognize, but it most certainly exists. Read more.

November 29, 2011 - Members of CB12 voted to support a resolution calling on Mayor R. Bloomberg to enact the “Fair Wages for New Yorkers Act,” a bill which has been recently been presented at City Council Hearings, and if passed, could raise the living standards for many New Read more.

November 29, 2011 - Donald Spivack, the city official who drafted Los Angeles's 2003 policy that imposed a "living wage" on developers who receive certain city subsidies, says the policy has not stifled development there. Read more.

November 28, 2011 - The minimum wage in New York City is $7.25 an hour. Yet of about 317,000 low-wage workers in New York City, about one in five of these workers are paid less than the legally required wage, according to the National Employment Law Project’s recent report w Read more.

November 26, 2011 - Mayor has turned police on Occupy protesters, opposes a $10 an hour minimum wage and says bankers are patriotic Read more.

November 25, 2011 - Un pastor evangélico explica el interés de grupos religiosos en la lucha por una propuesta municipal que aumentaría el sueldo de neoyorquinos que trabajen para ciertos proyectos subsidiados por el gobierno. Read more.

November 23, 2011 - The political director of one union strongly backing the city's "living wage" legislation said they can still tweak the bill and regain the support of City Councilwoman Inez Dickens of Harlem. Read more.

November 23, 2011 - Push through Living Wage Act / Pasar el salario justo Read more.

November 23, 2011 - The City Council faced off on controversial legislation Tuesday that would force developers who receive big city grants to pay their workers a so-called "living wage.” Read more.

November 23, 2011 - Advocates and opponents in the heated debate over a "living wage" bill pressed their case at a City Council hearing Tuesday, but the lawmaker who controls its immediate fate, Speaker Christine Quinn, didn't take a stand. Read more.

November 23, 2011 - It doesn’t look like Christine Quinn is going to allow the City Council to vote on the "living wage" bill as it’s currently drafted, if yesterday’s four-hour-long hearing on the topic is any indication. Read more.

November 23, 2011 - When the City Council held its second hearing on Councilman Oliver Koppell’s living wage bill on Tuesday, both sides had gained supporters, but the living wage bill lost an important one: Councilwoman Inez Dickens. Read more.

November 23, 2011 - An opinion of 'living wage' legislation depends what page you're on Read more.

November 23, 2011 - Call me a party pooper if you will, but this year writing about Thanksgiving has, ironically, become a thankless proposition. Read more.

November 23, 2011 - Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr. waited for this moment for more than two years. Read more.

November 22, 2011 - The City Council speaker, Christine C. Quinn, under pressure from both sides, carefully questioned supporters and opponents at a hearing on Tuesday about a proposed law that would raise wages for workers in city-subsidized developments. Read more.

November 22, 2011 - A City Council committee debated on Tuesday a proposed living wage bill that would require some companies who receive tax breaks from the city to pay more than the current $7.25 federal minimum. Read more.

November 22, 2011 - Mayor Michael Bloomberg is against it and Council Speaker Christine Quinn is straddling the fence, but that didn’t stop hundreds from attending a hearing on a controversial bill to boost the salaries of some workers. It’s called a “living wage.” Read more.

November 22, 2011 - Friends and foes of a local living wage bill packed a New York City Council committee hearing Tuesday to examine the merits of a revised version of the legislation. Read more.

November 22, 2011 - Archbishop Dolan discussed the importance of charity in his speech to the residents of Harlem. He hoped that during this Thanksgiving season the city would come together and those in need. Read more.

November 22, 2011 - Yesterday Nick highlighted the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB)'s disparity in media strategy communicating their positions on economic justice and those about abortion and same-sex marriage. Read more.

November 22, 2011 - Today the City Council is holding a hearing to discuss revised Living Wage bill, which would require some companies receiving city tax breaks pay employees $10 an hour plus benefits or $11.50 without. Read more.

November 22, 2011 - Inside City Hall's Errol Louis hosted a debate over the contentious Living Wage Bill with Brooklyn Councilman Brad Lander, Queens Councilman Ruben Wills, Ademola Oyefeso of the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union and G. Lamont Blackstone of the I Read more.

November 22, 2011 - Backers of a controversial living wage bill that’s scheduled for a debate in the City Council this afternoon held a spirited rally last night at Harlem’s Riverside Church, where elected officials, union workers and leaders from faith institutions across t Read more.

November 22, 2011 - The New York City Council appears ready this week to reinitiate debate over a proposed law, called the Fair Wages for New Yorkers Act, that would establish a minimum wage of $10 per hour with benefits for those employees working on city government subsidi Read more.

November 22, 2011 - Chairwoman Mealy, thank you for offering me this opportunity to testify before your committee on the “Fair Wages for New Yorkers” Act, an important piece of legislation designed to ensure that our taxpayer dollars are spent more wisely. Read more.

November 22, 2011 - The City Council is set to take up a bill today that would set a living wage standard in New York. Read more.

November 22, 2011 - After weeks of street warfare, labor advocates and business leaders are set to battle it out at a public City Council hearing Tuesday over the controversial living wage bill. Read more.

November 22, 2011 - Monsignor Kevin Sullivan says the Catholic Church backs the bill to require large businesses that beneft from taxpayer subsidies to pay employees at least $10 an hour Read more.

November 22, 2011 - * New York needs to be more like San Francisco, Los Angeles and Philadelphia when it comes to a living wage mandate, proponents of the bill will testify at a City Council hearing today. Representatives from those cities will tell Council members that a hi Read more.

November 22, 2011 - Over 2,000 labor and civil rights activists rallied at Riverside Church Monday night in support of a living wages act to be voted on today in the New York City Council. Read more.

November 22, 2011 - Supporters Rally for Living Wage as City Council Revisits Bill Read more.

November 21, 2011 - The City Council is holding a Tuesday hearing to discuss a measure that would require some companies doing business with the city to pay more than minimum wage, and both supporters and detractors held events in Manhattan on Monday. Read more.

November 21, 2011 - Across The Country, Faith Groups Rally To Support Living Wage Legislation Read more.

November 21, 2011 - La falta de un salario equitativo así como el aumento de la pobreza y el hambre en la ciudad son el móvil de una cita en la que líderes de derechos civiles, sindicales y religiosos junto a funcionarios electos en la cual demandarán hoy la aprobación de un Read more.

November 21, 2011 - On Monday, November 21st, the Riverside Church will be hosting NAACP president Benjamin Jealous, civil rights leaders, elected officials, faith leaders and community leaders. Read more.

November 21, 2011 - Parties on both sides of the contentious living wage debate are gearing up for another fight tomorrow, as the City Council is scheduled to hold its second hearing on the bill–this time to consider recent revisions made to the legislation to appease critic Read more.

November 21, 2011 - http://empire.wnyc.org/2011/11/living-wage-bill-proponents-weigh-in-ahead-of-todays-hearing/ Read more.

November 21, 2011 - City council members are reviving the debate over a living wage bill by introducing an amended version of the legislation on Tuesday. Read more.

November 20, 2011 - Supporters of a bill that would raise wages at city-subsidized projects are celebrating the introduction of a formidable voice to the debate: the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York. Read more.

November 18, 2011 - Days before the City Council's living-wage bill will return to the political spotlight, the region's giant health care workers union said Friday that it was throwing its weight behind the controversial measure. Read more.

November 18, 2011 - The Fair Wages for New Yorkers Act should be a local law in New York City. The policy objective is straightforward: ensure that large-scale commercial developments receiving city subsidies -- I have in mind projects like the Gateway Shopping Center, which Read more.

November 18, 2011 - Linda Archer, 58, spent years working double shifts as a nurse's assistant at St. Luke's-Roosevelt Hospital while she was a single mother. But since the recession hit, finding a job has not been easy. Archer moved into her mother's one-bedroom apartmen Read more.

November 17, 2011 - Having been an ordained pastor now for more than 20 years has afforded me the opportunity to see and be exposed to a plethora of experiences both inside and outside of the church. Read more.

November 14, 2011 - WBAI's "Building Bridges" interviews Minister Edison Bond, Jr. and Desiree Pilgrim-Hunter of Living Wage NYC. Click here to download the broadcast. Read more.

November 14, 2011 - In preparation for a long-awaited Nov. 22 City Council hearing on Living Wage legislation, which has its roots in the battle over the fate of the Kingsbridge Armory, supporters, including several Council members, are stepping up their p.r. campaign. Read more.

November 14, 2011 - Here's a video from Living Wage NYC, the advocates for the living wage. They're holding a rally Monday, Nov. 21 at the Riverside Church in Manhattan, and then going to the City Council hearing on the bill the following day (details of the meetings are at Read more.

November 12, 2011 - Click here to listen to WBAI's "City Watch" interview Living Wage NYC coalition members Linda Archer and Stephanie Basile. Read more.

November 10, 2011 - The amended “living wage” bill before the City Council will limit affordable housing, crush efforts to expand food retail in underserved neighborhoods and strain social-service institutions, opponents have written to City Hall. Read more.

November 1, 2011 - NAACP President, Ben Jealous has vowed to fight for a living wage in New York City, where the cost of living is higher than most of the rest of the country. Read more.

November 1, 2011 - A local living wage battle has become a national civil rights issue, with NAACP President Ben Jealous vowing to campaign for the issue in New York. Read more.

October 31, 2011 - With millions out of work, complaints about the decline in middle-class wages may seem misplaced. But without some shoring up, the middle class will remain dispirited -- and our economy, which is 70 percent dependent on consumer spending, will remain in t Read more.

October 27, 2011 - The Progressive Caucus will be joining Living Wage NYC and faith, labor and community leaders to call for passage of the Fair Wages for New Yorkers Act on Monday, November 21 at 6:30pm. Read more.

October 27, 2011 - The struggle for economic justice, which was effectively derailed 43 years ago with the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., is back on track. Read more.

October 26, 2011 - To the undiscerning eye, the Northwest Bronx Community and Clergy Coalition’s annual meeting at St. Nicholas of Tolentine Church on Saturday afternoon was just like previous gatherings hosted by the non-profit organization: elected officials and community Read more.

October 26, 2011 - The $1 million city-commissioned study focused on a real estate program that's not even covered by the bill Read more.

October 25, 2011 - When the federal income tax was first imposed in 1913, the richest 0.1 percent of households reaped 8.6 percent of the nation’s income. In 2007, as the recession began, the share going to that sliver of megarich Americans was 12.3 percent. Read more.

October 25, 2011 - A study that says a proposed city living wage law would kill 13,000 jobs based its analysis on a state subsidy program that wouldn't actually be covered by the city measure. Read more.

October 25, 2011 - RETAIL ROUNDTABLE: Manhattan City Councilman Dan Garodnick joins a discussion on living wage and the city's retail economy tonight from 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. Read more.

October 25, 2011 - The potential methods used by NYC Council Speaker Christine Quinn to defeat the proposed “living wage bill” supported by 30 of 51 members of the New York City Council is nothing to cheer about, when you look into the details. Read more.

October 23, 2011 - The billionaire mayor of this city, Michael Bloomberg, is still refusing to sign a “living wage bill” currently before the New York City Council, despite revisions that watered it down somewhat. Read more.

October 19, 2011 - The Retail, Wholesale & Department Store Union wants Upper East Siders to understand the work that goes into presenting them with an impeccable shopping experience at Barneys. They’re presenting a panel discussion entitled “Malled: Revealing the Good, the Read more.

