I’m Matt Perry, a MoveOn member in Seattle, Washington, and I started a petition to Seattle City Council, which says:

As a resident of Seattle, I do business with and speak to folks making minimum wage in this city every day. These are the workers who prepare food, serve in retail sales, clean offices and homes, take care of the elderly and disabled, and perform many additional jobs that make our city work. According to the Bureau of Labor and Statistics’ national numbers, 25% of these folks are parents, three-quarters are over 20 years old, and over half are the primary wage earners in their households.

As a matter of basic fairness, these responsible workers should be paid at a minimal level that allows them to live in the city of Seattle.

Currently there is no such guarantee. Even though Washington State’s minimum wage is higher than the federal minimum, the state minimum is still below the very basic minimal costs of living in Seattle, for even a single person. For those with a child to take care of, the situation is worse: a single parent with one child would need to work over 80 state-minimum-wage hours every week to support the basic needs of their family.

Let’s establish a city-wide minimum wage that begins to correct this injustice. If you work here, you should be able to live here!

Click here to add your name to this petition, and then pass it along to your friends.

Thanks!

–Matt Perry

This petition was created on MoveOn’s online petition site, where anyone can start their own online petitions. Matt Perry didn’t pay us to send this email—we never rent or sell the MoveOn.org list.

Unemployment benefits related to federal shutdown

Updated October 17, 2013

Now that the federal shutdown is ending, how do I close my unemployment claim?

The easiest thing is to stop filing your weekly claims.

Should I file a weekly claim next week for the time I was unemployed this week?

That’s up to you. Federal employees and federally funded state employees will receive back-pay for the time they were furloughed, and any unemployment benefits they received must be repaid.

However, it may take some time before the next payroll is processed. If you were furloughed long enough this week to qualify for unemployment benefits, you may want to file a weekly claim for this week (beginning 12:01 a.m. Sunday, Oct. 20). You would need to report the number of hours you worked this week and the amount of money you earned, and then repay the unemployment benefits later.

(Employment Security employees, watch your office email for more details about back-pay, timesheets and payroll.)

What’s the process for repaying unemployment benefits?

After the shutdown is over, Employment Security will attempt to arrange with federal agencies to withhold the appropriate amount of funds from the future paycheck/s of furloughed employees and to reimburse us on their behalf. If we cannot make those arrangements, we will send each worker a notice with the amount they must repay.

(Employment Security employees will receive instructions by email.)

What if I didn’t get a benefit check yet?

There could be a few reasons why you didn’t get a check. You can contact the claims center for more information:

Here are a couple things to keep in mind:

• If you’re eligible for benefits, we will pay you retroactively, even after you’ve returned to work.
• If you know you’re going to receive backpay and don’t want the hassle of repaying unemployment benefits, contact the claim center right away to put a hold on your claim.

Taken directly from the ESD website

Dear friends,

Tibetans risk being beaten or shot if they refuse to fly the Chinese flag. But now China needs international support to get elected to the UN Human Rights Council. Let’s build a massive outcry showing the world hasn’t forgotten Tibet. Sign now:

Tibetans who refuse to fly the Chinese flag above their homes risk being beaten or shot in the latest attempt to break their spirits. But now is the best moment in ages to bring hope to Tibet’s proud, but desperate people.

China’s leaders are mounting an intense campaign to draw a veil over their rights abuses and persuade governments to vote them onto the UN Human Rights Council. So if enough of us shine a light on what’s going on in Tibet — squashing an ancient religion, banning journalists, dawn arrests —we can get China to back away from its hard-line policy to be sure of getting the 97 votes it needs.

Let’s show the Tibetan people that the world hasn’t forgotten them. China is feeling the heat as 13 governments just called them out on human rights in Tibet. Sign to stand with Tibet, then share this with everyone. When one million have signed we’ll deliver it to crucial UN delegations, and make it massive in the media:
https://secure.avaaz.org/en/stand_with_tibet_loc/?biEWLbb&v=30816
Pressure on China is mounting. In an unprecedentedly strong show of support, Canada, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Japan, New Zealand, Poland, US, UK, Switzerland, Sweden, Iceland and Austria just calledon China to protect freedom of assembly, religion and association in Tibet. This request arrives just days after aSpanish court indicted China’s former President for genocide in Tibet!
The situation is really dire. More than 120 people have taken their own lives by setting themselves on fire to protest the suffocation of the Chinese occupation and hundreds of thousands of Tibetans have been wiped out. China’s ongoing policies systematically suppress the Tibetan language, force people from their homes, and strictly control the Tibetans’ movement and religion.
China’s failed policies hurt China too, but having dug themselves in this deep, they need pressure to change course. This is the week that change can start. If enough of us speak up while China is under the global microscope, we can make sure our governments know we haven’t forgotten Tibet. Sign now and tell everyone — let’s build the biggest petition ever for Tibet and demand they hold China to account:
https://secure.avaaz.org/en/stand_with_tibet_loc/?biEWLbb&v=30816
Proud Tibetans are struggling against China’s brutal rule and long for change, but they can’t do it alone. No one can create changes that big alone.
That’s why we’ve come together for Tibet before. Let’s make this the moment where the whole world commits to the survival of the Tibetan people.
Our community was made for this moment.
With hope,
Ben, Alice, Patricia, Alex, Ricken, Emily, Sayeeda and the whole Avaaz team
SOURCES
UN criticises China’s rights record at Geneva meeting (BBC) http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-24611657
Dalai Lama Says China Has Turned Tibet Into a ‘Hell on Earth’ (New York Times) http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/11/world/asia/11tibet.html
Spain probes Hu Jintao ‘genocide’ in Tibet court case (BBC) http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-24490004
Four Tibetans Shot Dead as Protests Spread in Driru County (Radio Free Asia) http://www.rfa.org/english/news/tibet/shoot-10112013200735.html
China denounces Spanish court’s Tibet case against ex-president (Reuters) http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/10/14/us-china-spain-tibet-idUSBRE99D09120131014