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By jwjnational, on February 2nd, 2012
On the even of August 5, 2011, during the pinnacle banquet of the National Jobs with Justice conference, student guestworkers who had traveled from all over the world only to work in a plant in Hershey, Pennsylva nia made a pitch for solidarity. Like the Verizon workers who were about to go on strike the very next day, these workers too were planning to take courageous action.
They certainly had high expectations. And why shouldn’t they have? Just before they got on stage, workers with the National Guestworkers Alliance from a previous campaign against Signal had just been there claiming victory against the company and a reunion with their families. So, the 30 that had come stood up and told a story about how they each paid $3,000-$6,000 to come to the U.S. this summer for what they thought would be a cultural exchange program through the State Department’s J-1 visa. Instead, they found themselves packing chocolates at the Hershey’s plant in deeply exploitative conditions. After automatic weekly deductions for rent in company housing and other expenses, they net between $40 and $140 per week for 40 hours of work.
One
Continue reading Victory at Hersheys!
By jwjnational, on December 15th, 2011 
 Today the Department of Homeland Security announced that it is terminating Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s 287(g) agreement and “restricting” his access to the “Secure Communities” program.
This happened hours after the Department of Justice concluded its three year investigation into civil rights abuses caused by the Sheriff. The report from the DOJ does more than just describe Sheriff Arpaio’s reign of terror. It shows that DHS and ICE programs led to this crisis. Now, the White House needs to apply the lessons learned in Maricopa County and end all programs that entangle local police in the business of immigration enforcement.
Today marks a pivotal moment.
PLEASE SIGN THE PETITION TO END S-COMM & 287(g) HERE.
We join with many others in calling for Sheriff Arpaio to resign and be indicted, but the fight we’ve waged together in Arizona has always been bigger than the Sheriff himself. Sheriff Arpaio is the symbol of the disastrous Secure Communities and 287(g) programs.
It’s time to end those as well.
PLEASE SIGN THE PETITION TO END S-COMM & 287(g) HERE.
Countless acts of bravery and solidarity across
Continue reading Victory in Arizona! Now What?
By jwjnational, on December 1st, 2011
 Ever since SB1070 passed in Arizona, Southern states like Alabama have been quick to pass legislation that take the racial profiling bill to the next levels of hate.
At the same time, the Obama administration has announced that Immigration Enforcement’s regional field offices now are empowered to use their discretion with who is or is not deported.
That means that ICE’s Southern Field Director in New Orleans, Scott Sutterfield has a decision to make.
Last August, his office coordinated the violent ambush of thirty workers in New Orleans who had gathered to receive their paychecks. Now, the New Orleans Workers Center for Racial Justice and community leaders across the South are demanding Mr. Sutterfield attend a town hall meeting on the state of civil rights in the era of Alabama-style hate.
Jobs with Justice has been working on this fight for a long time as a part of the Turning the Tides movement building, and we want to make sure that Sutterfield won’t stand in the way of their civil rights.
You can support their call with three quick steps
1. Watch the video about their case
2. Continue reading Tell ICE’s Southern Office: Respect the Civil Rights of Immigrant Workers!
By Huy Ong, on October 18th, 2011
Tonight, Tuesday Oct. 18th, PBS will be airing a ground breaking documentary on PBS, Lost in Detention.  Join us as we live twitter chat with the National Day Labor Organizing Network and Detention Watch Network using the hastag #altopolimigra.
Building upon the hard work we all have done together in the past year to expose the dangers of police/ICE collaborations, Lost in Detention’s debut will be a critical moment in swaying the hearts and minds against criminalization and towards human rights.
Click here for more info on Lost in Detention and to find your local listing.
And join the conversation at #altopolimigra Tuesday at 9:00pm Eastern.
Also, check out Detention Watch Network amazing new short video to call for an end to mandatory detention with their launch of their Dignity, Not Detention Campaign.
By Efrain Trujillo, Jr, on September 30th, 2011
In a unanimous vote, the Board of Governors For Higher Education of Rhode Island extended in-state tuition rates for residents to attend public colleges and universities in Rhode Island, regardless of their legal status. To benefit from this decision, residents must meet the following:
1) Attended high school in Rhode Island for at least 3 years
2) Graduated from a Rhode Island high school or received an equivalent degree
3) Will seek legal status in the US as soon as she or he is eligible
This change in policy means that higher education will be attainable to more undocumented students; for example, attending the University of Rhode Island will annually cost $9,824 compared to $25,912 for out-of-state students.
Juliana Romero, co-founder and active member of IDEAS for New England, one of the organizations that advocated for this policy change, commented, “Nothing is impossible! We fought for our dream to go to school! At the end of the day we all stood together, got hit with some haters (specifically ignorance and racism), but we won so it was worth it! Always have faith.”
Allowing Rhode Islanders to pay in-state tuition promotes equity in access to public higher education for talented, high-achieving
Continue reading Rhode Island Passes In-state Tuition for Undocumented Students
By Kit Rafferty, on September 30th, 2011
South Florida Jobs with Justice and our community coalition partners on the Wage Theft Ordinance Task Force had a huge victory on September 22nd at the Miami-Dade budget hearings. The county removed the funding in the 2011 budget for the for enforcement of the Wage Theft Ordinance. Since the passage of the Wage Theft Ordinance in 2010, $580,000 in lost wages have been collected from scofflaw employers for the workers in Miami-Dade County.