October 19, 2011 - Supporters of a living wage bill that’s been lingering in the City Council for over a year now are making another effort to revive the lagging legislation, in a drawn-out battle with the Bloomberg administration and business leaders who say it would ultim Read more.

October 18, 2011 - City Council Speaker Christine Quinn stopped by WNYC’s Brian Lehrer Show to talk about, among other things, the city’s economy. She had addressed the Association for a Better New York before coming on the show on the issue. Read more.

October 18, 2011 - * Following Council Speaker Christine Quinn‘s announcement yesterday that a new hearing would be held on the living wage bill in November, proponents started plotting their strategy and talking points. Read more.

October 17, 2011 - The City Council approved legislation to expose classroom overcrowding on Monday, and Council Speaker Christine Quinn also moved forward a proposal to require a higher minimum wage. NY1's Courtney Gross filed the following report. Read more.

October 17, 2011 - Amid mounting pressure, City Council Speaker Christine Quinn announced today that she would allow a public hearing into the controversial "living wage" bill. Read more.

October 17, 2011 - Although revisions have failed to placate opponents, a measure to require jobs at some subsidized developments to pay at least $10 an hour will get a hearing, City Council Speaker Christine Quinn announced. Read more.

October 17, 2011 - I thank City Council Speaker Christine Quinn for scheduling a hearing for November 22 on the amended ‘Fair Wages for New Yorkers’ Act, and I look forward to testifying. Supporters of this bill have been very mindful of the concerns of our opposition, and Read more.

October 16, 2011 - City Council Speaker Christine Quinn has to make a tough choice on the living-wage bill. Read more.

October 14, 2011 - * Sixteen members of the Bronx’s Albany delegation sent a letter to Council Speaker Christine Quinn this week calling for the immediate passage of the so-called living wage bill in the City Council. Read more.

October 12, 2011 - City Council Speaker Christine Quinn continued to duck a controversial “living wage” bill today. Read more.

October 12, 2011 - Long ago, I passed boiling summers driving taxis in New York City (an experience that no doubt still summons nightmares for my former passengers, not to mention wayward pedestrians). Other summers, I worked as a doorman, hauling bags and opening doors for Read more.

October 12, 2011 - A growing number of people occupying Wall Street are raising awareness about the inherent unfairness of corporate welfare. Read more.

October 11, 2011 - At its most elemental, a battle brewing in the City Council comes down to this: Do a few thousand New Yorkers like Kimberly Ortiz deserve a raise? Read more.

October 9, 2011 - Supporters of wage bill say Bloomberg officials timed release of study to undermine legislation. Read more.

October 9, 2011 - City Council Speaker Christine Quinn is widely believed to be the front-runner for the 2013 mayoral race. Last week's maneuvering over the living-wage proposal showed why that piece of conventional political wisdom is flawed. Read more.

October 7, 2011 - Apoyo político y sindical a la protesta de Wall Street Read more.

October 5, 2011 - Mayor Michael Bloomberg's administration released Wednesday a study that claims the City Council could kill between 6,000 and 13,000 jobs by requiring city subsidized projects to pay a living wage, putting Speaker Christine Quinn, a possible 2013 mayoral Read more.

October 5, 2011 - The Bloomberg administration released a flawed economic study today that is critical of the Fair Wages for New Yorkers Act. It is immoral that our billionaire mayor used a million dollars of taxpayer money -- that's money from the pockets of poor, working Read more.

October 5, 2011 - Christine C. Quinn, the City Council speaker, facing conflicting pressures from her longtime labor allies and her new supporters in the business community, said Wednesday that she was not ready to take a position on a controversial proposal that would req Read more.

October 5, 2011 - Mayor Bloomberg really does not want to raise wages for workers in "low-skilled jobs" in New York City. How much does he hate the idea of raising wages to $10 an hour, or $11.50 an hour at companies that get $1 million or more in city subsidies? Read more.

October 5, 2011 - Councilman Oliver Koppell has changed his living wage bill — again. Changes he hopes will finally move it to the city council floor. Read more.

October 5, 2011 - Details of a $1 million study predicting the impact of living-wage mandates for city-subsidized projects were released Wednesday. Advocates for higher wages called the analysis badly flawed and worthless. Read more.

October 5, 2011 - The battle over a city council bill that would establish a mandated living wage of $10 plus benefits, rages on. Read more.

October 5, 2011 - The Bloomberg administration released a report this morning showing that the City Council’s living wage bill could cost the city some 13,000 jobs but a number of economists are saying that the city’s methodology was so flawed that it was almost “deliberat Read more.

October 5, 2011 - As Mayor Bloomberg looks to cut agency spending, a $1 million study by the Economic Development Corporation is being released arguing that forcing city businesses to pay a "living wage" would result in thousands of jobs being lost. Read more.

October 5, 2011 - Ignoring basic errors to which it was alerted months ago – and subsequent changes in the New York City Council’s living wage proposal – the Bloomberg Administration today released its flawed living wage study. Read more.

October 5, 2011 - Would an increase in wages lead to a stronger economy for New Yorkers? According to a study commissioned by the Economic Development Corporation the answer is no. Read more.

October 5, 2011 - A proposal that would require companies to pay higher wages on city-subsidized projects would result in a loss of jobs, according to the final version of a long-awaited study of the proposal released by the city’s economic development agency. Read more.

October 5, 2011 - The Bloomberg administration is releasing a controversial report this morning that shows a mandated wage increase would kill jobs - a jab at a growing coalition trying to pass a bill requiring a pay increase in the city. Read more.

October 3, 2011 - Supporters of a faltering bill that would require companies in city-subsidized projects to pay higher wages plan a new push to revive the measure, setting up an unwelcome choice for Christine C. Quinn, the City Council speaker, who could anger either labo Read more.

September 23, 2011 - The Kingsbridge Armory has stood vacant in the Bronx for over a decade despite proposals that would’ve used it to generate jobs, and after the United States Census revealed that the Bronx has the highest poverty rate in the city, Mayor Michael Bloomberg c Read more.

September 23, 2011 - CITY HALL — A disturbing one in five New Yorkers was living in poverty in 2010, according to new numbers from the U.S. Census Bureau that show the lasting wave of hardship the recession has left in its wake. Read more.

September 22, 2011 - Poverty in New York City is on the rise, as the latest U.S. Census figures show an estimated 20.1 percent of New Yorkers were living below the poverty line in 2010. NY1's Grace Rauh filed the following report. Read more.

September 22, 2011 - For many months, the Bloomberg administration has boasted that as poverty rose elsewhere in the country, it remained constant here, thanks in part to his policies. Read more.

September 22, 2011 - The Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union and a coalition of advocates for a city-mandated Living Wage law are placing the blame for a spike in the city’s poverty rate purely on the shoulders of Mayor Michael Bloomberg. Read more.

September 22, 2011 - Poverty grew nationwide last year, but the increase was even greater in New York City, the Census Bureau will report on Thursday, suggesting that New York was being particularly hard hit by the aftermath of the recession. Read more.

September 16, 2011 - For decades, the intersection of Park Avenue and 96th Street has remained one of the city’s most obvious and despairing emblems of disparity, with East Harlem and its challenges spreading out to the north, and a vast gridlock of extraordinary privilege co Read more.

September 16, 2011 - The American political discussion has finally turned to the right target: jobs. Read more.

September 7, 2011 - In their new book, “Good Jobs America: Making Work Better for Everyone,” Paul Osterman and Beth Shulman argue that the United States needs to worry about not just creating millions more jobs but also ensuring that the jobs are good ones. Read more.

September 5, 2011 - ON Thursday, President Obama will deliver a major speech on America’s employment crisis. But too often, what is lost in the call for job creation is a clear idea of what jobs we want to create. Read more.

September 2, 2011 - Two years ago, just before Labor Day, the Cambridge Hyatt hotel fired its housekeepers and replaced them with lower-wage workers recruited through a temporary help firm. The Massachusetts political establishment erupted in outrage and polls suggested wide Read more.

August 25, 2011 - As the nation honors the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. with a stirring new memorial on the National Mall, let’s not obscure one of his most important messages in a fog of sentiment. Justice, he told us, is not just a legal or moral question but a matter of Read more.

August 25, 2011 - THE Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial was to be dedicated on the National Mall on Sunday — exactly 56 years after the murder of Emmett Till in Mississippi and 48 years after the historic March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. Read more.

August 16, 2011 - Research shows that living wage legislation will not significantly reduce the number of jobs Read more.

August 16, 2011 - Fourteen million Americans are unemployed, and the number ranges up to almost 16 million if you include those who want full-time jobs but can only find part-time ones. Read more.

July 27, 2011 - Charles M. Blow is right on the mark when he writes, “The people who work these [low-wage] jobs are the backbone of this country, and will continue to be.” Read more.

July 27, 2011 - There’s more unhappy news for the millions of Americans hoping for a surge in the number of good, high-paying jobs — a new report concludes that the great bulk of new jobs created since the economic recovery began are in lower-wage occupations, paying $13 Read more.

July 24, 2011 - Republicans in Washington - as everybody knows by now - are hellbent on sparing the privileges of the wealthy while vowing to reduce the national debt on the backs of working Americans. Read more.

July 20, 2011 - In early May, the Bloomberg administration held a kick-off event to celebrate a five-year, $100 million expansion of the mayor's anti-poverty pilots, now called the Social Innovation Fund Learning Network. Read more.

July 19, 2011 - If you’re wondering why American consumers are still flat on their backs, rendering the economy similarly supine, the answer is both fundamental and simple: It’s not just that so many of them are unemployed. Read more.

July 19, 2011 - Original air date: 7/19/2011 The Living Wage Bill: If a corporation or developer benefits from certain tax subsidies from the city, should it have to pay its employees $10 or more per hour so they can have a realistic shot at a decent life? Read more.

July 15, 2011 - Last week I spent a few days in the Deep South — a thousand miles from the moneyed canyons of Manhattan and the prattle of Washington politics — talking to everyday people, blue-collar workers, people not trying to win the future so much as survive the pr Read more.

July 11, 2011 - The number of low-income New Yorkers is a matter of statistics. Answering deeper questions about poverty demands drilling down deep into the lives of individual people, a few of whose stories are presented in this month's issue of City Limits. Read more.

July 1, 2011 - Kingsbridge Armory needs more than minimum wage jobs: A public-private partnership is the answer Read more.

June 30, 2011 - New York City workers are growing in number, but their pay is not keeping pace with inflation, data released Thursday show. Average weekly wages here only rose 1.3% in a year. Read more.

June 30, 2011 - Economists at Northeastern University have found that the current economic recovery in the United States has been unusually skewed in favor of corporate profits and against increased wages for workers. Read more.

June 24, 2011 - At first glance, the Bronx Gateway Center Mall near Yankee Stadium is an economic success story. Read more.

June 22, 2011 - The first thing Councilman Oliver Koppell said at the public hearing for his living wage bill on May 12 was that the contentious legislation was open to negotiation. Read more.

June 19, 2011 - New York state is on the verge of becoming the sixth state to legalize same-sex marriage, President Obama is weighing whether to explicitly support gay and lesbian unions, and the issue is becoming more of a divisive headache for Republicans than a theme Read more.

June 10, 2011 - Lauren Kelley comments_image 56 COMMENTS A National Livin Read more.

June 3, 2011 - Today, nearly one in four working New Yorkers need food stamps in order to eat — a record high since Mayor Bloomberg took office. Many of them are employed full time in low-wage jobs, especially in retail. Read more.

