Over 200,000 jobless workers will lose unemployment benefits this weekas the cut-off to extend benefits lapsed yesterday without Senate action. 1.2 million people will lose access to Emergency Unemployment Compensation over the next year if Congress does not act. The average duration of unemployment is now a record high of 30.2 weeks, with a historic 41.2% of the unemployed remaining out of work for six months or longer. 11.5 million Americans are collecting some form of unemployment insurance.
1) Take action today to make sure Congress extends emergency unemployment insurance.
2) Find an action near you below.
Call the U.S. Capitol Switchboard at (202) 224-3121 and ask for your Senators’ office.
Suggested Talking Points for your call to your Senator:
Millions of Americans are surviving on unemployment insurance and simply can’t find jobs. It would be irresponsible for Congress to allow benefits to lapse due to inaction. Enough is enough! The Senate must extend unemployment insurance through the end of the year. Support the unemployment extension and push your leadership to act now!
Join local JwJ coalitions at actions across the country this week!
A diverse group of trade unionists, environmentalists, academics and social justice activists gathered at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City for the third annual “Climate of Change” conference.
Conference organizers – The Healthy Planet Mobilization Committee* – kicked it off with a well attended press conference on Friday night featuring dozens of scientists, climate experts and the former Mayor of Salt Lake City. All the speakers took a strong public stand against a resolution adopted by the Utah House of Representatives earlier this month that rejected scientific evidence of global warming, criticized federal efforts to deal with it, and called for the state to abstain from regional collaboration to reduce carbon emissions. The press event was well covered by the local media.
On Saturday morning, former CWA Rep. and well-known author Steve Early and I opened up the conference with a workshop on reviving the labor movement and building labor – community coalitions. The roughly sixty participants were drawn from a great mix of local union leaders and staffers, rank-and-file activists, students, faculty members, and longtime Salt Lake City progressives. There was a lively exchange on topics like labor-environmental coalitions, based on the emerging Blue Green
Mass deportations and workplace raids continue to terrorize communities across the United States. Racist immigration policies further divide families and communities and force millions of people to live under the constant threat that any interaction with police—however minor—could lead to detention and even deportation.
On January 26th, hundreds rallied outside the Department of Homeland Security and dozens blocked streets to bring attention to the need for immigration reform NOW. The protest was organized by CASA de Maryland and brought activists from DC Jobs with Justice, Nakasec, National Day Labor Organizing Network, and more.
Mackenzie Baris of DC JwJ explained, “this broken immigration system not only hurts the individuals and families who are caught in raids, but also hurts all workers and the economy as a whole by allowing employers to exploit the differences in immigration status to take advantage of workers and deny their rights.”
Tuesday’s action also drew attention to The Trail of DREAMs. Drawing inspiration from the civil rights movement, four students are walking from Florida to DC to bring public attention to a failed immigration system that tears
It is with great sadness that we report the passing of historian, author, teacher, and activist Howard Zinn.
Howard was a long time supporter of Jobs with Justice. He was arrested in in 1996 as part of a Jobs with Justice delegation peacefully supporting striking immigrant workers at the Richmark factory in Everett, MA.
Howard Zinn inspired the Western Massachusetts Jobs with Justice “Voices of a People’s History” performance and inspired our “Voices of Working People’s History” May Day Celebration. You can listen to Howard deliver a heart-wrenching and spirited reading of his work incorporating a rich selection of quotations and rememberances of labor history in Western Massachusetts on the W. Mass JwJ website.
His leadership, insight, and inspiration will be greatly missed.
A team of VT Nurses, EMTs, and paramedics from Fletcher Allen Health Care in Burlington, VT, members of the Vermont Federation of Nurses and Health Professionals (AFT), are organizing donations and groups of volunteers to go to Haiti in the coming days, weeks and months to help with the relief efforts.Below is a report from Mari Cordes, RN from the amazing first group of Fletcher Allen nurses and providers who are in now in Haiti. The Vermont Workers’ Center /JwJ is proud that Mari is also a major leader in the Healthcare is a Human Right Campaign.
After much effort organizing transport, gathering more supplies and continuing to develop very important infrastructure and network for this and future teams, working with the Cruz Roja in the Dominican Republic, communicating with Partners in Health in Haiti and our own reconaissance team that struck out ahead of us yesterday, we have joined the rest of our group in a large medical compound in Jimani. Jimani is a border town with Haiti on the
Union members and their children are eligible for $500 – $4,000 scholarships for college graduate and undergraduate programs. Since 1992, the Union Plus Scholarship Program has awarded more than $2.4 million to students of working families who want to begin or continue their post-secondary education. You can learn more and download the application here.
