City Council Speaker Quinn will be holding a hearing in April for the Fair Wages for New Yorkers Act, Int. 0251-2010. Fighting for food justice includes fighting for food workers, which is why we think this legislation is so important.

Please show your support by calling Speaker Quinn with the message below at (212) 788-7210 or email speakerquinn@council.nyc.ny.us using the subject line “Support for hearing for the Fair Wages for New Yorkers Act.” Include your zip code!

Dear Speaker Quinn,

I call [or write] you today as a member of the Brooklyn Food Coalition to thank you for your commitment to holding a hearing for the Fair Wages for New Yorkers Act, Int 0251-2010.

Too often, jobs created with public subsidies pay poverty wages with no benefits. And many, if not most, of those jobs are in the food system. The median hourly wages of restaurant workers in New York is less then $9 an hour and close to 90% have no health insurance provided by their employers. It’s time for the city to stop subsidizing corporations who in turn refuse to pay their workers a
living wage. This results in larger profits for the corporations while the workers must turn to public assistance to just get by, resulting in a double subsidy costing the city even more money. Economic
development must be encouraged but not to the detriment of the very workers it’s intended to help.

We look forward to the upcoming hearing.

Click to email individual Council people.

If you can, please also attend this rally:

Brooklyn Mass Meeting for Living Wages
Date: April 4, 2011
Time: 06:00pm
Location: Bethel Baptist Church
265 Bergen Street, Brooklyn, NY, 11217

No Farms No Food Rally March 30

Please join Brooklyn Food Coalition, farmers, food advocates, local officials, environmentalists, and others who care about farms and food to lobby New York State legislators at the Capitol. Urge your representatives to support funding and legislation that:

• Protects farmland for future generations
• Increases consumer access to nutritious foods grown in New York
• Helps farmers protect water and the environment
• Strengthens New York’s farm and food economy

American Farmland Trust will provide transportation and are promising a delicious farm-fresh lunch! Sign up today and see you there.

Help Save Our Bees

Nearly a third of all honeybee colonies in North America are dying every year. ‘Colony Collapse Disorder’ is a major contributor to these deaths, and while there is still no scientific consensus as to the cause, keeping pollinators healthy is crucial for the health of our environment and the future of our food.

Honeybees pollinate many of the foods we eat – from apples to chestnuts to raspberries and squash. That’s why I’m asking you today to join Slow Food USA’s campaign to save the bees, and our food chain.

Tell the White House: Put the Breaks on GM Seeds

In the space of just two weeks the USDA has deregulated genetically modified (GM) seeds for beets, alfalfa, and corn produced for ethanol. President Obama needs to hear how YOU feel about GM seeds; his administration is under the impression that supporting Monsanto will make them appear business-friendly even though GM seeds could destroy small family farms, especially organic farms.

Action: Please contact the White House (via Food & Water Watch) or call the White House at (202) 456-1111 to tell them you oppose GM seed deregulation.

Say No to Frankenfish