June 2, 2011 - On May 21, I attended a town hall meeting at St. Paul the Apostle Church in Corona with hundreds of others to demand that the owner of the Queens Center Mall, the Macerich Co., give back to the community by transforming the publicly subsidized mall from a Read more.

May 27, 2011 - It obviously got a little hectic this week, what with NY-26 and all, but after the jump is a survey of 1,200 New Yorkers from Baruch College Survey Research on wages and sick days. Read more.

May 27, 2011 - Last week, I submitted testimony to a hearing of the City Council's Committee on Contracts on behalf of the Fair Wages for New Yorkers Act, a living wage bill that would help keep hard working individuals and families out of the grip of poverty. Read more.

May 25, 2011 - In New York City, Wall Street profits are skyscraper high again, real-estate developers and companies are receiving billions in public subsidies and yet a record number of full-time working New Yorkers are relying on food stamps and emergency food assista Read more.

May 23, 2011 - New York City spends more than $2 billion a year on efforts to promote economic development, but the benefits flow more to developers than to workers. Why not follow the example of some other big cities, including Los Angeles, and require large city-subsi Read more.

May 22, 2011 - City offers guide for how to grow a tax base, attract businesses and build housing, while promoting quality jobs. Read more.

May 20, 2011 - New York City spends billions of taxpayer dollars annually to subsidize new shopping centers, office buildings, stadiums and other projects. These create jobs, but often not very good ones: Workers at retail stores, concession stands and cafeterias often Read more.

May 20, 2011 - New Yorkers overwhelmingly think companies that get city subsidies should pay their workers more than minimum wage, a new poll shows. Read more.

May 19, 2011 - Not only did he co-sponsor the Fair Wages For New Yorkers Act, he has also said that he would consider discharging the bill out of committee — a rare move that requires a majority vote — to bring the legislation to the City Council floor if Speaker Christ Read more.

May 19, 2011 - New York voters like the concept of a "living wage," which is encapsulated in controversial legislation that was the subject of a heated hearing last week, according to a new poll out this morning from Baruch College Survey Research. Read more.

May 18, 2011 - Jose Santiago of the WBAI Evening News interviews Joel Berg of the New York City Coalition Against Hunger about hunger, poverty and living wages. "One of the main causes of hunger in New York City is low wages," says Berg. Read more.

May 18, 2011 - Hundreds of supporters from the Bronx showed up to a May 12 City Council hearing to rally for passage of Councilman Oliver Koppell’s living wage bill. Read more.

May 18, 2011 - Editor's note: A version of this article first appeared in this week's Norwood News, out today. Read more.

May 18, 2011 - As City Council Speaker Chris Quinn is up in Albany with Mayor Bloomberg, lobbying for the legalization of same-sex marriage, the Living Wage NYC coalition is continuing to push her on their own agenda, as you can see from the letter below. Read more.

May 17, 2011 - It’s budget season in New York City, when community groups and labor unions usually take to the streets to protest proposed budgets and this year proposals including teacher layoffs and social service cuts was a serious call to action. Read more.

May 17, 2011 - Stuart Appelbaum, who has emerged over the last several years as one of the leading progressive voices in the city and a frequent critic of Mayor Bloomberg, is out with a letter this morning accusing the mayor of misleading in his characterization of most Read more.

May 17, 2011 - Wow! Last week was something. Thousands of people stood up against the tremendous divide between the rich and the poor in this city and voiced their opposition to policies that reinforce a system of inequality in which our middle and working class familie Read more.

May 17, 2011 - More than Half of All New Jobs Are In the City’s Two-Lowest Paid Industries: Retail and Hospitality Read more.

May 16, 2011 - The following is adapted from Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr.'s May 12, 2011, testimony before the New York City Council Committee on Contracts. The hearing concerned the "Fair Wages for New Yorkers" Act, which would require developers that receive Read more.

May 16, 2011 - The Bronx has become the battleground in the brawl over a City Council bill that would force city-subsidized developers to pay their workers more than the minimum wage. Read more.

May 16, 2011 - On May 12, 2011, Local 338 RWDSU/UFCW joined the Living Wage NYC Coalition, comprised of labor, community and religious organizations, as well as members of the New York City Council, to rally in favor the Fair Wages for New Yorkers Act. Read more.

May 16, 2011 - NYC Living Wage Hearing: "We Aren't Here Just to Survive. We Want to Live." Read more.

May 16, 2011 - At a time when far too many working people struggle to survive, members of a growing citywide movement today demanded living wage jobs for all New Yorkers at a public City Council hearing. At the City Council’s Contracts Committee hearing today, Mayor Blo Read more.

May 13, 2011 - Faith leaders across New York City have united to assist in organized labor's fight for living wage - a battle that has already been waged successfully in a handful of cities across the nation. On Thursday, May 12th, Rev. Peter G. Heltzel, Rev. Anita Burs Read more.

May 13, 2011 - A huge crowd of activists, politicians and working New Yorkers gathered outside of City Hall yesterday in support of a hearing on increasing the living wage. Read more.

May 13, 2011 - The New York City Council held its inaugural hearing yesterday on the Fair Wages for New Yorkers Act (Int 0251-A), commonly referred to as the living wage bill. The Act would require all developments receiving more than $100,000 in city subsidies to pay i Read more.

May 13, 2011 - City Council members skewered the Bloomberg administration Thursday for opposing a bill that would mandate a "living wage" for workers in city-subsidized developments. Read more.

May 12, 2011 - Labor and city leadership collided this afternoon at a packed and feisty hearing on legislation to require city subsidized developers pay a living wage. Read more.

May 12, 2011 - A hearing was held to consider whether developers who receive big city grants should pay workers higher wages. Read more.

May 12, 2011 - Mayor Michael Bloomberg is fighting against the passage of a living wage bill, but supporters of the measure demonstrated by City Hall Thursday, before the City Council held a heated hearing on the matter. NY1's Grace Rauh filed the following report. Read more.

May 12, 2011 - NY1 VIDEO: In its "Sound-Off" section Thursday, "Inside City Hall" held a panel debate on the merits of a City Council bill that would force businesses subsidized by the city to pay a high wage. Read more.

May 12, 2011 - Sparks flew between Mayor Bloomberg and City Council members yesterday over a council proposal to force certain developers that receive city subsidies to pay a minimum "living wage" of $11.50 an hour, or $10 plus benefits. Read more.

May 12, 2011 - The next great battle in City Hall was joined today as the City Council held their inaugural hearing on The Fair Wages for New Yorkers Act, which would require all businesses that receive city subsidies pay at least $10 per hour, with benefits, to all of Read more.

May 12, 2011 - Hundreds of supporters of the controversial living wage legislation rallied at City Hall prior to the first official hearing where council members challenged the Bloomberg Administration's assertion that the legislation would kill jobs. Read more.

May 12, 2011 - (05/12/11) NEW YORK - The living wage debate raged on during a rally today where Bronx residents called for an increase in hourly wages. Read more.

May 12, 2011 - One by one, City Council members took turns deriding the Bloomberg administration on Thursday for opposing a bill that would raise the minimum wage for some low-income workers by as much as $4.25 per hour. Read more.

May 12, 2011 - As we speak, there's a City Council hearing -- and a wide variety of protests and demonstrations -- going on in NYC, focused on the hot-button legislation that would require employers on larger city-funded projects to pay workers more than the minimum wag Read more.

May 12, 2011 - Advocates rally before a hearing on a bill to hike wages at city-subsidized projects. But mayoral aides and business leaders say the measure would kill jobs. Read more.

May 12, 2011 - NEW YORK CITY-A coalition of business owners, non-profits and city chambers of commerce met on the steps of City Hall yesterday to voice their dissatisfaction with proposed living wage mandates. The bill that would implement the mandates calls for wages o Read more.

May 12, 2011 - CITY HALL — After months of heated rhetoric, elaborate protests and a city-funded million dollar study, the City Council is finally set to hear the case for forcing developers who receive large city grants to pay their workers a so-called "living wage." Read more.

May 12, 2011 - New York businesses are creating more low-income sector jobs as they emerge from the recession, and requiring higher wages won’t stop their growth, a new study contends. Read more.

May 12, 2011 - It’s time for the New York City Council to pass The Fair Wages for New Yorkers Act. If you want public benefits for your project, then your project has to benefit the public. The Fair Wages for New Yorkers Act is that simple. Read more.

May 11, 2011 - Opponents took their fight to the steps of City Hall Wednesday to protest the “Living Wage” bill in front of New York City Council. Read more.

May 11, 2011 - Both sides are expected to testify at City Hall Thursday on a proposed living wage law going before the City Council. Read more.

May 11, 2011 - Nine months and $1 million later, the city says a living wage bill would stifle development and increase “extreme poverty.” Read more.

May 11, 2011 - One side is accusing the Bloomberg administration of using tactics “straight out of the K.G.B.” The other side has screamed “job killing,” taking a page from the national debate over health care. Read more.

May 11, 2011 - A City Councilman says the mayor’s administration is trying to “sabotage” a long-awaited Council hearing tomorrow about a controversial bill requiring a “living wage” for workers at projects that get public subsidies. Read more.

May 11, 2011 - No one expected a glowing assessment of a New York City living wage bill in the report funded by the NYC Economic Development Corporation -- after all, there have been concerns about the outcome of this report since the study's research team was announced Read more.

May 10, 2011 - WBAI's Evening News Discusses Living Wage Hearing, EDC Study Read more.

May 10, 2011 - Living Wage Study Ordered By Bloomberg Agrees With Bloomberg Read more.

May 10, 2011 - Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr. has blasted a study, released by the Bloomberg administration, which states that the “Fair Wages for New Yorkers” Act—a bill that would require developers that receive heavy taxpayer subsidies to pay their employees Read more.

May 9, 2011 - Monday's BronxTalk, Living Wage NYC Faith Caucus clergy Rev. Que English of the Bronx Christian Fellowship Church and Rev. Dr. Raymond Rivera of the Latino Pastoral Cultural Action Center discuss living wages, http://bit.ly/ls47a9 Read more.

May 9, 2011 - New York City Comptroller John Liu discusses his support for living wages and voices his criticism of the EDC's rigged study on NY1's "Inside City Hall." Read more.

May 9, 2011 - City Comptroller John C. Liu stated the following in response to questions about a recently completed study commissioned by the NYCEDC, “The Economic Impacts on New York City of Proposed Living Wage Mandate.” Read more.

May 6, 2011 - The Fiscal Policy Institute (FPI) today released its list of the top 10 reasons an expanded living wage makes sense for New York City’s workers, businesses and taxpayers. The City Council will hold a hearing on May 12 on legislation to extend the city’s l Read more.

May 6, 2011 - Approximately one million people in Brooklyn are employed, but many of their jobs do not pay very well. Nearly one in five people in the workforce toil in the retail and service sector. These jobs typically pay at or just above the minimum wage. But the c Read more.

May 3, 2011 - OK, well that was fast. Just a few days after I questioned the City Council's foot-dragging on a hearing for the Fair Wages for New Yorkers Act, Council Speaker Christine Quinn finally set a date. So mark your calendars -- the New York City living wage bi Read more.

May 2, 2011 - One of the city's premier gay political groups is joining the push for City Council Speaker Christine Quinn to get behind "living wage" legislation. If she's eying a 2013 run for mayor, she may want to listen. Read more.

