Al-Jazeera, an international news agency, recently did an investigative piece on Buffalo that highlighted poverty and economic development in the city. Local activists from the Coalition for Economic Justice, People United for Sustainable Housing, the Partnership for the Public Good, and Harvest House were all interviewed.
What is notable about this video is the coverage of the living wage struggle for city sanitation workers who were being paid $9/hour and classified as seasonal workers. Every year, they would be laid off for a week and on their lay-off notice would be given a date to report back for work. This was to circumvent Buffalo’s living wage law; if they were classified as permanent workers they would have to be paid a living wage – laying them off for a week kept them classified as seasonal workers and not covered by the living wage law. This coverage is noteworthy because it was not covered in-depth by local or regional media outlets, yet was given significant coverage by international media in this program.
Here is the video from YouTube:
Everyone who has a job, a home and bank account in Buffalo and Western New York should see that video.