The Davis-Putter Scholarship Fund provides grants to students actively working for peace and justice. These need-based scholarships are awarded to those able to do academic work at the university level and who are part of the progressive movement on the campus and in the community. Early recipients worked for civil rights, against McCarthyism, and for peace in Vietnam. Recent grantees have been active in the struggle against racism, sexism, homophobia, and other forms of oppression; building the movement for economic justice; and creating peace through international anti-imperialist solidarity. Learn more and download an application here.
National Workers’ Rights Board hearing exposes wage theft, safety violations; highlights need for collective bargaining for car wash workers in Los Angeles, Nation.
Yesterday at Los Angeles City Hall, members of the Jobs with Justice National Workers’ Rights Board (WRB) were joined by other distinguished guests to hear gripping testimony about the hazards facing car wash workers. Over 250 union and community members packed the room to overflowing to hear from workers, consumer, health and safety advocates, and United Steel Workers President Leo Gerard.
Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa addressed the panel and the audience, thanking the WRBs’ leadership for protecting workers, and praising the courage of the workers who are speaking out. The Mayor pledged to remain engaged in this fight. “We look forward to reviewing the recommendations from this board for addressing abuses in this industry,” said the Mayor. “It’s important the public understand what’s going on at car washes in Los Angeles.”
Car wash workers reported being paid less than half of California’s $8 an hour minimum wage and some reported they are
The devastating earthquake in Haiti is on everyone’s mind, and union members are among the many who are stepping up to help relief efforts on-the-ground and with financial support.
If you plan to make a financial contribution to support the recovery efforts in Haiti, consider donating to one of the organizations below. You can follow the links to learn more about how each group is contributing to the relief effort.
The Solidarity Center’s Earthquake Relief for Haitian Workers’ Campaign. You can learn more about what they are doing to help Haitian workers and their families here.
The TransAfrica Forum, a longtime ally of the labor movement, suggests donations to two organizations already providing aid on the ground in Haiti:
The United Church of Christ, longtime ally of Jobs with Justice and the labor movement, is collecting donations for their mission partners in Haiti. Read about their work here.
From the AFL-CIO blog, here is a sampling of what some unions in the United States are doing to support the relief efforts:
The Chamber’s narrow, radical agenda advocating for anti-worker, profit-focused solutions to the broken health care, labor, and environmental systems garnered them the most votes for the national Jobs with Justice “Scrooge of the Year” award.
Thousands of votes were cast in the Jobs with Justice annual contest to determine which greedy, cold-hearted organization or person deserves the title “Scrooge of the Year.” Voters chose the Chamber of Commerce as their winner this year as it’s became increasingly clear that the U.S. Chamber of Commerce has developed into a front group for a few narrow interests, not a membership association that represents the voice of mainstream American businesses. The Chamber has spent millions of dollars lobbying against legislation that would benefit workers and families like the Employee Free Choice Act, health insurance reform, paid sick days, and environmental regulations. Their extreme positions have led some companies and local chapters of the Chamber to disaffiliate from the national group.
This year’s Scrooge contest pitted the Chamber of Commerce against Bank of America, nominated for their role in the sub-prime lending crisis and failure to extend credit to small businesses, Hyatt Hotels for their Scrooge-like firing of 100 housekeepers in Boston and other anti-worker actions,
Fran Ansley and I have been involved with the JwJ network since 1995 when our local Central Labor Council invited us to help organize our local East Tennessee JwJ. For the past several years, we have made a monthly automatic contribution to both the Jobs with Justice Education Fund (national JwJ) and to our local JwJ coalition, JwJ of East Tennessee.
Early on, we got to witness the power and significance of union/community solidarity in the Mineworkers’ strike against Pittston Coal Company in the hollows and on the ridges of Southern Appalachia. We saw what the union and its members meant to the community and what the community, its churches and civic organizations brought to the struggle for labor justice and workers’ rights. To win that fight, it took national and even international support, and I think most fundamentally, the shoulder-to-shoulder daily support of neighbors, pastors, and local community organizations. Across the board Solidarity of material support and mutual reinforcement was necessary to win. We have seen those lessons multiplied in years since.
That is why Fran and I give regularly scheduled contributions to both
Fran Ansley and I have been involved with the JwJ network since 1995 when our local Central Labor Council invited us to help organize our local East Tennessee JwJ. For the past several years, we have made a 