April 28, 2011 - Toward a Living Wage: Panel Discussion Hosted by Stonewall Democrats Read more.

April 21, 2011 - The measure, which is bitterly opposed by business groups and avidly supported by organized labor, would mandate wage of $10 an hour, plus benefits, for workers on city-subsidized projects. Read more.

April 21, 2011 - After nearly a year of delays, a bruising City Council labor battle is coming to City Council next month. Read more.

April 12, 2011 - Today marks the day of wage equality, or Equal Pay Day - a day to remind our legislators that, in the 21st century, women continue to earn much less than men for the same work. Read more.

April 12, 2011 - Martin Luther King, Jr. is best known as a civil rights crusader who bravely fought against racial injustice in the 1950s and '60s. A perhaps lesser known fact about King is that he was also a tireless supporter of the American labor movement as a whole, Read more.

April 11, 2011 - It took a while, but the protest politics that have grown out of the economic downturn of 2008 finally made an appearance in the Northeast Bronx today. Read more.

April 8, 2011 - The campaign that would require developers of retail projects receiving taxpayer subsidies to pay a living wage -- $10 with benefits and $11.50 without -- is heating up as advocates press for an April City Council hearing. Read more.

April 6, 2011 - Forty-three years ago this month, our nation watched the assassination of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King. The images were seared into our minds, along with the sense that our nation had lost a beacon of hope in the ongoing struggle for racial and economi Read more.

April 6, 2011 - In the spirit of the special section in this issue of Downtown Express, we would like to focus on the progress our Lower Manhattan community has made over the past year. Read more.

April 6, 2011 - On April 4, 1968, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated in Memphis, TN. He was in Memphis to support sanitation workers, represented by AFSCME Local 1733, who had been on strike since March 12 for higher wages and better treatment on the job. He fa Read more.

April 5, 2011 - On the anniversary of Dr. King's assassination, a rally was held to help pass the Fair Wages for New Yorkers Act Read more.

April 5, 2011 - Hundreds of New Yorkers rallied on the 43rd anniversary of Martin Luther King, Jr.'s assassination Monday night, calling for the passage of legislation aimed at raising wages for most workers at developments receiving public subsidies. Read more.

April 4, 2011 - Tonight Bronx residents sought to turn a historical tragedy into a political movement for change. Hundreds of people turned out to the Bronx Pentecostal Deliverance Center to commemorate the death of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and to raise the demand for Read more.

April 4, 2011 - NEW YORK—On the 43rd anniversary of his father's death, Martin Luther King III released a statement Monday supporting the Fair Wages for New Yorkers Act. Read more.

April 4, 2011 - Ken Nash and Mimi Rosenberg host a live broadcast from the Bethel Baptist Church in Brooklyn where a community/labor coalition is demanding passage of the Fair Wages for New Yorkers Act, to address the plight of the working poor in New York City. Read more.

April 4, 2011 - Martin Luther King III has entered a local fight for living wages at certain New York City businesses on the anniversary of his father's death, in a push which proponents say can gain steam in other cities across the country. Read more.

April 4, 2011 - Son of slain civil right leader calls on City Council to raise minimum wage in NYC to $10 an hour, plus bennies, wherever businesses gained at least $100,000 in city subsidies. Read more.

April 4, 2011 - WFUV interviewed Cesar Chavez Fellow Reinaldo Diaz on why all New Yorkers need living wage jobs. Click here to listen to the segment. Read more.

April 4, 2011 - Martin Luther King III Backs NYC Living Wage Bill Read more.

April 4, 2011 - 43 years ago today Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was killed. The assassination occurred as he was supporting a strike of municipal sanitation workers, standing up for the principle that “every working American should earn enough to live a decent life” in the Read more.

April 4, 2011 - NEW YORK — Martin Luther King Jr.'s son is urging passage of a controversial New York City wage bill. Read more.

April 4, 2011 - NEW YORK — Martin Luther King Jr.'s son is urging passage of a controversial New York City wage bill. Read more.

April 4, 2011 - Today is the 43rd anniversary of the assassination Martin Luther King, Jr., and his son, Martin Luther King III, is out today with a statement urging the city to pass a living wage law for workers in government subsidized developments. Read more.

April 4, 2011 - The son of slain civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. is using the anniversary of his father's death to weigh in on a controversial city wage proposal. Read more.

March 31, 2011 - Hard as it can be to land a job these days, getting one may not be nearly enough for basic economic security. Read more.

March 31, 2011 - Friday marked the 100th anniversary of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire, in which 146 New York City workers, the majority of them young, immigrant women, died an unnecessary death. Read more.

March 30, 2011 - Food Bank For New York City would like to announce its endorsement of the ”Fair Wages for New Yorkers Act.” As our supporters know, the Food Bank works to educate members of the public and government officials at the city, state and federal levels to enli Read more.

March 25, 2011 - One-hundred years ago today a fire at the Triangle Shirtwaist factory in the West Village claimed the lives of 146 garment workers and led to the adoption in New York City of 36 new labor laws. Read more.

March 24, 2011 - Here at the Poverty in America blog, we've recently drawn comparisons between the paid sick leave bill that was sadly defeated in the New York City Council last year and the living wage law that's being floated in the council right now. Read more.

March 23, 2011 - NEW YORK, NY (March 23, 2011) - Mayor Bloomberg’s Center for Economic Opportunity has released an important study, “Policy Affects Poverty” that can help policymakers improve how they measure poverty and mitigate its worst effects. Read more.

March 21, 2011 - City Council Speaker Christine Quinn recently announced that she plans to hold hearings next month over the Fair Wages for New Yorkers Act, a bill introduced last May requiring employers that receive public tax subsidies to pay employees at least $10 per Read more.

March 17, 2011 - On Jan. 14, a huge crowd of 2,000 activists joined clergy, elected officials and community leaders at Convent Avenue Baptist Church in Harlem to celebrate the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and call for progressive action that would further one of t Read more.

March 16, 2011 - With a hearing on New York City's proposed living wage legislation coming up in a matter of weeks, it's time to seriously ratchet up our efforts to convince the New York City Council that living wage laws are a good thing. Read more.

March 16, 2011 - The business coalition that killed paid sick-days legislation last year has now set its sights on defeating a proposal that would require jobs resulting from city-subsidized projects to pay at least $10 an hour, plus benefits. Read more.

March 16, 2011 - Will New Yorkers - some of them at least - finally be paid a little closer to what they deserve? Read more.

March 13, 2011 - Gaynelle Atkinson, 52, is a career-driven professional who lost her secretarial position a few years ago. A single mom living in Coney Island, her unemployment benefits have run out, so she now averages about $150 a week babysitting her granddaughter. She Read more.

March 11, 2011 - City officials, community activists, and leaders from the faith called for the passage of a living wage ordinance in New York City at an event at Brooklyn College on Thursday. Read more.

March 11, 2011 - Legisladores y activistas dicen que la ciudad ha dado más de $2.000 millones de dólares en subsidios para incentivar la creación de empleos, pero las compañías sólo crean trabajos con "salarios de pobreza", pagando el mínimo que demanda la ley. Read more.

March 11, 2011 - This week, Good Jobs New York, along with the Fiscal Policy Institute and the National Employment Law Project, released a report highlighting how New York City economic development policies often support low-wage jobs. Read more.

March 11, 2011 - Two weeks after a sprawling City Limits article asked if a living wage law could be the next New York City council "battleground," and one week after the launch of a petition urging Council Speaker Christine Quinn to support such legislation, Quinn has sa Read more.

March 10, 2011 - At a Thursday forum in Manhattan, elected officials joined advocates to push for the passage of the Fair Wages for New Yorkers Act. Read more.

March 10, 2011 - City Comptroller John Liu is slated to appear at a public forum entitled "Why Are We Funding Low-Wage Jobs" at the Brooklyn College Graduate Center for Worker Education this afternoon that labor and progressive groups hope kicks off a major effort to crea Read more.

March 10, 2011 - WBAI's Esther Armah interviews Michele Mattingly of the Fiscal Policy Institute (FPI) about taxpayer dollars funding poverty-wage jobs in New York City Read more.

March 9, 2011 - The City Council's Progressive Caucus has a letter out today boosting the so-called "living wage" bill for NYC (and taking off on the NYP's edit board for criticizing it). Read more.

March 8, 2011 - “I’m pleased that City Council Speaker Christine Quinn has committed to host hearings on the ‘Fair Wages for New Yorkers’ Act, which already has the support of more than half of the City Council. Our bill will require developers who receive heavy taxpayer Read more.

March 8, 2011 - An updated study of job quality and economic development subsidies in New York City shows that public funds are subsidizing poverty-level jobs. New York City spends well over $2 billion annually in the name of economic development and job creation. Read more.

March 8, 2011 - Today Erin Einhorn reported that Council Speaker Christine Quinn has agreed to hold hearings on a living wage bill pushed the last several years by unions and activists. Read more.

March 7, 2011 - A controversial bill requiring a "living wage" for workers in city-subsidized developments is finally getting a hearing after a year of legislative oblivion. Read more.

March 5, 2011 - New York's businesses, legislators and labor advocates are turning their attention back to a bill that would guarantee a living wage for employees working on city-subsidized projects. Read more.

March 2, 2011 - The fight for a “greener” borough, better living wages, economic development and elimination of PCBs in schools are only a few issues the borough president plans to tackle in 2011. Read more.

March 2, 2011 - Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr. said in his second State of the Borough address on Feb. 24 that there is great interest in developing the Kingsbridge Armory and invited Mayor Michael Bloomberg to join him to responsibly develop the structure. Read more.

February 25, 2011 - Borough President Diaz also continued his call for a new “living wage” law in New York City, one that would require developers who receive heavy taxpayer subsidies to do better by their employees. Read more.

February 25, 2011 - NIn the midst of a recession, the impetus for municipal living wage ordinances has been generally back-burnered in most localities. Interest in the living wage appears to be reviving in New York City and will test nonprofits on where they stand on the iss Read more.

February 23, 2011 - For Living Wage NYC, a broad coalition of interfaith and political groups advocating for a higher wages in New York, the night was the culmination of nine months of interfaith organizing. Read more.

February 23, 2011 - The New York Theological Seminary’s Micah Institute has named Pastor Anita Burson as the 2011 Ella Baker Fellow. Rev. Burson will be working in the cause of economic justice with the Living Wage NYC coalition. Read more.

February 23, 2011 - Following the defeat of paid sick leave, unions and business group prepare to face off over tying wages to city development subsidies. Read more.

February 18, 2011 - “Pass the bill . . . right now” reverberated throughout the great sanctuary of Convent Avenue Baptist Church where as many as 1,400 people of faith, community leaders, labor leaders and large numbers of elected officials assembled on January 13 for an int Read more.

February 18, 2011 - In an era when the richest one percent of American households are reported to be collecting close to a quarter of the country's overall income, it makes sense to hear increasing talk about a "living wage" for the millions of workers at the other end of th Read more.

February 17, 2011 - Quinn declined to say whether now might the right time for the bill, which would mandate the $10-per-hour living wage for workers on city projects that would grow in line with inflation. Read more.

February 13, 2011 - The number of New Yorkers on food stamps has soared to a record 3 million - an 11% jump from 2009 and a 65% increase in the past five years, the Daily News has learned. Read more.

February 7, 2011 - The Ronald Reagan crowd loved to talk about morning in America. For millions of individuals and families, perhaps the majority, it’s more like twilight — with nighttime coming on fast. Read more.

