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By jwjnational, on February 1st, 2012
The House of Representatives is considering a vote on HR 1173, a bill that would repeal the Community Living Assistance Services and Supports (CLASS) Act. The CLASS Act was designed to be a voluntary insurance program to help Americans pay for long term care, and it was passed in 2009 as part of the Affordable Care Act.
Congress needs to hear from all of us today because they plan to vote on the bill as soon as tomorrow. If you haven’t already, please CLICK HERE to find the phone number for your Member of the House of Representatives and tell her/him:
- The CLASS Act should not be repealed.
- Repealing CLASS ignores the needs of millions of Americans with disabilities and seniors who need long term services and supports to maintain their independence and dignity.
- Repealing CLASS ignores the needs of the direct care workforce for quality jobs.
Click here to let us know that you have told your representative to oppose repeal of the CLASS Act. If you have called already — thank you — please share this email with friends and invite them to call their representative so that we can protect the
Continue reading TAKE ACTION: Don’t repeal CLASS Act!
By jwjnational, on January 30th, 2012
Act now to confront corporate power!
This week, in over one hundred cities and towns, thousands will launch a series of actions building towards the Shareholder Spring, delivering letters to the executives of the corporations in this country mos t responsible for undermining our democracy, crashing our economy, poisoning our environment and widening the gap between rich and poor.
By coming together around a joint strategy to confront corporate power, this effort could shape the 2012 electoral debates. The negative roles unregulated corporate power has on our economy and our elections would be front and center of the national conversation. In races nationwide candidates would have to decide which side they are on: Corporations, the structures of the 1%, or the rest of us.
Committing to such a broad-based effort to further expand the space opened by Occupy will create new possibilities for each of our campaigns. In isolation our campaigns on jobs and worker rights, revenue, banking, health care, immigrant justice, and the environment are not big enough. But together, we have the potential to shift the political landscape that all of us operate in.
We are
Continue reading Joint Effort Launched to Confront Corporate Power
By jwjnational, on December 8th, 2011
 Tell Your Members of Congress: Renew Unemployment Insurance for 2012
Millions of hardworking Americans—nearly 2 million in January alone, and over 6 million in 2012—will be cut off from the emergency lifeline of federal unemployment insurance, unless Congress acts to renew the program before it expires December 31st.
Our country is facing the worst economic crisis of a generation. Big corporations shipped jobs overseas and Wall Street speculators took more and more of our wealth, getting rich quickly at the expense of workers and families. The only way to turn this crisis around is to create good jobs–one where workers have collective bargaining rights, employment security, and wages and benefits that allow their families to enjoy a decent standard of living and earn a fair share of the wealth produced by their labor.
If Wall Street and the country’s private sector cannot create good jobs, and if Congress cannot fund good jobs in the public sector, then the least they can do is to extend unemployment benefits until the economy recovers. In the past three years, federal unemployment insurance has helped more than 17 million Americans while
Continue reading Act Now to Save Unemployment!
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 jwjnational, on November 24th, 2011
As you enjoy a reflective and restful Thanksgiving weekend, we want to share the following opportunity to undermine the 1% and the Walton Family quickly from your computer.
Rob Walton
According to Forbes Magazine, 4 of the 11 wealthiest people in America are Waltons. The Waltons control 48% of Walmart stock, and are predicted to gain a controlling share in the next 12 months. In fact, the Walton’s combined net worth is $93 billion. Yet they still won’t address the concerns of those who work for them such as scheduling (especially over holidays like this). And just last month, Walmart–the company that made them their billions slashed health care for hundreds of thousands of families.
As the leader in the retail and logistics industries, if Walmart was more accountable to its workers and the communities where it builds–it would change the floor for the entire economy. At Jobs with Justice, we believe that if we Change Walmart, we Change the Economy!
Brave New Films, the group that brought us the movie “Walmart: The High Cost of Low Price”, has committed to making videos exposing the worst
Continue reading Vote Walmart’s Rob Walton as Face of the 1%!
By jwjnational, on November 7th, 2011
Right now, big banks like Bank of America borrow money from the Federal Reserve at less than 1% interest, lend it out to payday lenders at 3%, who turn around and lend it to our communities at 400% interest or more. Instead of bolstering the middle class with small-dollar loans that would strengthen our communities,  Bank of America has decided to back legalized loan sharks who prey on the working-class.
It’s outrageous and one of the greatest wealth-stripping schemes of our time.
