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By Jacob Carton, on August 30th, 2010 Hundreds of statewide labor activists joined with community leaders and local residents to call on Hollander-Marriott and all Greater Tacoma low-paying, taxpayer-money-taking companies to fuel an economic recovery with good jobs. Washington State JwJ is a leading force calling for responsible development, which led to this event as the largest local worker rights action in recent memory. Radio and corporate print media more than noticed.
 Hollander-Marriott purchased their downtown Courtyard site at a “deep discount” from taxpayers, snatched waterfront-mountain views from the taxpayer’s Convention Center, and “brutalized” the architecture of Tacoma taxpayer-financed luxury renaissance, according to the press. The City Council agreed to this in the name of jobs as Hollander-Marriott made promises to the Mayor, Council, and residents and their unions.
But Hollander-Marriott “went back on their word” to pay living wages, hire locally, and abide by a labor harmony agreement, according to former Mayor Baarsma. Hollander built the downtown Marriott using Canadian workers earning poverty-wages. The hotel continues to operate without providing affordable family health care and living wages to Tacoma workers.
Continue reading Hollander-Marriott Takes Tax Money, Fails to Provide Good Jobs
By Allison Fletcher Acosta, on August 27th, 2010  Dozens of protests planned for September 15
Reviving a core demand from the August 28, 1963 “March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom” Jobs with Justice is declaring a national “jobs emergency” and calling for Full and Fair Employment. Protests are expected in dozens of cities across the country on September 15.
“It’s time for corporate apologists in the Senate, who are blocking a recovery for the rest of us, to recognize what workers already know: we are in a jobs emergency that requires a bold, emergency response,” said Sarita Gupta, Jobs with Justice Executive Director. “With record long-term unemployment and communities losing vital public services, it is time to put Full and Fair Employment and a massive federal works program, core demands from the 1963 March for Jobs and Freedom that Glenn Beck wants us to forget, back on the national agenda.”
The demands of the September 15 protests are full and fair employment – including passage of legislation like Local Jobs for America Act which would save or create 1 million jobs, extension of the emergency Temporary Assistance to
Continue reading 47 Years After King’s March, JwJ Revives Call for Full & Fair Employment
By Fran Tobin, on August 23rd, 2010  The economic news continues to demonstrate that workers are facing a jobs state of emergency. Some pundits call it the “horror show” and many economists predict a ‘double dip’ recession.
Corporate America calls it a “jobless recovery,” – and likes it. Wall Street bailout bandits are making bumper earnings, and corporations are sitting on so much reserve cash that only 20% of that money could hire 5 million Americans at $70,000/year … for 5 years! But the private sector cannot and will not put America back to work without government intervention.
For the past year, JwJ has brought together community, religious, student and labor organizations to challenge bank greed and foreclosures, fight plant closings and layoffs, oppose outsourcing and call on congress to act on the jobs emergency with the same urgency as the financial crisis. JwJ coalitions and our allies won financial reform and a new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, saved jobs at Hugo Boss and Hartmarx, won several extensions of emergency unemployment benefits, and federal funding for needed medical aid and keeping 140,000 teachers in the classroom.
But the crisis is far from over. With Congress immobilized
Continue reading Who Will Build the Base to Fight for Jobs with Justice?
By Kristi Barnes, on August 23rd, 2010 Our country is long past desperate for jobs, and the tools we’ve got for creating them aren’t working. With nearly one in ten Americans out of work and Congress floundering to pass a jobs bill, it has fallen to cash-strapped states to pick up the slack. Unfortunately, many states’ job creation programs are nothing more than a shadowy network of corporate ATMs that hand out hundreds of millions in subsidies each year without bothering to ensure that the money goes toward creating jobs, let alone quality jobs.
A new report from New York Jobs with Justice, Urban Agenda and the Coalition for Economic Justice demonstrates how New York’s main job creation entities, Industrial Development Agencies (IDAs) have taken advantage of a lack of public scrutiny to spend more and more money while creating fewer and fewer jobs. According to the report, entitled No Return on Our Investment: The Failure of New York’s Industrial Development Agencies, IDAs waste $135 million a year on subsidies to businesses that cut jobs or fail to create them,
Continue reading New Report Catches Job Creation Programs Asleep on the Job
By Fran Tobin, on August 20th, 2010 A core practice of progressive organizing is to build power by bringing together people directly affected by a problem, developing solutions and taking action together to demand change.
With jobless Americans currently numbering 15 million and (official) unemployment rates projected to be as high as 13% by 2020, Jobs with Justice coalitions are developing models for organizing the unemployed, empowering these voices and faces of the crisis to be a visible and powerful component of winning Full and Fair Employment and a New Economy.