February 5, 2011 - At the Community Service Society, we emphasize work as a way out of poverty, but not at poverty wages. The minimum wage in New York is $7.25 an hour. Read more.

February 2, 2011 - The chart is the product of the Fiscal Policy Institute, the labor-backed group that is one of the lone voices trying to be heard over the ever-growing roar demanding that wages and benefits for workers be knocked down as low as possible. Read more.

February 2, 2011 - Following the promise by the Federal Government to pay workers the minimum wage of N18, 000 per month, and the seeming lethargy of living up to the promise, the Nigeria Labour Congress has threatened a nationwide strike to press home the demands of the wo Read more.

January 28, 2011 - Thousands of New Yorkers packed the sanctuary of Covenant Avenue Baptist Church last Thursday for an interfaith service honoring Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., where union leaders, clergy members and community activists joined with elected officials to deman Read more.

January 27, 2011 - In December, as 2010 glittered to a close, life among New York City’s affluent caste looked remarkably like the go-go good old days before the recession. Read more.

January 27, 2011 - RAP has been a prime mover behind the Living Wage NYC coalition, a group pressuring New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg to sign on to legislation that would require all employers that receive public funding to provide living wages. Read more.

January 27, 2011 - To reduce poverty, I launched the “Living Wage NYC” campaign and led the introduction to the City Council of the “Fair Wages for New Yorkers Act” which requires that workers at development projects receiving city subsidies be paid at least $10 an hour wit Read more.

January 23, 2011 - Unemployment is sky-high, the economy is still in shambles and food is so expensive that it has become a luxury item for thousands of New Yorkers. Yet, economists and politicians keep proclaiming the recession is over. Read more.

January 22, 2011 - Momentum is picking up around the City Council Fair Wages for New Yorkers Act, “Requiring the payment of a living wage [$10/hr currently] to employees employed on property developed by recipients of financial assistance for economic and community developm Read more.

January 20, 2011 - An organization that promotes the rights of workers, the Living Wage NYC Coalition, said recovery has not come soon enough. Read more.

January 19, 2011 - It’s a new year, which means Councilman Oliver Koppell and Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr. resuming their fight for a living wage bill in New York City. Read more.

January 19, 2011 - Income gaps in New York are greater than those of any other big American city, and have been trending higher for decades, says a study by the Fiscal Policy Institute. Read more.

January 19, 2011 - The Progressive Caucus calls for a real plan of action to move New York City out of this economic crisis and appeals to Mayor Bloomberg to work with us in our shared vision of a better New York City. Read more.

January 19, 2011 - Working poor New Yorkers are still waiting for the economic recovery the mayor referenced in his speech. His unmatched ability to turn the economy around was how his campaign framed the rationale for a third term but many struggling communities have yet t Read more.

January 19, 2011 - Working poor New Yorkers are still waiting for the economic recovery the mayor referenced in his speech. His unmatched ability to turn the economy around was how his campaign framed the rationale for a third term but many struggling communities have yet t Read more.

January 19, 2011 - Mayor Bloomberg's third term began badly for middle class New Yorkers. Twelve thousand families fell into poverty over the past year, a four percent increase. The number of food stamp recipients in the city is up by 15 percent, and the number of families Read more.

January 19, 2011 - The critics have begun to chime in. The Living Wage NYC Coalition, a group that has advocated for higher wages for the city's poorer residents, has circulated an e-mail criticizing Mr. Bloomberg's management of the economy. "Working poor New Yorkers are s Read more.

January 17, 2011 - During his lifetime, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. knew that the civil rights movement and the labor movement had to remain firmly united. He understood that there can be no real equality without economic security and that government must play a role in prot Read more.

January 17, 2011 - HARLEM — Political and civil rights leaders descended on Harlem Monday to commemorate Martin Luther King Jr. Day and urge New Yorkers to continue Dr. King's work by taking action on some of the toughest issues in the neighborhood — guns, schools and wages Read more.

January 17, 2011 - Today is Martin Luther King Jr. Day, and people all across the country will honor the civil rights leader. From speeches at local high schools and sermons in churches to Organizing for America's national day of service, MLK day is a day to reflect on how Read more.

January 15, 2011 - The struggle for racial integration must be matched by a struggle for economic justice. Justice is not only about access to public places; it's also about jobs, good jobs. Read more.

January 14, 2011 - It was standing room only at Convent Avenue Baptist Church in Harlem on a recent night. Organizers said nearly 2,000 people were in attendance as clergy, elected officials and union leaders invoked the legacy of Martin Luther King Jr. to ignite support fo Read more.

January 14, 2011 - Nearly half a century ago, Martin Luther King used the pulpit to issue a far-reaching call for social justice. Clergy and public officials laid claim to this legacy at the Convent Avenue Baptist Church last night, where they enjoined the city council to p Read more.

January 14, 2011 - Unions and business retrench over amendments to living-wage bill Read more.

January 13, 2011 - The spirit of the Civil Rights movement was on full display tonight in Harlem as hundreds of people turned out for a “Mass Meeting for Living Wages” at the Convent Baptist Church. Read more.

January 13, 2011 - "I don't think government should be in the businesses of setting wages." Read more.

January 13, 2011 - A number of elected officials are gathering in Harlem tonight to push for a bill that would require a living wage on all projects that receive a city subsidy of over $100,000. Read more.

January 13, 2011 - I spoke to RWDSU leader Stu Appelbaum ahead of tonight's scheduled "living wage" rally (slated for 6:30 p.m. at the Convent Baptist Church in Harlem) and the union chief had some rather harsh words for Mayor Bloomberg. Read more.

January 13, 2011 - I am writing to express my personal support and the support of the hundreds of churches and tens of thousands of United Methodists in the New York Annual Conference for the proposed “Fair Wages for New Yorkers Act.” Read more.

January 13, 2011 - Together, the council's three resolutions are a clarion call for greater workplace justice in New York: Truck drivers servicing the region's ports should not suffer exploitation, workers who responded to an attack on our nation deserve to have their healt Read more.

January 13, 2011 - In advance of the major rally tonight in support of the Living Wage bill working it’s way through the City Council, an insider provided this roadmap to their strategy. Read more.

January 12, 2011 - Latest tweak to controversial bill requiring a higher pay floor on any city-subsidized projects would exempt businesses with less than $1 million in revenue and nonprofits of all sizes. Read more.

January 12, 2011 - When members of the City Council want Speaker Christine C. Quinn to call a hearing on a piece of legislation, they have a few options. They can try to cut a deal; they can issue a few dozen press releases; they can nag. Read more.

January 12, 2011 - A controversial proposal that would force some city businesses to pay a "living wage" is getting a new twist -- it will exempt "mom and pop" shops from the requirement, The Post has learned. Read more.

January 11, 2011 - Like most black preachers, I sermonize the life and legacy of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. as my own. As we approach another ceremonial season of reflection on Dr. King, what meaningful service shall I render in his name? Read more.

January 8, 2011 - Mayor Michael Bloomberg has started the new year with his reputation as a first-class manager suddenly in question after a post-Christmas snowstorm left New York paralyzed for days. Read more.

January 6, 2011 - As we prepare to celebrate the birth of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., many are focused on memorializing his legacy. In so doing they lose sight of the agenda, the mission and the work that Dr. King left behind for us to continue. Read more.

January 5, 2011 - Moderator Bob Liff and a panel of experts debate the highly controversial “living wage” bill, which is currently being considered in the New York City Council. Read more.

December 31, 2010 - Mayor Michael Bloomberg said Thursday his administration fulfilled a promise to plow every city street, but elected officials and others insisted some streets never saw a plow before the 7 a.m. deadline, marking another setback for the beleaguered mayor. Read more.

December 29, 2010 - This is the not so hidden secret about New York. We live in a City and State with deep class divisions. The Economic Crisis of 2008 has only accelerated these divisions. Read more.

December 23, 2010 - During this holiday break it’s inspiring to remember that sometimes it’s those with least who are doing the most to fight for the ideals that many of us will celebrate in the coming days Read more.

December 23, 2010 - It’s the one-year anniversary of the nearly unanimous City Council vote that scuttled the mayor’s juggernaut to stuff a cookie-cutter mall inside the landmark Kingsbridge Armory. Read more.

December 20, 2010 - When it comes to feeding the hungry many churches do their part by offering free hot meals. Read more.

December 17, 2010 - In late October, the Fiscal Policy Institute and the National Employment Law Project released a report claiming that the two researchers being paid $1 million by the city's Economic Development Corporation to study the effects of the living wage bill are Read more.

December 16, 2010 - It’s the one-year anniversary of the nearly unanimous City Council vote that scuttled the mayor’s juggernaut to stuff a cookie-cutter mall inside the landmark Kingsbridge Armory. Read more.

December 15, 2010 - The Queens Center Mall in Elmhurst received $48 million in city tax breaks from 2004 to 2009 and is rated as one of the ten most profitable malls in the country. Read more.

December 15, 2010 - After recently scuttling a bill that would require paid sick days, the Bloomberg administration and the business community now are training their sights on two more City Council proposals intended to help workers. Read more.

December 14, 2010 - The business-vs-labor war over the living wage bill is getting uglier with the release of a report questioning the credentials of a group of 650 economists whose support for raising the city’s wage standards is being considered by the City Council. Read more.

December 14, 2010 - In a speech to business leaders at the Brooklyn Navy Yard on Dec. 8, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg claimed that his policies had “laid the foundation” for what he characterized as “the City's resurgence.” He also presented himself as post-partisan Read more.

December 13, 2010 - Gov. David A. Paterson signed into law some of the nation’s strongest protections against wage theft on Monday, after months of lobbying by immigrants’ advocates and labor unions that said New York lagged behind other states on the issue. Read more.

December 12, 2010 - The city's wealthiest have grown rich beyond compare. Now for the other 99%. Read more.

December 9, 2010 - For more than 100 years, we've heard opponents "Cry Wolf" when governments tried to establish living wage or minimum wage laws, threatening higher unemployment and inflation. Read more.

December 9, 2010 - A labor-backed group issued a statement saying the mayor “wildly overstated” the character of the city's recovery. “As of October, a record number of New Yorkers—nearly 2 million—were enrolled in the city's food stamp program,” said a spokesman for the Li Read more.

December 9, 2010 - Dan Morris, a spokesman for a coalition advocating for a living wage bill, said the mayor focused on "courting the national political and business elite" while "squandering an opportunity to offer a real economic vision for struggling New Yorkers." Read more.

December 8, 2010 - “As of October, a record number of New Yorkers — nearly 2 million — were enrolled in the city's Food Stamp Program,” he said in an email statement. “That’s a clear sign the Mayor’s economic policies and vision have failed working people.” Read more.

December 8, 2010 - Trabajadores del centro comercial alegan que no reciben ni salarios mínimos Read more.

December 8, 2010 - "Wall Street profits are soaring again, but average New Yorkers are still struggling," said Dan Morris, spokesman for a group trying to raise minimum wages for some city workers. "If the mayor is as inspired by working people as he claims, he should stand Read more.

December 7, 2010 - Today, elected leaders, community and union members joined retail workers to demand that Queens Center Mall owner, the Macerich Company, stop wage theft by retailers and ensure living wages for everyone who works in the mall. Retail workers report that a Read more.

December 7, 2010 - Clergy members from the Bronx and across the city led a silent march on City Hall on Nov. 17 to voice their support for the Fair Wages for New Yorkers Act, or “Living Wage Bill.” Read more.

