July 2012
One Pittsburgh
Press
A publication standing up for an economy that works for all
A generation underpaid
By: Shawn W.
SPECIAL
POINTS
OF INTEREST:

Life on Min.
Wage

Calendar to
keep up with
events and
meetings

Citizen’s
United

Student Debt
I N S I D E T H I S
I S S U E :
Min. Wage
1
Transit Action
2
Citizen’s United
2
Student Debt
3
Cont. Citizen’s United
3
Calendar of Events
4
While growing up in
McKeesport I remember walking into the living room and
seeing my dad, sitting in his
chair trying not to let me see
him cry. He did tell me at the
time why, but I knew it had to
be bad because my dad never
cried. Later, I found out it was
because the steel mill was closing, which meant he was losing
his good paying job. He was the
sole provider of the family,
providing for me, my mom and
my 3 brothers and sisters. He
knew he had to find another
good paying job. After months
of searching, he finally had to
accept a position that only paid
minimum wage. This was the
moment that changed my family’s life drastically. There was
there no more ordering out or
extras; I remember eating a lot
of rice and noodles. No more
new clothes; we got our clothes
from second hand shops and
from friends and family. We
went from being the family that
had a little extra to being the
family that needed handouts
from churches to make ends
meet. Growing up like this, I
promised myself I would never
live like that again.
Yet, here I am again. It’s
been over a year since the laundry plant closed, where I made
a living wage. Since, I have
only able to find jobs that
would pay minimum wage
and offer no health insurance.
As a diabetic, insurance is
crucial for me. My insulin
costs $150 a month alone.
With the cost of living increasing and our wages staying flat, or in many cases falling, it’s nearly impossible to
survive independently. Let
me give you a breakdown of
what I mean: My monthly
rent is $450, utilities and
phone another $300, then bus
transportation costs $150 a
month. My after tax take
home would be roughly $980
a month on a full time job
paying minimum wage. That
leaves me less than $100 for
the rest of the month to
spend on groceries or anything else that comes up.
With a family to provide for,
I would now qualify for public assistance just to get by.
Something is wrong with
our economy when a person working a full time
job still qualifies for assistance, while the CEO of
UPMC, our region’s largest employer, makes
$2500 an hour.
Now, I am the one who
has to explain why we are
eating butter noodles for
lunch and dinner, or why
we can’t go to the movies
or new clothes and shoes.
Simply put minimum
wage is not enough to live
on, it hasn’t been for quite
some time. If it has kept
up with inflation, the minimum wage would be
$10.hr now. It’s time we
stand up and demand what
is right. It’s time to raise
the minimum wage and
get this economy working
again.
P a g e
2
O n e
In Support
b y :
Friday, June 8, was a perfect day for
a protest. The weather was beautiful
and downtown’s weekend rush hour
was just getting underway when the
rally started at the steelworkers
building. The rally was for public
transit, and to protest against cuts
to Port Authority’ budget. The
event was a success in raising public
awareness to what those cuts could
do to our region’s economy.
The looming cuts will also add more
workers to the unemployment line.
We marched through downtown
P i t ts b u r g h
of T ransit
M i k e
along a busy bus route drawing
attention and support from people
on the streets, especially those who
rely on public transportation. I
marched on June 8 because I not
only believe the cuts to transportation are bad for our region, I am
too rely on public transportation in
my everyday life. I use public transit to go shopping, get to the doctor,
visit friends and to see family. Like
many people, a car is not part of my
budget and its upkeep would break
my bank, not to mention parking
can be limited and expensive in the
downtown area. For this reason
alone, many people chose to ride the
bus to and from work.
I like riding the bus, meeting new
people and gather information
through friendly conversation. Public transit is what makes many great
cities so great, why would Pittsburgh and our Governor not want
to invest in that? Our state, and
county, could have money to sup-
Pr e s s
J .
port public transit, if our Governor made it a priority. He needs
to stop pandering to big oil -- he
just proposed a $1.7 billion tax
break for Shell Oil to frack here
in Pennsylvania – and start
working for the people of Pennsylvania. Raising bus fares and
cutting routes will not save public transportation; it only punishes those who ride the bus,
and those who rely on the bus to
maintain a job. There needs to
be more transparency and more
honesty from our elected officials because Pittsburgh and its
residents deserve a shot at being
great. Greatness can’t happen
with back room deals and backwards priorities.
Public transit means jobs for our
region, and livability for its residents why not invest in it?
Citizen’s United Decision & What it means
By: John P.
“Citizens United” sounds pleasant enough.
But in this election year, these two words
stand for a weapon being used by wealthy
individuals and corporations to elect candidates who will work for them and
against the interests of the middle class
and working people – the 99%.
Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission was a 2010 U.S. Supreme Court decision that ruled corporate political spending limits were unconstitutional. The Citizens United decision ruled those limits
