Has anyone read this article in the recent Time magazine.  If so, could someone post it somehow.  If not, the article basically talks about workers like janiotrs who are climbing into the middle class in such cities as Pittsburgh because of an effort to unionize janitors, etc.  They refer to Cincinnati as the next big push to unionize these workers and discuss some numbers that compare similarities of Pittsburgh and Cincinnati.  They also discuss OTR and the West End and present reasons why it is so poor, etc.  If anyone is able to post this, that would be cool, if not, I can elaborate more on the article if no one else has read it.  Very interesting read. 

I don't know about this article but the effort to organize janitors in Cincinnati got some publicity about a year ago.

Good janitors are hard to come by & when you get one his work is usually pretty transparent. Kinda hard to garner respect if nobody even knows you have been there but when the work isn't done it is real easy to complain about it.

Yeah, good janitors are only appreciated by the folks who do the hiring, and people with allergies!

Interesting...

 

The janitors union of the Cleveland Public School system has a stronger voice than the teacher's union.  Many complain, including past mayors, that the janitors' union has kept the school system from making many positive reforms. 

Here's the article link and the relevant section:

 

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/printout/0,8816,1205378,00.html

 

Cincinnati shares many attributes with Pittsburgh. Both are Rust Belt cities with midsize populations--314,000 for Cincinnati and 322,000 for Pittsburgh--and workforces similar in size and composition. Each has seen its once mighty manufacturing base crumble, with Cincinnati losing 17,000 manufacturing jobs over the past decade and Pittsburgh 22,600. But they diverge in their treatment of janitors and other low-wage service workers, and living-wage advocates say the results are telling. In Cincinnati neighborhoods like Over-the-Rhine and the West End, where Jones lives, poor wages coupled with high rates of drug use, street violence and truancy have created a cycle of interdependent problems. More than half the adult black males in the two neighborhoods are without full-time work. In the West End alone, 76.5% of the children under 5 are living in poverty, and per capita income is $9,759 a year.

 

Still, achieving the Change to Win Federation's goals in Cincinnati won't be easy. Opponents of living-wage proposals argue that they will do more economic harm than good. The Employment Policies Institute (EPI), a Washington think tank known for its industry funding and pro-business positions, released a study in March claiming that a proposed bill to raise Ohio's minimum wage (at $4.25, one of the lowest in the country) could lead to a $308 million hit on the Ohio economy and the loss of 12,000 jobs. John Doyle, EPI's managing director, says that state and federal earned-income tax credits and worker training would be more effective in helping low-wage workers rise out of poverty. "If employers are forced to increase wages," says Doyle, "jobs will be eliminated, there will be a decrease in the number of hours worked, and these low-skilled adults may find themselves out on the street."

thanks for posting that