November 30, 2010 - Living wage mandates on businesses that receive government subsidies do not have a negative impact on job and business creation, according to a new study of 15 cities by the Center for American Progress Action Fund. Read more.

November 30, 2010 - Momentum Grows for the Fair Wages Act Read more.

November 25, 2010 - Should we tear down the city’s middle class? Or work to turn lousy jobs into good ones? That’s the policy choice facing New York’s city and state leaders. Read more.

November 24, 2010 - When explaining her reasons for killing paid sick leave legislation earlier this year, New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn said that the economic costs associated with the bill would be too great. Read more.

November 24, 2010 - About 100 members of the clergy lead a silent procession to city hall where they delivered the post cards. They were joined by labor leaders, community activists, and the members of their congregations holding signs that read "NOW IS THE TIME." Read more.

November 23, 2010 - Last week, as Council Members gathered for the Stated Meeting, nearly 100 clergy members led a procession and rally in support of living wage legislation Read more.

November 22, 2010 - Clergy members across NYC recently led a procession of congregations, community groups and union members to demand that the City Council pass the Fair Wages for New Yorkers Act. Every year NYC spends approximately two billion dollars, to subsidize develop Read more.

November 19, 2010 - On Wednesday, Nov. 17, nearly 100 clergy members from throughout New York City led a silent procession of congregations, community groups and union members to demand the City Council pass the Fair Wages for New Yorkers Act. Read more.

November 18, 2010 - Union members joined 300 marchers, including clergy representing all of New York’s major faiths, in a silent procession from St. Peter’s Church near Ground Zero to City Hall. Read more.

November 17, 2010 - CITY HALL — Nearly 100 clergy members marched silently to the City Council chambers Wednesday to demand that officials pass a bill that would force developers who get city cash to pay workers a so-called "living wage." Read more.

November 15, 2010 - Should we tear down the city's middle class? Or work to turn lousy jobs into good ones? That's the policy choice facing New York's city and state leaders. Read more.

November 12, 2010 - When Michael Bloomberg came into office in 2002, about 20% of private property rolls in the entire city had some kind of tax exemption. By last year, that had grown to more than 25%, the city's annual tax reports show. Read more.

November 10, 2010 - Labor and community groups gathered at Queens Center Mall recently to raise awareness about what they call the horror of working in retail. Read more.

November 9, 2010 - Three top city officials, each rumored to have their eye on a mayoral run in 2013, directly challenged Mayor Bloomberg on Monday over a living wage bill in the City Council. Read more.

November 8, 2010 - In June, the city's Industrial Development Agency decided to pay $1 million to economists to study a living wage proposal for workers on city-backed developments. But now, Agency board members Comptroller John Liu, Manhattan Borough President Scott String Read more.

November 8, 2010 - The Bloomberg administration has stacked the deck on a study of whether workers should be paid a "living wage" on city-backed developments, three city pols claim. Read more.

November 6, 2010 - In my reporting, I regularly travel to banana republics notorious for their inequality. In some of these plutocracies, the richest 1 percent of the population gobbles up 20 percent of the national pie. Read more.

November 4, 2010 - Drawing creative inspiration from the Halloween season, retail workers transformed themselves into ghastly zombies, slathering on white makeup and fake blood last Thursday night outside the Queens Center mall in Elmhurst. Read more.

November 4, 2010 - New legislation guaranteeing good paying jobs at development projects that receive significant city subsidies is gaining momentum in the City Council. Read more.

October 29, 2010 - Benny Velazquez, 40, lines up with a food cart in front of the pantry at St Benedict the Moor Neighborhood Center on St Anne’s Avenue, South Bronx. He arrived early so he could grab a hot lunch from the soup kitchen while he waited for his turn at the foo Read more.

October 28, 2010 - Andrea Sears of the WBAI Evening News interviews Paul Sonn of the National Employment Law Project (NELP) about the EDC's rigged living wage study. Read more.

October 28, 2010 - Labor and community groups gathered at the Queens Center Mall to raise awareness to Halloween shoppers about what working in retail is really like – and based on the looks of our retail zombies, it’s a horror!! Read more.

October 27, 2010 - Advocates and council members gathered on the steps of City Hall today to slam a city commissioned study on living wages, calling it “smoke and mirrors.” Read more.

October 27, 2010 - Advocates for workers plan to charge on Wednesday that a New York City-financed study is likely to conclude falsely that more harm than good would come from mandating higher minimum wages for employees of companies that receive city subsidizes. Read more.

October 27, 2010 - On the heels of the bruising defeat of a bill forcing small businesses to provide paid sick days, the City Council and Mayor Bloomberg are bracing for a fight on whether companies getting city subsidies should be required to pay workers a "living wage." Read more.

October 26, 2010 - On the heels of the bruising defeat of a bill to require paid sick days in the city this month, a coalition backing a “living wage” measure for projects getting city subsidies is set to release a report tomorrow attacking the city’s ongoing study on the i Read more.

October 26, 2010 - In the wake of Council Speaker Christine Quinn’s decision not to support paid sick leave, some City Council members and advocates are attempting to make waves on another issue: the living wage. Read more.

October 25, 2010 - As living and prevailing wage fights loom, WFP, Council liberals, unions tread cautiously around Quinn Read more.

October 22, 2010 - As a pastor in Harlem, I am regularly in contact with parishioners and members of this community who are suffering serious economic hardship because of inadequate poverty-level wages. Read more.

October 14, 2010 - This past weekend leaders of faith communities across New York City took a stand. More than 80 congregations demanded that New York City institute a living wage by passing the Fair Wages for New Yorkers Act. Read more.

October 11, 2010 - In New York City over the weekend more than 80 congregations throughout the city called for the city council to pass the Fair Wages For New Yorkers Act. Living Wage Weekend was part of a larger, sustained push to raise wages for working people in New York Read more.

October 11, 2010 - This weekend, a delegation of United Workers members and allies will be in New York City for the second in our series of Poverty-zone Reality Tours to ramp up the pressure on GGP and Cordish and connect the Campaign for Fair Development with struggles for Read more.

October 10, 2010 - Working people deserve to earn enough to be able to provide for their families. Fair enough, isn't it? Well, this is what a living wage is all about. Read more.

October 9, 2010 - Nueva York—La campaña "Living Wage NYC" (Salarios dignos) está en su fulgor éste fin de semana cuando 60 congregaciones se unirán en apoyo para la legislación para los trabajadores. Read more.

October 8, 2010 - Jose Santiago of the WBAI Evening News interviews Reverend Sekou of the Living Wage NYC Faith Caucus on the upcoming Living Wage Weekend and discusses what we need to get the Fair Wages for New Yorkers Act passed. Read more.

October 4, 2010 - Name just about any big and controversial development project in New York City – the new Yankee Stadium, Bronx Terminal Market, Willets Point, Coney Island, Metrotech -- and behind them stands a single powerful dealmaker that makes them possible, the New Read more.

October 1, 2010 - Comptroller's Task Force Releases CBA Report Based Partly On Lessons Learned From Bronx Projects Read more.

September 28, 2010 - When the government released new U.S. Census data on poverty last week, our warp-speed news cycle paid too little attention to what these numbers tell us -- and what the government could do to tackle this moral, economic and political crisis. Read more.

September 21, 2010 - NEW YORK - Consider jobs that offer a living wage, next time you offer a tax break for business. That's one way, experts say, that New York State can combat the biggest jump in poverty in 15 years. Read more.

September 16, 2010 - More than 3 million people here lived in poverty last year, the Census Bureau reports. That's defined as a family of four making $21,954 or less in a year. Read more.

September 16, 2010 - We didn't need the Census poverty data released today to tell us what we already know: families are facing the highest rates of economic hardship in a generation. Read more.

September 13, 2010 - Adam Lisberg continues in the NY Daily News with more insightful commentary on the Bloombergistas-this time it's over mayoral hypocrisy on living wage: "It was the day after Labor Day when Mayor Bloomberg seemed to question the whole idea of a minimum wag Read more.

September 12, 2010 - Mayor Bloomberg's 'Waging' a New War Against Minimum Salary, Suggests Companies Should Set Pay Read more.

September 6, 2010 - In a recent editorial in the New York Times, former Labor Secretary, Robert Reich writes that this Labor Day promises to be one of the worst in decades. Organized labor, he notes, is down to a mere seven percent of the private work force; Read more.

September 6, 2010 - The reasons you might want to be in a union are clear Read more.

September 5, 2010 - If the past is prologue, what can we say about the future of American jobs this Labor Day? Rosy is not a term that comes to mind. Read more.

September 3, 2010 - My uncle was a shop steward for Briggs & Stratton in Milwaukee, he introduced me to labor unions. Even as a kid, unions made sense to me, if the company made more profit, the workers should too, in rough times the union made concessions and the workers ke Read more.

September 2, 2010 - THIS promises to be the worst Labor Day in the memory of most Americans. Organized labor is down to about 7 percent of the private work force. Members of non-organized labor — most of the rest of us — are unemployed, underemployed or underwater. The Labor Read more.

September 1, 2010 - As Labor Day approaches, many Americans are breathing a sigh of relief for the extra day off. On a day that celebrates unions and the eight-hour work day, plenty of people are feeling like their hard work isn’t exactly paying off the way it used to. Read more.

September 1, 2010 - The Financial Times reported this week that lawyers for corporate America are warning of a “logistical nightmare” from a provision in the new financial reform law that requires companies to disclose the ratio between a chief executive’s pay package and th Read more.

August 31, 2010 - After being out of work for more than a year, Donna Ings, 47, finally landed a job in February as a home health aide with a company in Lexington, Mass., earning about $10 an hour. Read more.

August 31, 2010 - New York has long been a place of tremendous inequality. An estimated 660,000 millionaires share the city with a million and half New Yorkers living below the poverty line and a shrinking middle class. Read more.

August 31, 2010 - Despite a few signs of improvement, New York City’s economic outlook is for continued high unemployment for many months to come. Unfortunately, this will be the defining characteristic for many average New Yorkers. Read more.

August 25, 2010 - On Aug. 12, the city's Economic Development Corporation announced its decision pay $1 million to Charles River Associates, a Boston-based consulting firm, to conduct a survey on the economic effects of a living wage law. Read more.

August 25, 2010 - Paul Sonn of the National Employment Law Project discusses the EDC's rigged living wage study on the WBAI Evening News with host Andrea Sears. Read more.

August 18, 2010 - There is an ironic injustice in it all: a billionaire commissions a million-dollar study to consider the life chances of the poor. Read more.

August 13, 2010 - A fight over legislation that would require a minimum wage for workers in subsidized developments will probably wait until at least next spring. Read more.

August 13, 2010 - After much fanfare, and a considerable time for meditation, EDC has announced it has selected a consultant for its ballyhooed study of the living wage concept. Read more.

August 12, 2010 - Proponents of a living wage mandate believe the study is a delay tactic by officials intent on killing momentum for two City Council bills linking wage mandates to city-funded projects that have each gained a majority of support from city council members. Read more.

August 12, 2010 - The city Economic Development Corp. has selected Boston-based Charles River Associates to conduct a $1 million study on the impact of living wage policies across the country and how they might affect the Big Apple’s economy. Read more.

August 4, 2010 - A majority of New York’s city council members back a bill that requires developers who get public tax subsides to pay at least $10 an hour for the permanent jobs created. Read more.

