Policy

Policy is a key strategy RAP engages to improve workplace standards in the retail industry.

RAP is a part of a Living Wage NYC, a city-wide coalition aimed at ensuring city subsidized malls and developments pay living wages to their employees. We aim to pass the Fair Wages for New Yorkers Act which would guarantee at least $11.50/hour or $10/hour plus benefits for all workers at city-subsidized development.

Poor paying jobs not only put a burden on the individuals who work them, but put pressure on the community as more workers are forced to rely on public programs to get by. Workers forced to work excessively long hours have less time for advancing their education or spending time with their families.

When taxpayer dollars are used to promote private enterprise, the public has the right to expect something in return: good jobs at good wages. In New York City, labor groups, community and religious organizations, elected officials and a diversity of New Yorkers are organizing to pass a living wage ordinance which would require tenants on land that is publicly owned to pay its employees a living wage of $10 per hour plus benefits, or $11.50 per hour without benefits. Such an ordinance would be a valuable tool in reducing poverty among New Yorkers who work in one of the fastest-growing sectors of our economy: the retail industry.