In a step towards reining in the Wall Street gamblers who caused the financial meltdown, Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-OR) introduced a financial speculation tax on oil markets. H.R. 2003, the Taxing Speculators Out of the Oil Market Act, would target the Wall Street speculation that is responsible for unnecessarily inflating the price of gas up to 80 cents a gallon. DeFazio’s bill would immediately penalize speculative market manipulation and would simultaneously lower the cost of gas.

“This Memorial Day weekend, families all across America are digging deep to pay $60 for a fill up at the gas station. And $12 of that $60 will go to speculators on Wall Street,” DeFazio said. “Today I introduced legislation that would bring immediate relief to Americans struggling to fill up their tanks.”

H.R. 2003 will deter speculation by raising the cost to bet on oil markets. Just by charging a tiny 0.01% tax on each transaction, excessive speculation would become too expensive and risky for Wall Street.

After four years of organizing, officers at the Philadelphia Museum of Art employed by AlliedBarton Security Services have a union contract!  The agreement, ratified by a majority of guards on April 18th, will increase wages by 14.5% over the life of the 3-year contract and will institute a grievance procedure and a seniority system.

“We are proud that our 4 year struggle has resulted in a better quality of life for our coworkers and families,” says Donald Lindsey, President of the union.

The union mounted a public pressure campaign which engaged supportive city council members, the Philadelphia labor movement, student activists, Jobs with Justice, and dozens of local faith leaders to win their victory against the nation’s second-largest security company.

Security guards are prevented from joining most labor unions due to the Section 9 (B) 3 of the National Labor Relations Act.  This clause of the National Labor Relations Act states that

Continue reading Independent Philadelphia Security Officers Union Wins First Union Contract at the Museum of Art

Jobs with Justice is in the running to win a free booth in the exhibit hall at the annual Netroots Nation convention this summer.  The top three vote-getters in this online contest will automatically get a booth in the Hall AND two registrations to the conference.

1. Go to to http://netrootsnation.org/HallContestVotingPage
2. Scroll down to Jobs with Justice and click the “like” button (you must be logged into Facebook to vote)

Netroots Nation’s goal is to amplify progressive voices by providing an online and in-person campus for exchanging ideas and learning how to be more effective in using technology to influence the public debate. The annual Netroots Nation convention inspires action and serves as an incubator for ideas that challenge the status quo and ultimately affect change in the public sphere.

By participating in Netroots Nation, Jobs with Justice hopes to build awareness of our organization among progressive activists and bloggers, build relationships with participants, and take advantage of the many trainings

Continue reading Please vote for Jobs with Justice!

Imagine an election where all non-voters are counted as “NO” voters. It’s undemocratic, and it would make it extremely difficult to get enough “YES” votes to pass anything.

That’s exactly what House Transportation Chairman John Mica has in mind for airline and railway workers who are voting in union elections. Mica, who has taken more than $620,000 in campaign contributions from the airline industry, has put a provision into the FAA reauthorization bill that would make it much more difficult for railway and airline employees to form unions.

Under this rule, even if more people voted “yes” than voted “no”, the “yeses” could still lose.  Can you think of ANY election that works this way?  We would never tolerate this kind of voting in our political elections; why would we allow it in union elections?

Congress is expected to vote on the provision TOMORROW.  Please send an email TODAY to let Congress know we will not tolerate this undemocratic process. The only votes that should count are the votes that are actually cast!

This morning, Dane County judge Maryann Sumi issued a temporary restraining order blocking Wisconsin’s new law that limits collective bargaining rights for public employees.

The Dane County District Attorney brought a lawsuit to block the bill on the grounds that a vote to pass the law was invalid.  Fourteen Wisconsin Democrats stayed away from the state capitol for weeks in order to prevent a vote on the law as part of a state budget bill.  On March 9, Walker switched tactics, bringing the law instead for a vote before a legislative committee in the middle of the night.

It appears that this scheme violated the 24 hour notice required by the state’s Open Meetings Law.

The State is expected to appeal the ruling, and the order does not prevent the legislature from taking another vote on the law, with 24-hours notice.  But for now, the bill cannot be published nor take effect.

Stay tuned for more developments in Wisconsin and in states across the country.

Tonight, Wisconsin State Senators passed a bill stripping public workers of their collective bargaining rights. They did this through procedural motions that make a mockery of our democracy. Walker and the Republicans acted in violation of state open meetings laws, and tonight’s events have demonstrated they will do or say anything to pass their extreme agenda that attacks Wisconsin’s working families.  Furthermore, it shows that they have been lying throughout this entire process and that NONE of the provisions that attacked workers’ rights had ANYTHING to do with the budget.

But we aren’t done yet – and we aren’t giving up. Right now the capitol remains occupied as students and workers wait for the assembly to begin tomorrow. We know that other states are watching what is happening in Wisconsin to see what they can get away with.  We have to fight back.  Right now, we need your help more than ever.  Here are three things you can do:

1) Please donate to Jobs with

Continue reading Wisconsin Senators Mock Our Democracy – 3 Things You Can Do