July 29, 2010 - The Living Wage NYC Campaign says a majority of city council members in New York now support the Fair Wages For New Yorkers Act. Read more.

July 26, 2010 - Bowing to pressure from auditors, the organization that oversees economic development in New York City has agreed to hand over more than $20 million in rental payments each year to the city. Read more.

July 24, 2010 - No Happy Anniversary for Minimum Wage Workers July 24: Value of minimum wage lower than 1956; Faith, community, business coalition calls for raise Read more.

July 18, 2010 - 'Living wage' fight brings both positive and negative attention to retail union chief Stuart Appelbaum Read more.

July 16, 2010 - Later this month, the New York City Industrial Development Agency will consider lucrative subsidy packages for two of the world’s largest corporations: “big four” accounting firm Deloitte, LLP, and Thomson Reuters, a multimedia news and information provid Read more.

July 14, 2010 - Working a low-wage retail job in New York City isn’t easy, but for people like Romeo Ilboudou, a stock manager at the high-end clothing retailer Scoop NYC, discrimination, wage theft, and hazardous conditions made it even lousier. Read more.

July 9, 2010 - Michele Mattingly writes an interesting essay on the cost of living in NYC-and utilizes a, "Self-Sufficiency Standard," as a guide: "Last week saw the release of the 2010 New York City Self-Sufficiency Standard, a report that determines how much it takes Read more.

July 8, 2010 - Last week saw the release of the 2010 New York City Self-Sufficiency Standard, a report that determines how much it takes to get by in the city. Read more.

July 2, 2010 - Three measures seek to raise prevailing wages for contracted personnel at public utilities, increase penalties for employer who violate labor laws and offer protections for domestic workers. Read more.

June 28, 2010 - This weekend, in response to the hottest legislative issue in City Hall right now, the Daily News ran two opinion pieces on a bill that would guarantee living wages to all workers at city-subsidized development projects. Read more.

June 28, 2010 - For New York City families, increases in the cost of living have far outpaced wages, according to a report to be released Tuesday by a national organization working to advance economic equality for women and their families. Read more.

June 27, 2010 - Should working people in New York City be guaranteed a living wage when their employers are recipients of large subsidies from the taxpayers? That is the central question at stake for the City Council and Mayor Bloomberg. Read more.

June 16, 2010 - Retail Action Project members Irene R Romero and Tyi Jones speak about living wages and the importance of of the Fair Wages for New Yorkers Act! Both have worked at Yellow Rat Bastard and have seen the benefits of unionization. Read more.

June 9, 2010 - As Ruben Diaz Jr. stepped onto a sidewalk in the South Bronx, his shiny black shoes the color of his air-conditioned Tahoe, a flock of violins began to play. Read more.

June 9, 2010 - Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Junior and President of the Real Estate Board of New York Steve Spinola debate the proposed living wage bill on Wednesday's edition of "Inside City Hall." Read more.

June 9, 2010 - Crain's is reporting that EDC, of all people-is commissioning a study on the impact of living wage. What's next, a study by DEP-an agency with a long advocacy against the use of food waste disposers-on the impact, what else, of food waste disposers on the Read more.

June 8, 2010 - Tensions are rising over living wage. The Bloomberg administration's plan to study the effects of living wage laws came under attack today from a set of Council members and City Comptroller John Liu, who called the effort a "sham." Read more.

June 8, 2010 - A host of city officials today accused the Bloomberg administration of trying to rig the results of a living wage study, Erin Einhorn reports from our City Hall Bureau: Read more.

June 8, 2010 - A study to examine the economic viability of a living wage requirement was approved by the city’s Industrial Development Agency board today, but city officials, including Comptroller John Liu, are already raising questions about whether it will be truly i Read more.

June 8, 2010 - Economic Development Corp. gets $1 million to study impact of pay floors for city subsidized projects; comptroller and council members criticize effort. Read more.

June 7, 2010 - A Living Wage Rally was called by the Retail, Wholesale, Department Store union on the steps of City Hall in New York City on May 25. Read more.

June 3, 2010 - When it comes to labor issues, the policy mantra during recessions - and recoveries - is that wages are off the table. The argument sounds formidable: the economy is too weak, employers are only starting to dip their toes in the water, and any attempt to Read more.

June 3, 2010 - Politicians are rallying behind the Fair Wages for New Yorkers Act, which would mandate living wages be paid at development projects receiving government subsidies. Read more.

June 2, 2010 - With the shift in our city’s economy from manufacturing to service jobs, the percentage of low-wage workers has reached record, if not epidemic, levels. Nearly one-third of working New Yorkers are struggling to stretch their paychecks to cover high prices Read more.

June 2, 2010 - City Officials and Community Groups demand Fair Wages Read more.

June 2, 2010 - For too long, the Bronx has been tagged as the county with some of the highest poverty rates in the nation. This is not going to change if workers are earning poverty wages. Read more.

May 31, 2010 - A monumental shift regarding how developers relate to working class New Yorkers was introduced in the City Council this week. Read more.

May 30, 2010 - Readers, I need your assistance. Please help me understand why a proposed bill that would guarantee a living wage for New Yorkers working on city-subsidized projects is controversial. Because I really don't understand. Read more.

May 28, 2010 - In a city starkly divided between the haves and have nots, community activists are demanding an honest day's pay for New Yorkers who work at businesses profitting on the taxpayers' dime. Read more.

May 28, 2010 - At a press conference held on the steps of City Hall today May 25th, workers, community groups, and elected officials met to launch the Living Wage NYC campaign, spearheaded by Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr., Stuart Appelbaum, president of the Ret Read more.

May 27, 2010 - Developers lost out on the chance to build a mall at the Kingsbridge Armory because they wouldn’t guarantee a living wage for workers there. Read more.

May 26, 2010 - Two Bronx politicians are picking up the torch from the living wage campaign that was at the heart of last year's battle over the Kingsbridge Armory. Read more.

May 26, 2010 - With a rally on the steps of City Hall, a broad coalition of lawmakers, community groups and labor unions has launched the Living Wage NYC campaign, centering around a bill introduced to the City Council on Tuesday. Read more.

May 25, 2010 - More than 20 City Council members are signing on to a bill that would require workers at any new city-subsidized real estate project to receive a "living wage," $10 an hour plus benefits or $11.50 an hour without benefits. Read more.

May 25, 2010 - A "living wage" bill is being introduced in the City Council today, led by a set of Bronx elected officials, and the legislation itself is now up on the Council's web site. Read more.

May 25, 2010 - Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg walked toward City Hall on Tuesday, squinting into the sun, as dozens of protesters standing on the steps turned toward him to shout a battle cry. Read more.

May 25, 2010 - Mayor Bloomberg's comments on a new bill being considered by the City Council are not just disingenuous, they're also flat out wrong. Yesterday, Bloomberg slammed the new bill--which would require employers to pay living wages to all workers at city-subsi Read more.

May 25, 2010 - Mayor Michael Bloomberg voiced strong opposition Monday to a City Council bill that would require developers on city-subsidized projects to pay workers at least $10 an hour, saying it would prevent businesses and their jobs from spreading into the neighbo Read more.

May 25, 2010 - Mayor Bloomberg picked an opportune time — at least for retail union boss Stuart Appelbaum — to arrive back at City Hall this morning after hosting a tech-business event on West Houston St. Read more.

May 25, 2010 - Mayor Bloomberg yesterday laced into a City Council proposal to require developers getting city subsidies of $100,000 or more to pay employees $11.50 an hour, or $10 with benefits. Read more.

May 24, 2010 - As the City Council prepares tomorrow to field a bill on higher wages for workers on projects that receive public funding, the Retail Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU) is funding a cable ad to draw attention to the subject. Read more.

May 24, 2010 - Developers on city-subsidized projects would be required to pay workers at least $10 an hour under a City Council bill expected to be introduced this week, months after council members scuttled plans for a mall inside the Bronx's Kingsbridge Armory becaus Read more.

May 24, 2010 - New York City Council Member Melissa Mark-Viverito discusses how living wage and prevailing wage can help both the bottom lines of businesses and workers and their families. Read more.

May 24, 2010 - At a May 24 Marketplace of Ideas forum, Comptroller John Liu issues his support for City Council efforts to improve job and wage standards for employers that receive taxpayer subsidies. Read more.

May 24, 2010 - Two City Council members from the Bronx are set to introduce legislation that would require developers who receive taxpayer subsidies to pay workers at least $10 an hour, plus benefits. Read more.

May 24, 2010 - In what could set off a major City Hall battle, two City Council members from the Bronx plan to propose a bill on Tuesday that would guarantee wages of at least $10 an hour, nearly $3 above the minimum wage, to all workers at development projects receivin Read more.

May 24, 2010 - NEW YORK - A coalition of City Council members plans to introduce a bill this week that would guarantee workers in public development projects at least $10 an hour citywide. Read more.

May 23, 2010 - A fierce debate over city-mandated wage levels that derailed the redevelopment of the Kingsbridge Armory in the Bronx late last year is set to spread across the five boroughs. A bill that will force projects that receive any subsidies from the city to pay Read more.

May 19, 2010 - Robert C. Lieber, the former Wall Street executive who has guided the Bloomberg administration’s economic development efforts during the recession, told his staff on Wednesday that he would step down as deputy mayor in June. Read more.

May 18, 2010 - With the Senate on the verge of voting on financial reform legislation, there are many who fret about the impact that reform will have on New York City's economy. Read more.

May 14, 2010 - Breaking away from the electeds for just a minute, The Daily Politics caught up recently with Stu Appelbaum, President of the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union. Read more.

May 14, 2010 - The Good Jobs Bill along with Paid Sick Days, and the upcoming Fair Wages for New Yorkers Act is designed to ensure that City policy, resources and money are harnessed to promote responsible development that will make it possible for New Yorkers to live d Read more.

May 14, 2010 - A series of new realities about the places Americans live "further put to rest the old perceptions of cities as declining, poor, minority places set amid young, white wealthy suburbs" announces a new study by the Metropolitan Policy Program at the Brookin Read more.

May 5, 2010 - Baltimore City is currently considering a bill which would require major retailers — any company making more than $10 million a year in profit — to pay workers a "living wage" of at least $10 per hour. Is this a courageous and innovative stand for workers Read more.

May 4, 2010 - There is a spirit of resistance amongst the millions of underpaid and overworked New Yorkers, and once a year, thousands of them join together in the streets of Manhattan to celebrate the real International Workers’ Holiday, May Day. Read more.

April 28, 2010 - Despite the recession, a number of large development projects are still in the works in New York City. Plans are under way for two large housing developments on the Williamsburg waterfront and the city is also working on plans to develop new, mixed-use pr Read more.

April 28, 2010 - News that Walmart is considering the Related Cos.-owned Gateway II shopping center reprises the battle between the developer and a retail workers union over the Kingsbridge Armory last year. Read more.

April 27, 2010 - Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg suffered an embarrassment last December when the City Council rejected a major developer’s plan to spend hundreds of millions of dollars transforming an unused armory in the Bronx, the city’s poorest borough, into a shopping mal Read more.

April 27, 2010 - The agency responsible for economic development under Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg has failed to turn over to the city more than $125 million in payments, taxes and fees, according to an audit conducted by the city comptroller to be released on Wednesday. Read more.

April 21, 2010 - During a meeting of the New York City Central Labor Council late last year, union leader Barbara Bowen congratulated a coalition of service-industry unions and community groups for pushing the City Council to defeat the Bloomberg administration's redevelo Read more.

