Cities of Opportunity?
By SETH SANDRONSKY
“The purpose of cities is to lift up residents and build a community and economy that works for everyone,” said Mayor Johnson. “That means having a higher minimum wage, expanding the supply of affordable housing and ensuring every child has access to Pre-K.”
Mayor Johnson’s words are spot-on. The minimum wage has stagnated for decades. Rent inflation is rampant.
The question is how do Mayor Johnson’s words measure up to his deeds, now that he heads the US Conference of Mayors? A brief review of his record on labor rights and public schools is instructive.
Mayor Johnson is a strong supporter of public charter schools. On that note, employees at St. HOPE Public Schools, a public charter school system he launched, are not labor union members.
Rather, they labor at the will of their bosses. Such workers’ services can and do end at a moment’s notice, like the vast bulk of the private-sector US workforce.
Walmart workers, or “associates,” are also at-will employees, who can be and are fired without representation from a labor union that could collectively bargain pay and working conditions with the global retail giant. Just ask Sacramento resident Meiasha “Meme” Bradley, 27.
She alleges Walmart fired her illegally for legally protesting its labor practices, a charge the company denies. While on its payroll, she sought and received taxpayer help for the necessaries of life due to the employer’s insufficient hours and pay.
Bradley alleges the company fired her for legally protesting its labor practices. “Walmart claimed it terminated me after three disciplinary actions,” she said. “Among the three “coachings” (the company’s term for associate discipline), leading up to my firing was an absence management referred to as a ‘no call no show.’
“In reality I was out on a legally protected strike which shouldn’t have counted against my attendance,” Bradley said. That one-day walkout took place last November 23 at the Florin Rd. Walmart and at other company stores throughout the Sacramento area, according to her.
“We took a stand against Walmart’s bullying of associates, retaliating against us for speaking out and voicing our opinions in support of all company employees nationally seeking annual earnings of $25,000 to provide better for our families,” Bradley said of her former employer that reported sales of $473 billion in fiscal year 2014.
Against the backdrop of Mayor Johnson’s rhetoric about raising the minimum wage, he is a public official whose nonprofit groups such as St. HOPE accept dollars from private sources, namely the Walton Family Foundation. The WFF is the charitable arm of the Walmart Inc. retailer.
During his first mayoral term in 2009, Mayor Johnson began an education nonprofit Stand Up for Sacramento Schools, a 501(c)(3). His nonprofit accepted $500,000 between Jan. 19, 2012, and June 5, 2012, from the WFF. This amount Sandronsky Cities of Opportunity: