Jared Bernstein, of the New York Times, writes about cost-of-living discrepancies between and within various states in this country and why standardizing a minimum wage might not be as effective in one state as it is in another. He suggests that local wage authorization might be a better method of ensuring that people can live...Continue Reading

The Worker Center will be having a fundraiser this summer. The fundraiser will be on July 31st at LaSalle Park from 5pm to 9pm. We will be celebrating all of the hard work of our seasonal laborers. There will be a corn roast, BBQ, lawn games, beer trivia, and more, so come on out and...Continue Reading

The WNY Worker Center participated in and attended a living wage rally at the Capitol Building in Albany on June 17th. The Worker Center joined scores of other community organizations, among them the Community Action Network, Make the Road, Workers United, et al. pressuring legislators to raise the minimum wage to 10.10/hr and to secure...Continue Reading

A coalition of New York contractors is pushing to significantly reform one of the most important laws for construction worker safety: the Scaffold Law. Originally ratified in 1885, this law mandates employers to provide safety measures for workers that carry out their jobs above the ground (such as builders, roof repairmen, and so on). Failure...Continue Reading

The WNY Worker Center joined hundreds of leaders and activists at the annual Coalition for Economic Justice banquet on May 8, 2014 to receive the Norm Harper Labor Award.  Norman Harper worked as a janitor in the TRICO plant in the 1980’s and fought for his own civil rights and the rights of his co-workers. After...Continue Reading

The National Council for Occupational Safety and Health (National COSH) has released a report on the role that OSHA can play in developing health and safety protections for temporary workers, available here. The crucial details include the following: 1. OSHA should place responsibilities on temp agencies and employers that hire workers through temp agencies, which apply...Continue Reading

The Buffalo AFL-CIO/WNYCOSH Safety and Health Committee meeting is on March 11th, 2014 from 6:00PM to 7:30PM. Please note that the location has changed: it is at: 1830 Abbot Road, Lackawanna, NY 14218. The topic for this meeting is the New York State Scaffold Law, and how it protects workers. Our presenter is Frank Dolce of Dolce...Continue Reading

Bill Fletcher, Jr.—director of field services for the American Federation of Government Employees—is a leading labor, racial justice, and social justice activist and writer. He is a Senior Scholar with the Institute for Policy Studies, has served as president of the TransAfrica Forum—a nonprofit group that works to improve foreign aid to African and Caribbean...Continue Reading

The treatment of temporary workers is one of WNYCOSH’s primary concerns. Temporary workers—often called “temp workers” and sometimes “contingent workers”—are hired to work on short-term projects, and then leave the employer once the assigned job(s) is finished. Sometimes temporary workers are provided to organizations that need their labor by “temp agencies”. One important issue with...Continue Reading

Workers’ Memorial Day is an annual, international day of remembrance, held on April 28th. It is designated as a day to reflect on and remember the countless workers who have been injured, disabled, made ill, and/or killed as a result of their work. Additionally, it is a time to show worker solidarity, and to express...Continue Reading