Tompkins County Workers’ Center Certifies Foodnet’s Meals on Wheels as Living Wage-Certified

(Ithaca) The Tompkins County Workers’ Center is pleased to announce that we now have certified 85 employers as being Living Wage Employers, having just added the following:

• Foodnet’s Meals on Wheels, 2422 N. Triphammer Road, Ithaca

Foodnet’s Meals on Wheels employ a total of 23 workers; this brings the total of workers, countywide and regionally, who are working for Living Wage Employers up to over 2,905 people.

Foodnet’s ability to become a Certified Living Wage Employer was made possible partially by the Tompkins County Workers’ Center’s campaign, along with Solid Waste workers, Stanley McPherson and Milton Webb in 2013, to ensure that all County-contracted workers (of which Foodnet workers are) are paid a Living Wage. A $100,000 Living Wage Contingency Fund was created in 2013 to help such employers gain the extra income needed to ensure they could pay a Living Wage.

FoodNet executive director Stephen Griffin said of the increase, “We’re really happy to get up to this level, and we intend to keep up with it.” He noted that his board and he have worked hard to make the organization financially sustainable and to create full-time jobs with good benefits, which he sees as crucially important to the organization and to the people FoodNet serves. He recognizes the wisdom of providing decent wages to reduce staff turnover and to make for a happier workplace.

Kiehara Hunter, a driver and food preparer at FoodNet, agrees that her agency is a great place to work staffed by friendly people. As a mother of two young children, she is grateful for the recent increase that brought her wage up to $12.62/hour. “We are helping the needy so it was a very good experience to see that FoodNet is giving us a raise.”

The Workers’ Center initiated the Living Wage Employer Certification Program in 2006 to publicly recognize and reward those employers who pay a living wage. Any employer in the private, public, and non-profit sectors is eligible to apply. With your help, we can provide incentives for other employers in our community! Please go to https://www.tcworkerscenter.org/community/certified-employers/ to find out which employers are Living Wage-Certified, as well as to download criteria and an application form.