Last Week This Morning: Strike at Sky Harbor
By TJ Hernandez
House budget plan. Last Monday, the U.S. House unveiled their plan to pay for the Build Back Better Agenda. The package is widely popular with voters, and would make important investments in social policy and green energy. Taxes will not go up for anyone making less than $400K per year, but will be raised on corporations and the wealthy so that we can invest in working families. The plan is a critical step in dealing with the crises we face, but should go further in taxing the billionaires whose wealth has exploded during the pandemic to pay for more of the programs that we need.
End to the fraudit. The Arizona Senate and Maricopa County Board of Supervisors have reached a settlement in relation to the sham audit that has been an ongoing waste of taxpayer dollars over the past several months. The agreement prevents the unqualified Cyber Ninjas from having access to County computer routers in the unprecedented partisan election review. Taxpayers must now fund a third-party review board to take questions from the Senate about the election equipment in order to conclude the sham audit process. The 2020 ballot review will be made public on September 24th.
Strike at Sky Harbor. HSM Host restaurant workers walked off the job Wednesday morning for a strike to protest understaffing and unbearable working conditions. Staffing problems at Sky Harbor International Airport began amid the pandemic, when the majority of workers were laid off. Now, for only $13 an hour, employees are forced to stay long hours and work the jobs of multiple people as the company has reopened nearly all of the over two dozen restaurants it operates, yet has failed to return to regular staffing levels. As one worker put it, “In order to get people back to work, in a pandemic, you need to make sure that you pay them enough”.
Job review. Arizonans delivered an evaluation to Sen. Kyrsten Sinema’s office on Friday, with failing marks in every category.
Support a pathway to citizenship. Arizona relied on undocumented essential workers throughout the pandemic. We need Senators Sinema and Kelly to support this opportunity to offer a pathway to citizenship to over 100K Arizonans as part of the Build Back Better package. Sign the petition and join Corazon to phone bank Arizona voters in support of this important legislation.