A sampling of what Jobs with Justice coalitions worked on from August 22-September 7.
Security Guards at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, after repeated requests for a meeting, welcomed new director Timothy Rub with a rally on the steps of the museum. On September 3rd, the guards filed a petition with the National Labor Relations Board to allow them to unionize as members of the Philadelphia Security Officers Union, an independent union.
Jobs with Justice was one of 521 organizations that signed an open letter to Obama criticizing the Presidents inactivity on immigration reform. The letter demands the “immediate termination” of the 287(g) program which allows local law enforcement agencies to essentially act as proxies for federal agents who investigate, apprehend, transport, and detain people who are suspected of being undocumented.
The national debate on health care continues to be front-and-center, and JwJ coalitions remain engaged on the ground.
- Missouri JwJ is part of a coalition pushing for reform.
- St. Joseph Valley Project/JwJ in South Bend, Indiana went out to show their support for health reform when the so-called “Patients First National Bus Tour” came to town.
- JwJ was part of a send-off for a Doctors’ “Care-A-Van” for single payer
- Central Indiana JwJ took on Wellpoint’s CEO Braly
Massachusetts JwJ joined many community organizations to protest Deutsche Bank. Deutsche Bank, which may hold the record for most evictions in the state, was in town hosting a gala dinner at the 4 Seasons to kick off a golf tournament.
Labor Day activities
- Many activities included a focus on the health care debate. See the excellent Op-Ed by James Haslam of the Vermont Workers’ Center/JwJ and commentary on Vermont Public Radio. Health care was also a Labor day focus in Toledo, St. Louis, and Kansas City.
- Tompkins County Workers Center / JwJ in Ithaca, NY used the Labor Day holiday as an opportunity to talk about wage theft with a crowd of a few hundred people.
- Food AND Medicine/ JwJ in Maine celebrated workers and raised funds for the “Solidarity Harvest” which put 150 Thanksgiving Day meals on the tables of local displaced workers last year.
- Colorado JwJ co-hosted a family-friendly celebration of workers’ rights with food, live music and an activist theater performance
- Tom Iacobucci of Massachusetts JwJ issued a “Labor Day Challenge” to continue Sen. Kennedy’s unfininished work to protect and expand the middle class by passing the Employee Free Choice Act. Earlier in the week, St. Joseph Valley Project/JwJ released a letter from Catholic leaders reaffirming the need for the dignity of work in our own community, and Worchester, MA WRB member Robert J.S. Ross wrote about why janitors deserve jobs with justice.