The JwJ approach weaves together unions, community agencies and religious congregations into a project that no group could do on its own. Though on-line approaches can be very useful (e.g. see here, here, here, here and here), JwJ member groups reach out to laid-off workers for in-the-flesh, “jobless potlucks,” workshops on “surviving unemployment” or moving “From Anger to Action.” Some cities do weekly canvasses of unemployment offices or food banks and other recruitment activities, collecting surveys or “I’ll Be There” pledges. Unemployed workers councils identify obstacles to good jobs and help plan local organizing to demand new programs at the city, state and national
Continue reading Jobless, Not Voiceless: Labor and Community Unite to Organize Unemployed
By jwjnational, on August 4th, 2010  The big banks thought they killed financial reform last year, but through the efforts and activism of JwJ members and allies across the country, we were able to overcome $1.5 million a day of bank lobbying and we won the first round of the fight to take back our economy from Wall Street and the corporate agenda.
Now these same big money interests want to undo that victory by blocking appointment of Elizabeth Warren as head of the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). Elizabeth Warren has served as the chair of the Congressional Oversight panel created to investigate the bank bailout, acting as an advocate for accountability and transparency. Warren was also one of the original advocates for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
TELL OBAMA TO APPOINT WARREN!
Why do the banks want to block her appointment? Because they are afraid she might actually protect consumers at the expense of bank and corporate profits.
There is certainly more to do in democratizing our banking system and making Wall Street Pay for causing the economic crisis, but if the banksters and corporate greed crowd succeeds
Continue reading Don’t Let the Big Banks Steal Our Victory
By Attica Woodson Scott, on July 30th, 2010 Originally appeared in the July 26th edition of the Louisville Courier-Journal.
Are you unemployed? Are you receiving unemployment compensation? Are you about to lose your unemployment benefits? Do you care about people who are unemployed?
If your answer to any of these questions is yes, then you most certainly will want to join Kentucky Jobs with Justice on Sept. 15, along with allies from organized labor, community groups, faith leaders, student activists and progressive elected officials, as we hold a day of direct action on full and fair employment.
This day of direct action stems from energy generated at the July 7 march and rally in downtown Louisville at Sen. Mitch McConnell’s office and the U.S. Social Forum, which drew over 25,000 national activists to Detroit (including more than 125 from Kentucky) for issue awareness and massive networking to solve social ills on the principle of: “Another world is possible, another U.S. is necessary.”
A month before the Sept. 15 day of direct action, we will begin building relationships with individuals who are directly impacted by the jobs crisis by visiting the unemployment office located at Sixth and
Continue reading Kentucky JwJ Challenges Community to Call for Full Employment
By Gene Lantz, on July 30th, 2010  North Texas Jobs with Justice initiated a news conference on July 2, 2010, and a broad group of progressive leaders responded — progressive people and organizations are coming together for this fight.
This crisis is immoral
Among them were a faith leader, a community organizer, and several unionists. The Reverend Ed Middleton of First Community Church read scripture and interpreted Bible verses to show that people must become involved in the most just cause of today — survival!
Stop the layoffs!
Christopher Head of the Steelworkers union talked about the cuts hanging over the heads of Dallas City employees. He told the assembled reporters, including three television crews, that Keynesian economics should be used to rescue workers from the ravages of unemployment, just as it was used in the last great jobs crisis.
Mickey Morris, Texas President of the National Association of Letter Carriers said that there is no reason for the post office to go through with plans to end Saturday mail service. It would cause more tens of thousands of layoffs and would diminish our ability to communicate through the mails.
Join together
Perry Forshee, who organized the previous week’s “Rally for
Continue reading North Texas Activists Demand Action on Jobs
By jwjnational, on July 19th, 2010 Unemployment benefits expired for 2.5 million long-term jobless back in May. Since then, the Senate has almost restored unemployment benefits three times, but each time Republicans have blocked the votes with procedural delays.
Tomorrow, the unemployment benefits extension is expected to come to a vote. Tell your Senators not to fall for GOP scare-tactics about the budget deficit — or their offensive assertions that the unemployed are “spoiled” brats who are just “sitting there” collecting unemployment benefits.
One job for every five people looking for work is a jobless emergency, and we need emergency action now!
TAKE ACTION
By jwjnational, on July 16th, 2010 They said we couldn’t do it, but they were wrong. JwJ and our partners out-organized the big banks!
On Thursday, two years after the financial meltdown that has spiraled into the worst economic crisis in a generation, the Senate finally voted to approve the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform & Consumer Protection Act. This financial reform bill takes some key steps towards breaking the control that Wall Street has over our country.
This important victory is just the beginning. We will continue organizing to hold the big banks accountable and work to ensure that the banks who profit from our money benefit our communities.
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