Funding boosts minimum wage fight

LYNN – The movement to get voters to approve a ballot question that would raise the minimum wage got an inadvertent boost this week when the Essex County Community Organization (ECCO) won a $15,000 grant.”I would say we’ll work on the ballot initiatives,” said ECCO Executive Director Daniel Lesser. “We’ll do a big effort to get people out next fall, and we’ll continue to work on immigration issues and some state level issues.”ECCO is a congregation-based community organization that includes a number of Episcopal churches, so the award was not a huge surprise,” Lesser said.The grant was provided by Episcopal City Mission, a faith-based ministry that promotes social and economic justice by working through congregations, community-based organizations and people within the Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts.Although it wasn’t a complete surprise, it doesn’t mean it wasn’t extremely welcome, Lesser said.”We’ve been funded by them for the last few years but this really helps to support the work we do,” he said.The grant ECCO received is just one of 20 Burgess Urban Funds given out by ECM to grassroots organizations working to reach those affected by social injustice.ECCO works on a number of state and local initiatives but its biggest battle at the moment is to get the ballot question regarding minimum wage approved as well as a second ballot question that focuses on sick time. If approved the minimum wage would increase from $8 per hour to $10.50 an hour and it would be tied to the cost of living so it would increase as the cost of living increases.Lesser said the second initiative is a sick leave ballot question. If approved, that proposal would give everyone who works for an employer with 11 or more employees the opportunity to earn paid sick leave, and everyone who works for an employer with 10 or fewer employees the opportunity to earn job-protected sick leave, earning up to five sick days per year.”It’s really good,” Lesser said referring to the grant. “It’s great to get their support ? We are excited to further expand our campaigns to create a North Shore where all people have the opportunity to live a full, meaningful and dignified life.”