FYI: I was struck by the Dec. 11 front page of the Capital Times Metro section, which had three stories. One was about janitors rallying at the Capitol to support non-union janitors who average $8 an hour. One was about homeless advocates protesting and several being arrested at the mayor's office. The third was about a business coalition suing the city to stop the city from raising the minimum wage. Why is it that the business group, which no doubt loves to diss trial lawyers and cries out for tort reform, went to court for redress while the other two took to the streets and the mayor's office for direct protests? - Just wondering
Tom Pyper, business coalition attorney, answers:
"The members of the Main Street Coalition for Economic Development Inc. spent a substantial amount of time 'directly protesting' the city minimum wage ordinance before it was enacted. Coalition members met with city representatives, including the mayor and members of the City Council, in attempts to dissuade them from passing the ordinance.
"I appeared with coalition members before a joint meeting of the Madison
Equal Opportunities Commission and the Madison Economic Development Commission
on Feb. 5, 2004, at which the mayor and several City Council members were in
attendance, to 'directly protest' passage of the ordinance."
Pyper says that after the city passed the ordinance, the only avenue left was legal action. "Unlike the other protestors referenced by your reader, who may still have direct protest alternatives available, the only means available to the coalition to invalidate the ordinance was for the coalition to take its protest to the court."
Sarah Shatz is director of the Interfaith Coalition for Worker Justice, which backs the janitors. She says protest and legislative action both have their place.
"(To support) the municipal increase in the minimum wage, we used the legislative process to accomplish our goals. The Justice for Janitors campaign is using NLRB provisions to protect the workers from violations, so both the SEIU (Service Employees International Union) and the ICWJ use that tactic," Shatz says.
"It's also important to have public demonstrations to raise awareness about low-wage workers, homeless, etc., because they tend to be fairly invisible to many, and when people are aware of the issues, they act on them. Rallies, protests, letters to the editor, all serve that purpose ... to inform the community about the moral issues involved with paying your labor adequately," she says.