We know that our economy has been set up to protect the wealthy and powerful, and it’s harder than ever for working people to get ahead. Wall Street reaps record profits while our neighbors lose their jobs and homes. Corporations were allowed to sink billions of dollars into political campaigns, out-spending the labor movement by more than ever, with the sole purpose of protecting the interests of the rich—Bush tax cuts for millionaires, corporate tax breaks, and other anti-worker policies.
But their cash cannot be louder than our need for jobs and the right to organize during this economic crisis.
We
Continue reading Tell Banks to Stop Funding Pay Day Lenders!
By jwjnational, on November 3rd, 2011
This week, Senator Tom Harkin (IA) and Representative Peter DeFazio (OR) introduced legislation that would impose a Financial Transactions Tax [Senate Bill 1787; House Bill 3313]. At the rate of 0.03%, it would bring in tens of billions of dollars each year that could help create jobs and public services.
Clearly this small tax is not enough. We need to end the Bush tax cuts for the rich, close corporate loopholes and tax the 1% to pay their fair share. But this Financial Transactions Tax is a significant first step to building an economy that works for the 99%, and not just the richest few.
The tax has 2 functions: first—to begin the slow process of forcing Wall Street to pay its fair share in taxes and second—to put the breaks on Wall Street gambling/speculation that creates no real value to the economy.
According to the Center for Economic Policy and Research, despite myths spread by the 1% the Financial Transactions Tax would not have much effect on individual 401(k)s and mutual funds, and it would have no impact on ATM withdrawals and other everyday financial
Continue reading Financial Transactions Tax Introduced, Co-sponsors Needed
By Maria Ward, on October 28th, 2011
As the Occupy Wall Street protests have spread across the country, Jobs with Justice coalitions have been springing into action to support the movement and infuse it with concrete demands that create economic and social justice for working people and make Wall Street pay the bill. From Buffalo to Portland, Jobs with Justice coalitions are playing key roles. We’re linking labor groups to Occupy, acting as liaisons between local government and protestors, training and educating activists, helping to secure material support (e.g. port-a-potties, sound equipment, food, etc.), and helping local Occupy groups develop specific demands.
Jobs with Justice coalitions have connected the Occupy movement to our work in support of Verizon workers and corporate accountability. In Central Florida, Philadelphia, Long Island, and San Francisco, coalitions informed occupiers about the Verizon campaign and involved them in rallies and leafleting stores. In Boston and DC, JwJ is connecting Occupy to our work with Wal-mart.
In St. Louis and Northern Illinois, JwJ is working with Occupy to pressure Bank of America through encouraging people to move their money and organizing rallies at Bank of America branches.
Chicago Jobs with Justice has been very busy strengthening the Occupation in Chicago. They have used
Continue reading Occupying a City Near You!
By Erica Smiley, on October 11th, 2011 
 There are still over 15 million unemployed Americans, nearly 6 job-seekers for each opening, and about 100,000 workers entering the job market each month. Public services and education are being wiped out. Corporate greed and Wall Street recklessness put the squeeze on working people and have created the worst economic crisis in a generation. Big corporations shipped jobs overseas and Wall Street speculators took more and more of our wealth, getting rich quickly at the expense of workers and families.
But this is not news.
What has developed is the upsurge of workers, youth, and the communities we all live in to Occupy Wall Street, and to be in solidarity with these actions around the country. This momentum came just in time, as workers around the country have begun to fight back in bigger and more coordinated ways—understanding that the fight is over who has control over what happens in our workplaces and our communities — working people or Wall Street corporations.
Last winter in Wisconsin and in nearly every state, we saw a breathtaking show of militant resistance to attacks on
Continue reading Building a United Movement to Make Wall Street Pay
By jwjnational, on October 5th, 2011
Walmart is the largest private employer in this country and nearly 60% of its hourly employees are women. It sets the standards for the retail industry, its suppliers, and for employers in general. How Walmart treats women ultimately has ramifications for all women, not just those who work in its stores.
And unfortunately, according to many of its Associates, Walmart is not truly a place of opportunity for women. The company avoided accountability recently when the Supreme Court dismissed the class action status of Dukes v. Walmart, the largest sex discrimination case in history. And although (with much public relations fan-fare) Walmart just announced a “women friendly initiative,” the effort doesn’t address a core problem at Walmart: the way women who work there are treated.
Urge Walmart CEO Mike Duke to meet with OUR Walmart and national Women’s groups
Today, many national groups that advocate for women, including the National Organization for Women, National Women’s Law Center, and Family Values at Work, announced that they are joining Making Change at Walmart to stand with Walmart Associates working for respect from their company through the
Continue reading Call on Walmart’s CEO to Listen to Women
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