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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 Chris Hicks, on January 18th, 2012
 US Trade-Union Movement Honors Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in Detroit, MI
Hundreds of trade unionists and allies gathered in Detroit this weekend to honor the legacy and life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. at the annual AFL-CIO MLK, Jr. Day Observance. Virtually every union in the US attended this gathering seeking fellowship and inspiration as they remembered Dr. King’s life and work. Youth and veterans alike were well represented throughout the weekend.
The Holiday Weekend observance entailed a number of activities focused on honoring Dr. King and renewing his commitment to social and economic justice. There were community service projects in Detroit, a march, award ceremonies, meals with powerful speakers, as well as workshops that covered a range of topics from building powerful coalitions, quality public education, social media & social justice, the economic crisis and the need for good jobs, and telling our stories – delivering our message.
There were a number of progressive leaders who spoke to the gathering including among others: the legendary Congressman John Conyers, AFL-CIO Executive VP – Arlene Holt Baker and Deepak Bhargava of the Center for Community Change. US
Continue reading Recommit to the Dream and the Commitment to Economic & Social Justice
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 Sarita Gupta, on September 1st, 2011
 From August 5-7, 2011, Jobs with Justice held our National Conference in Washington, DC. The Conference, which was attended by nearly 700 activists from across the country, was intended to re-energize and recommit workers’ rights activists and advocates to working together in solidarity to address the rights of workers everywhere and to collectively engage in strategy discussions around the economy, corporate accountability, and strengthening grassroots organizing base around a variety of issues.
Most importantly the event allowed Jobs with Justice, our network, partners, and supporters to reflect on two critical questions: how do we protect and expand the right to organize and collectively bargain in this critical moment in our labor movement; and what is the role of Jobs with Justice in mobilizing the network, its allies, partners, and everyday workers around workers justice issues during this period.
In the period since our last national conference in 2008, we have regrettably lost a series of legislative strategies—including most potently the struggle for the Employee Free Choice Act. In the period since that defeat we have had
Continue reading JwJ Conference: Building a Transformative Vision to Expand Workers’ Rights
By jwjnational, on August 24th, 2011
HERSHEY, PA, August 24, 2011—Just hours after four federal government agencies launched investigations into the exploitation of J-1 student workers in the Hershey’s packing plant—including a surprise inspection of the plant Tuesday by the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA)—Hershey’s directed its subcontractors to offer the students paid vacations.
Early morning Tuesday, OSHA began a surprise inspection of the Hershey’s packing plant in Palmyra, which it continued all day Tuesday and was set to resume Wednesday morning. OSHA also confirmed Tuesday that it had opened a Whistleblower Protection Program investigation into the case.
The Department of Labor’s (DOL) Wage and Hour Division launched its own investigation into the exploitation of J-1 student workers at the Hershey’s plant, and the U.S. State Department scheduled interviews with the students for Thursday, August 25, as part of its own investigation.
Hours after learning of the four investigations, Hershey’s abandoned its claims that it bore no responsibility for the exploitation of J-1 students at its packing plant, and directed its subcontractors to offer the students paid vacations.
Hershey’s offer to the students comes one day before State Department officials were scheduled to interview
Continue reading After triggering federal investigations, Hershey’s offers guestworkers paid vacations
By Jenny Lotze, on August 1st, 2011
On July 28th executive director of Jobs with Justice, Sarita Gupta joined with workers, members of Congress, community leaders, people of faith, and others at Rebuild the American Dream’s Emergency Default Crisis Rally in front of the U.S. capitol building last Thursday.
On that hot, hot day, she set the record straight regarding who was responsible for the default crisis: Wall Street and the ultra rich.
The rally exposed politicians who are pointing the blame at workers and calling for us to make sacrifices, while distracting us from the real issues at hand. Sarita Gupta clarified the real conversation happening in the capitol,
“At the root of what Congress debates is not the debt ceiling or the national deficit. The root of this debate is whether the role of our government is to serve and protect working people, or if the role of government is to make it easier for large corporations and Wall Street to make swelling profits on the backs of our communities.”
In the lead up to the national conference, Jobs with Justice asks “When are we going to get our money back?” Three years ago Congress handed billions in tax dollars over to Wall Street speculators,
Continue reading Speaking of Debt, When Are We Going to Get Our Money Back?
By jwjnational, on July 18th, 2011
 The Jobs with Justice National Conference is just a few weeks away! We have some exciting program pieces coming together. Check it out:
Stop the War on Workers Program: Strategize new ways to build worker power in our communities, our country, & our world!
