The members of the Cleveland Fair Employment Wage Board, which only began meeting several months ago though it was formed in 2001, said that they want the board to improve the lives of workers.
The board, charged with overseeing the city’s wage theft law and other laws designed to protect workers, met Wednesday at Greater Cleveland Works in Cleveland, the workforce development board for Cleveland and Cuyahoga County.
Though the board began meeting last summer, this was the first meeting in which members spoke about the direction they would like to see the board take.
“We just want to make sure workers are getting the fairness they deserve,” Matt Ashton, who was elected chair Wednesday, said after the meeting. “We’re here to assist in any way we can. We’re still just in the organizational step, but we have concrete directions and directives.”
Members briefly discussed some issues they would like to see the board tackle. They include enforcing a bill before City Council that should it become law, would ban Cleveland employers from asking job applicants their salary history. The proposed ordinance would also require employers in Cleveland to include salary ranges and scales in all formal job postings.
“It doesn’t cost employers anything to post salary ranges and not ask about salary history,” Secretary Kate Warren said, citing what she considers to be one of the bill’s attributes.
The proposed ordinance aims to close the gender wage gap, especially among Black women and Latinas, two groups consistently paid less than white men. Black women typically earned only 66 cents on the dollar to white, non-Hispanic men, and Latinas earned 58 cents, according to an analysis of U.S. Census data by the the American Association of University Women.
“This is something we should have done a long time ago,” Council Member Danny Kelly, also a board member, said of the legislation.
Board members said they are interested in getting versed on the state of various employment sectors in Greater Cleveland. They want organizations and individuals who have done research on sectors, such as construction and food services, to make presentations to the board.
Board members also want to set up a mechanism for workers to file complaints against employers.
After Ashton, founder and owner of Lekko Coffee in Ohio City, was elected chair, some of the board members light-heartedly told him he had made history by being the board’s first president.
In addition to Ashton and Warren, who is special assistant to the chief of integrated development for the city, the board elected other officers. Bishop Eugene Ward Jr., executive pastor and CEO of Greater Love Baptist Church, was elected vice chairman. Camilo Villa, Northern Ohio coordinator for SEIU Local 1, was elected treasurer.
Though the board is only required to meet quarterly, members decided to meet monthly. They believe meeting more frequently will help their mission of positively impacting the lives of workers.