violated First Amendment free speech
rights. In other words, corporations are
people, and the millions they spend in
political contributions is speech, therefore cannot be limited.
With an earlier Supreme Court ruling
that Congress cannot limit a private
citizen’s political spending, Citizens
United brought on the growth of political action committees (“PACS,” and
“super PACS”). These are the groups
you see mentioned at the end of political TV ads. You and I may not know
the names of the people who are paying
for these ads, but the politicians do and
gladly accept the campaign funding.
The effects of the changes in election
J u l y
2 0 1 2
P a g e
3
Student Loan Debt: the next bubble to burst
By: Candice Z.
Student loan debt has reached over 1
trillion dollars, more than both auto
loan debt and credit card debt combined. Stories on student loan debt
usually focus on current or upcoming students, waxing on ways to
keep the cost of college down. I’d
like to add the other group of debt
holders whose plight is littlediscussed but arguably a more immediate crisis: those who already
have their bachelor, or master’s, degrees and little promise of a real job
-- and sometimes six figures in student loan debt.
The average student loan debt is
$23,000 but in my group of friends
and peers, this figure seems insignificant in comparison. Their reaction
is understandable, it seems nothing
in my peer group to $50,000 or more
of student loan debt. Those who
have pursued a master’s degree are
often looking at $100,000 in loan
debt. Add this to declining wages
and soaring unemployment many
of us are left with no foreseeable
way to pay off this obscene amount
of debt. When you have over
$100,000 in student loan debt a full
time job is crucial. Many of us
were sold on the thought that going
to college would guarantee a better
paying job and benefits, a career
path, but that was a lie.
If you think student loan debt isn’t
a national crisis, think again. Rather
than getting jobs, starting families,
buying cars and eventually homes
to support these new families, recent graduates are deferring their
loan payments, in favor of buying
groceries, sometimes moving back
in with their parents or qualifying
for food stamps, just to get by. We
are not buying cars, or houses,
those things are little more than a
wish-list. What this means is that our
economy is coming to a halt. Commerce is stagnated, and eventually
we will start defaulting on our student loans, the likes of which could
look like a second wave of the mortgage loan crisis.
This crisis will become everyone’s
crisis if our government doesn’t do
something about both the economy
and student loan debt. If an individual is lucky enough to find a job, but
still qualifies for public assistance,
how are they supposed to actually
participate in the economy? I urge
everyone to sign the raise the minimum wage petition and the petition
in support of the Student Loan Forgiveness Act.
To sign the petition in support of the Student Loan Forgiveness Act, visit
www.forgivestudentloandebt.com
Citizen’s United Continued...
laws are already visible. The recall
Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker campaign was outspent 7-1, largely due to
massive donations to Walker PACs by
the ultra-conservative Republican billionaire Koch brothers. The Koch
brothers own coal mining-related facilities, timber plants, and pipelines in
Wisconsin. They supported Scott
Walker’s attacks on public employees’
unions. The Americans for Prosperity
group, a Koch Brothers Tea Party
front, attacks all collective bargaining. It
is fair to say that the battle in Wisconsin was the first shot in a battle to end
unionism in America.
The facts are that corporations and
wealthy individuals have billions to
spend to influence elections, and
that they can spend without restrictions to buy politicians. Right
now, boots-on-the-ground organizing efforts – One Pittsburgh’s specialty - can have dramatic results.
Though Gov. Walker’s recall was
unsuccessful, voter turnout was at
record highs in many districts and
residents changed many of the seats
in the State Senate to reflect their
values, not the super-rich. Big
thanks to those who helped turnout
there, including four from One
Pittsburgh – Jon Walker, Penny
Barrett, Calvin Skinner and Thomas
Roehl.
Here in Pittsburgh, One Pittsburgh is
circulating a petition to raise the minimum wage is part of a plan to engage
voters and let our politicians know
what we expect from them. The effort
got off to a great start after the citywide meeting on June 9th,, when we
canvassed in the South Side and got
175 petitions signed in 30 minutes.
Petitions continue to be turned in as
our friends, neighbors, and co-workers
sign. If you have not yet signed the
petition, or would like to help collect
signatures visit
www.onepittsburgh.org or call the
office at 877.793.4238.
WE’RE ON THE WEB!
WWW.ONEPITTSBURGH.ORG
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841 California Ave
Pittsburgh, PA 15201
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J u ly 2 012
Sunday
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Wednesday
Thursday
Friday
Saturday
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9 Toomey
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17 Day of
Action
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24 National Day 25
of Action for
Min. Wage
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