April 15, 2010 - President Obama states that his most important job is helping the American worker find a job with a living wage. Read more.

April 13, 2010 - This is the continuation of a "Subsidies in the City." Read more.

April 13, 2010 - ix years ago, Manhattan Laminates received tax breaks from the city's Industrial Development Agency, the financing arm of the city's Economic Development Corp. In a deal that will span 25 years ending in 2029, Laminates has already received $197,000 in pu Read more.

April 8, 2010 - City comptroller favors living wage requirement in government-subsidized realty developments; also won't rule out supporting added taxes on Wall Street bonuses. Read more.

April 6, 2010 - The City Council might require buildings that receive tax breaks to pay their staff higher wages. The real estate industry opposes the idea. Where does the mayor stand? Read more.

April 6, 2010 - Many of the most economically marginalized workers -- those with everything at risk, including their jobs, their livelihoods, and their ability to provide for themselves and their families -- must additionally contend with such unethical, illegal and mora Read more.

April 5, 2010 - In a 180-degreee turn from a Labor Department under the Bush administration that tried to gut overtime rules for millions of workers, Labor Secretary Hilda Solis has unveiled a new campaign to inform workers about their pay rights and to put a stop to wag Read more.

April 5, 2010 - The Labor Department is encouraging low-wage and immigrant workers to turn in employers who are shortchanging their pay, as part of an expanding effort to enforce wage and hour rules. Read more.

April 5, 2010 - For more than a year, an exhaustive battle raged over the future of developer Larry Silverstein's towers at the World Trade Center, with the Port Authority, Silverstein Properties, the city and the state fighting over just what to build, and how to fill a Read more.

April 5, 2010 - At a time of massive revenue shortfalls and harsh budget cuts for New York, it's rare to find a policy that produces public benefits without painful costs. Read more.

April 4, 2010 - Real-estate mogul Steve Ross found one of the few upsides to owning one of the city's premier properties in a severe recession -- he won steep tax reductions for his Time Warner Center holdings when he joined a record number of property owners challenging Read more.

April 3, 2010 - When Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated on April 4, 1968, the world stopped for a moment. Shaken, confused but searching for a way to continue the fight, civil rights leaders decided to continue King's Poor People's Campaign by building a tent city Read more.

March 29, 2010 - Nearly a billion dollars were stolen in New York City last year, & the thieves aren’t even worried about getting caught. Read more.

March 26, 2010 - The push for the creation of a city wide living wage law is beginning to gear up-and the Observer has the story... Read more.

March 23, 2010 - Frustrated by what they say are plutocratic policies that have squeezed the neediest New Yorkers, the City Council’s most liberal members are establishing a new bloc to champion a progressive agenda on housing, economic development, labor and civil rights Read more.

March 22, 2010 - More than 200 people drawn from the capital’s largest civic alliance called on Oxford Street department stores Saturday to pay the hourly wage described by London’s mayor as “the basic pay rate” for the city. Read more.

March 13, 2010 - Advocates for immigrants and the poor want the state to crack down on a type of robbery rampant in New York: wage theft. Read more.

March 12, 2010 - A coalition of labor unions, immigrant advocacy groups and nonprofit organizations in New York announced their support on Friday for newly introduced legislation that would greatly increase penalties against employers that violate minimum-wage and overtim Read more.

March 12, 2010 - At a SoHo press conference, politicians, union leaders and workers vow to fight back against employers who fail to pay a fair wage. Read more.

March 7, 2010 - The White House wants to require firms that do business with the government to pay decent wages. That could work — if we go after all pay that's indecent. Read more.

March 3, 2010 - The owner of several downtown New York boutiques was arrested recently and faces four years in jail as well as civil lawsuits for up to $1.5 million. Read more.

February 26, 2010 - The White House is looking at a new policy that would give an advantage in bidding on government contracts to companies that offer generous benefits and good pay. Read more.

February 10, 2010 - For the second time in as many days, Comptroller John Liu has announced plans to revamp a process related to real estate development. Read more.

January 29, 2010 - If you're one of about 317,000 unlucky New Yorkers, there's a good chance your boss screwed you this week. The average low-wage worker in the city loses approximately $58 a week—a total loss of more than $3,000 a year—thanks to employers who see cheating Read more.

January 28, 2010 - More than half of the low-wage workers in New York City are routinely being cheated of some of the meager pay that is due them, according to a report to be released on Thursday by the National Employment Law Project. Read more.

January 28, 2010 - Study finds low-income workers lose almost 15% of their earnings due to employers failing to pay required minimum wage, overtime and other protections. Read more.

January 22, 2010 - It took years of dogged community organizing and shrewd coalition-building around a clear vision for the city’s largest armory to position the Kingsbridge Armory Redevelopment Alliance, or KARA, to take advantage of timing, luck and maybe begin re-writing Read more.

January 21, 2010 - Mayor Mike Bloomberg’s State of the City address yesterday scored high marks for encouraging small-business growth, helping low-income New Yorkers with bank accounts, and aiding teens who’ve been jailed. Read more.

January 21, 2010 - New York City can revive its economy by helping Haitians and other immigrants get small business loans, creating jobs and other programs for at-risk youths, boosting anti-foreclosure efforts, and setting up neighborhood credit unions, Mayor Michael Bloomb Read more.

January 18, 2010 - As the nation commemorates King's 81st birthday today, they say he should best be remembered for his career-long focus on the poor. Read more.

January 15, 2010 - First came Kingsbridge: A highly unusual vote at the City Council, which shattered an approximately $300 million proposal from the Related Companies to morph a Bronx armory into a mall. Then came the Queens Center Mall: A call to beef up wages at one of t Read more.

January 13, 2010 - "It's better than nothing ..." That was the reaction of Walter García, a restaurant cashier in Jackson Heights, Queens, when we told him about the federal minimum wage increase that became effective on Friday Read more.

January 11, 2010 - Nearly a third of all adult workers in New York City are employed in low-wage jobs, but the Bronx is in a league of its own. Read more.

January 10, 2010 - The City Council's December decision to turn down the Kingsbridge Armory project has been described as a stunning blow to developers. Crain's editorialized that “there are only losers here” (“An unmistakable political shift,” Jan. 4). Read more.

January 8, 2010 - Members of the Kingsbridge Armory Redevelopment Alliance (KARA) watched in hushed suspense from the visitors gallery above the City Council chamber on Dec. 14. Read more.

January 7, 2010 - A retail developer in New York City has lost out on about $60 million in public subsidies because it and Mayor Mike Bloomberg refused to promise a living wage. Read more.

January 6, 2010 - The beginning of the year also marks the beginning of a new City Council term, which means new projects and legislation in the works for the city, the Bronx, and the Riverdale/ Kingsbridge area. Read more.

January 6, 2010 - Can retail workers organize? Can they get a living wage? These may be philosophical questions, but to the thousands of retail workers who rely on their wages to support themselves, they are at the center of a grim reality. Read more.

January 5, 2010 - The Queens Center Mall has received more than $48 million in tax breaks since 2004. “The mall stands to receive an additional $70 million to $80 million in tax breaks during the next 10 years. Read more.

December 24, 2009 - More than 25 workers in varying jobs at Elmhurst’s Queens Center Mall joined advocacy group Make the Road New York and several borough elected officials Sunday to protest their low wages and lack of benefits. Read more.

December 22, 2009 - Economic indicators may be bouncing back this holiday season, but the working poor aren't so lucky. As they're forced to work harder for less pay and bills pile up, the floor seems to be falling out from under them. Read more.

December 22, 2009 - The City Council dealt a final blow on Monday to a developer’s plans to build a mall inside the Kingsbridge Armory in the Bronx, a significant defeat for Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg on a key project. Read more.

December 21, 2009 - As shoppers scurried to snatch up last minute gifts inside the Queens Center Mall, local elected officials and community organizations painted the shopping destination's landlord, Macerich, as the latest Grinch in the ongoing fight for living wages -- jus Read more.

December 20, 2009 - A key skirmish in the battle over living wage jobs takes place in Elmhurst at 11 a.m. today, when a cluster of community and labor organizations and local pols will gather at the main entrance of Queens Center Mall for a press conference condemning low wa Read more.

December 15, 2009 - By all measures, a press conference early Monday afternoon on the steps of City Hall appeared to be a victory celebration. Read more.

December 15, 2009 - When aides to Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg recently sought backing from City Council members for a key development project, they heard something they were not accustomed to: No. Read more.

December 11, 2009 - Even if a deal is struck today on developing the Kingsbridge Armory into a $324-million shopping mall, the "living wage" dispute that threatened to derail it will continue to roil City Hall. Read more.

December 8, 2009 - This week, the New York City Council will vote on whether to proceed with one of the most exciting development projects in the city – the Kingsbridge Armory, the giant castle in the northwest Bronx that has been vacant for years. Read more.

December 8, 2009 - On Wednesday, December 9th the New York City Council will vote on whether to approve the proposed redevelopment of the historic Kingsbridge Armory in the Bronx into a retail shopping mall. But unless the project's developer agrees to guarantee living wage Read more.

December 7, 2009 - As he begins his third and final term, Mayor Michael Bloomberg has the chance to address one of the greatest economic and job crisis in New York's history and, in doing so, decide his own place in City Hall history. Read more.

November 29, 2009 - After promising “good jobs” during a recent campaign, how could a man with so many billions, and now fresh from a re-election victory, oppose a $10-an-hour wage? Read more.

November 19, 2009 - The pitched battle over how, when and whether to develop the Kingsbridge armory in the Bronx brings New York City to a crossroads. Read more.

November 17, 2009 - For a good hour at a zoning committee hearing on the contentious plan to redevelop the Bronx’s Kingsbridge Armory into a mall, council member after council member battered the Bloomberg administration and the developer Read more.

November 17, 2009 - When the city gives a private developer public subsidies, the surrounding community should benefit from the deal. In the Bronx, community residents are fighting to ensure that a new retail development, which is receiving tens of millions in public subsidi Read more.

November 2, 2009 - New York City has an economy shaped like an hourglass, with a large number of high-paying jobs on one end, a whole lot of low-wage jobs on the other end, and a narrow midsection where the middle-class jobs are supposed to be. Read more.

October 29, 2009 - Less than a week before Election Day, 5 citywide candidates for public office—minus billionaire Mayor Michael Bloomberg—spoke at a forum at Trinity Church on Wall St. on poverty, hunger and homelessness in New York City this afternoon. Read more.

October 26, 2009 - Boom and bust still characterize the local economy, and despite many ways in which Mayor Michael Bloomberg's tenure has been an improvement over Guiliani's record, his economic leadership similarly has fallen short in ensuring that the benefits of growth Read more.

September 15, 2009 - When I was elected to serve as Bronx borough president in April, I made it clear that I would be a fighter for the 1.4 million residents of this great borough. Being a fighter means standing up for what is right and just, and refusing to bow down to speci Read more.

August 27, 2009 - When city tax dollars are used to subsidize a private developer, community residents should benefit from the deal. That is the principle behind the fight to bring living wage jobs to the Kingsbridge Armory in the Bronx. Read more.

August 25, 2009 - Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz will soon announce whether he is going to support The Related Companies' application to redevelop the Kingsbridge Armory. Read more.

July 17, 2009 - While the forthcoming increase in the minimum wage has workers rejoicing and retailers grimacing, the living wage debate continues to fester. Read more.