Workers Unite to Turn the Tide on Immigration Enforcement Program: Learn from each other about the corporate plan to divide workers and strategize the fight back.
Caring Across Generations Program: learn more about the campaign & develop an action plan for the next stage of the CARE campaign.
Plenaries
Opening Session: Expanding the fights for jobs, collective bargaining and the right to organize locally & nationally through the JwJ model in DC.
Confronting Challenges to the Labor Movement with Innovation & Solidarity
Jobs with Justice Celebration Banquet
Closing Plenary: From the Middle East to the Midwest… What’s Next?
Student Labor Pre-Conference
Issue Forums
Building a New Economy
Caring Across Generations Campaign to Address the Direct Care Crisis
Change WalMart, Change the Economy
Immigration Enforcement and Criminalization, an organized attack to divide workers — & the grassroots fight back
Workshops
Please
Continue reading Don’t Miss Out! Exciting Program at the JwJ Conference
By Mike Hall AFL-CIO, on June 30th, 2011
Cross-posted from the AFL-CIO Blog.
A People’s Parade with more than 6,000 Ohio workers, fires engines, a drum corps, bagpipes and a semi-truck full of more than a million signatures marks the latest stage in the citizens’ veto drive to repeal Gov. John Kasich’s (R) bill that eliminates the collective bargaining rights of more than 350,000 public employees.
The parade (click here for a short video) through downtown Columbus today delivered the 1.3 million signatures on repeal petitions to the Secretary of State’s office. Only 231,000 signatures were needed to put repeal on the November ballot. But the 10,000 We Are Ohio volunteers from all over the Buckeye State found overwhelming support for repeal and collected more than five times the number required.
We Are Ohio spokesperson Melissa Fazekas says, “We originally wanted to collect between 450,000 and 500,000 total signatures. We’ve blown way past that.”
Says Ohio AFL-CIO President Tim Burga:
This unprecedented number is a record for any Ohio ballot initiative and shows that Ohioans are fed up with Gov. Kasich’s extreme partisan agenda. This is not just a referendum on Senate Bill 5; it is a referendum on Kasich and
Continue reading People’s Parade Delivers 1.3 Million Signatures for Ohio S.B. 5 Citizens’ Veto
By Pete Meyers, on June 30th, 2011
The world’s largest hair salon corporation, Regis/Cost Cutters, agrees to remove “Yellow Dog Contracts” it forced workers to sign and to provide Notices and a DVD recording informing employees of their rights
(Ithaca, NY) The National Labor Relations Board has settled unfair labor practice charges against Minneapolis-based Regis Corporation which operates some 10,000 hair salons with over 57,000 workers nationwide, including three Regis Corporation salons in the Ithaca area. The Tompkins County Workers’ Center/JwJ, representing two Cost Cutters’ (one of Regis’ 34 ‘brands’) workers, filed the charges in 2010.
The settlement requires Regis to remove all the “Yellow Dog Agreements” it forced workers to sign from its files. These agreements, called by Regis “Protection of Secret Vote Agreements” and signed by workers during 2009-10, were written promises by workers that any union authorization cards they might sign in the future were null and void. This was deemed illegal by the NLRB.
The settlement also requires Regis to post a NLRB notice at all of its store locations nationwide describing for workers their rights to union representation and the commitment of Regis to respect these rights. This same notice will also be recorded by an agent of the
Continue reading Tompkins Workers’ Center Wins Major Workers Rights Case Against World’s Largest Hair Salon Chain
By Mike Hall AFL-CIO, on June 21st, 2011
Cross posted from the AFL-CIO blog.
The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) this morning released proposed changes in the way union representation elections are conducted that the NLRB says will “reduce unnecessary barriers to the fair and expeditious resolution of questions concerning representation.”
AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka says the proposed changes are a “modest step to remove roadblocks and reduce unnecessary and costly litigation—and that’s good news for employers as well as employees. But he adds:
The proposed rule does not address many of the fundamental problems with our labor laws, but it will help bring critically needed fairness and balance to this part of the process.
Trumka says the rules “appear to be a common sense approach to clean up an outdated system and help ensure that working women and men can make their own choice about whether to form a union.”
When workers want to vote on a union, they should get a fair chance to vote. That’s a basic right. But our current system has become a broken, bureaucratic maze that stalls and stymies workers’ choices. And that diminishes the voice of working people, creates imbalance in our economy and shrinks the middle
Continue reading New NLRB Rules ‘Modest Step to Election Fairness’
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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.
