On Thursday, November 20, Austin Interfaith successfully ensured that contracts for concessions at Austin Bergstrom International Airport will require that concession workers be paid no less than the City Of Austin Living Wage.  Austin Interfaith was the only voice from the community that advocated for this before the Airport Advisory Committee and City Council.  

Austin Interfaith applauds D'Ann Johnson of the Airport Advisory Committee and Councilmember Laura Morrison for their support in bringing this issue forward.  

At this time, the City of Austin living wage is set at $11.39 per hour.  Leaders are working with labor partners across Central Texas to increase this living wage, and ensure that City of Austin temporary workers are similarly included.

The Austin Monitor reports that the number of temporary employees hired by the City of Austin has increased over each of the past three years, as have the number of those employees making less than $11.50 per hour. Though the city pays all of its roughly 12,000 regular employees at least $11.39 an hour, the same cannot be said for its thousands of temporary employees.  

Said Equal Justice Center leader and AI Strategy Team member Kayvon Sabourian:

'Austin Interfaith is pleased that City Council, at the urging of Austin Interfaith institutions, is looking to bring the city’s ‘Temporary Workers’ under the City’s living wage policy...To be clear, we are talking about thousands of long-term, perennial and seasonal city jobs — jobs such as our crossing guards — not one-time gigs or strictly youth jobs. We know that in today’s economy, more and more Americans find themselves with no option but to cobble together such seasonal, part-time and contingent jobs to make ends meet...”

Many CoA Temps Make Less Than $11.50 Per Hour, Austin Monitor [pdf]

300 leaders of Austin Interfaith convened Mayoral and County Judge candidates for a teach-in and accountability session at Temple Beth Shalom which included challenges on Austin child poverty, affordability, investments in human development and local immigration reforms.  In addition to yes / no responses, candidates were given several minutes to explain how they would work with the organization to address a cited child poverty rate of 30%, documented by City of Austin demographer Ryan Robinson.  

Assembly night highlights included Mayoral candidate consensus on local immigration reforms (municipal identification and withdrawal).  Judge candidates agreed on very little, but did agree that expanding investments in job training programs like Capital IDEA and creating internships for Career Expressway students were valuable to the County and the taxpayers.  Strong stories on housing, immigration and Capital IDEA captured the attention of the press and galvanized the crowd.

[Photo Credit: Austin Monitor]

Full-Length Video, Austin Interfaith

Presentation on Taxes, Child Poverty & City Budget Priorities, Austin Interfaith

Austin Mayoral Candidates Offer Different Approaches on Affordability, Austin American Statesman 

Austin Interfaith Grills Mayoral Candidates on Affordability, Austin Monitor [pdf]

County Judges Differ on Issues at Interfaith Event, Austin Monitor [pdf]

The Campaign Continues: Catching Up with Mayor and County Judge Wannabes, Austin Chronicle [pdf]

Press Conference on City Budget Priorities, KXAN & Time Warner Cable