Recognizing that without enforcement there would be little or no wage recovery, South Florida Jobs with Justice and the Wage Theft Task Force went into action. We visited Commissioners and deluged the Mayor’s office with phone calls. When we were called to speak at the budget hearings, the Mayor announced that the funding for the Wage Theft enforcement position in the Department of Small Business Development had been restored.
It was quite a victory! A big thanks to SF JwJ Board member, Fran Menes, who “herded cats” as the Wage Theft Task Force Coordinator. South Florida Jobs with Justice Board member, John Ratliff who attended the hearing, commented: “Good job at the podium and before hand to secure victory for wage theft enforcement (on a night with few
Continue reading Wage Theft Ordinance, Victory in Miami-Dade!
By jwjnational, on September 23rd, 2011
Hershey, PA—After six weeks of mounting national pressure on Hershey’s for exploiting J-1 student workers and depriving local workers of living wage jobs, former student workers at the Hershey’s packing plant organized a 1,000-strong march in Hershey for justice and jobs on Friday, Sep. 23. Chicago Jobs with Justice, Stand UP! Chicago, and the Baker’s Union (BCTGM Local 1) mobilized solidarity actions at one of Hershey’s boutique stores there.
The students—who paid $3,000-6,000 each to come to the U.S. for a cultural exchange and instead became captive labors at Hershey’s packing plant—organized and became members of the National Guestworker Alliance. With support from Central PA residents and organized labor, the students held a walk-out and strike from the Hershey’s plant on Aug. 17.
Four federal agencies launched investigations into the exploitation of J-1 student workers at the Hershey’s plant, and nearly 70,000 Americans signed a petition in support of the students’ demands: 1) return the $3,000-6,000 students paid for false promises of a cultural exchange, and 2) turn the 400 jobs they filled in the Hershey’s packing plant
Continue reading 1,000 march against Hershey’s corporate greed, for good jobs
By Fran Ansley, on September 16th, 2011
Knoxville, home of JwJ of East Tennessee (JwJET), is also presently home to a major public works project. The main bridge that runs from our downtown, across the Tennessee River, and out toward the Great Smoky Mountains is in the midst of a top-to-bottom repair and reconstruction effort that will close the bridge for two years. Except for the temporary traffic headaches, and except for the fact that union contractors had pretty much been locked out of doing the work, a project of this kind would normally be a cause for celebration: through this investment of public funds we are strengthening our infrastructure, helping individuals and businesses that rely on free movement across the river, increasing safety for pedestrians, bicyclists and motorists who use the bridge, and creating jobs for construction workers hard hit by the recession.
In this case, however, the bridge project has become a cause for mourning and outrage. On January 25, 2011, less than a month after work on the project began, a worker named John Womac was killed when he was struck by the arm of a track hoe operated by an operator who had not been provided with adequate training on how to use
Continue reading JwJ of East Tennessee Responds to Worker Deaths on Bridge Project
By jwjnational, on September 14th, 2011
Today, in cities across the U.S., communities are coming together to stop H.R. 2164, legislation presented by Texas Congressman Lamar Smith. H.R. 2164 would make it mandatory for nearly every employer in the U.S. to use a computer program to access an error-prone government database to verify whether or not a job applicant is eligible to work before any worker could start a new job through a process known as “e-verify.” This legislation is expected to be taken up by the House Judiciary committee for markup tomorrow.
E-Verify will hurt all businesses and the fragile economy, and will leave workers more vulnerable to abuse on the job by giving unscrupulous employers yet another tool to use against workers who try to stand up for their rights.
TAKE ACTION NOW! Tell Congress to Stop E-Verify
E-Verify will place a significant burden on small businesses, raising their costs even as they are struggling in this economy. Almost every business—no matter how small—will be forced to implement this complicated system. The estimated cost to small businesses is $2.6 billion, according to Bloomberg News.
E-Verify has been found to erroneously identify
Continue reading Tell Congress: No More Red Tape! Stop Job-Killing E-Verify Legislation
By Huy Ong, on September 14th, 2011
 Today, in cities across the U.S., communities are coming together to educate and take collective action to stop H.R. 2164, legislation presented by Texas Congressman Lamar Smith. H.R. 2164 will make the use of E-Verify mandatory for nearly every employer in the United States. This legislation is expected to be taken up by the House Judiciary committee for markup at the end of this week.
Mandatory E-Verify is a jobs killer. It is bad for working people, bad for business and bad for the economy. That is why community leaders, small business owners, and workers are speaking out today against the E-Verify program.
In Portland, Portland Jobs with Justice will join community leaders in a press conference telling Congress that forcing employers to use the flawed E-Verify system will harm U.S. workers and employers and undercut the country’s economic recovery.
A mandatory E-Verify system would require employers to perform a computer check for every job applicant against an error-prone government database, before any American worker could start a new job. If a worker’s
Continue reading Communities United as Part of National Day of Action Against E-Verify
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nia made a pitch for solidarity. Like the Verizon workers who were about to go on strike the very next day, these workers too were planning to take courageous action.
