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To read mainstream media’s celebration of official unemployment rate dropping from 8.9% to 8.8%, you wouldn’t know that the jobs deficit remains dire for millions of Americans (not coincidentally, corporate profits are going through the roof). Let’s look through the hoopla: 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 Continue reading Jobless, Not Voiceless: Labor and Community Unite to Organize Unemployed On the eve of Obama’s “Jobs Summit”, the picture of employment in this country is bleak. Unemployment is at crisis levels: 10.2% unemployment, six job-seekers for every opening, 27 million Americans that need full-time work. This comes as no big surprise. Jobs with Justice coalitions have been mobilizing for an economic recovery and working with partners to develop a national jobs plan. “It’s past time to get millions of people back to work with a national jobs program that puts people to work,” said Sarita Gupta, Executive Director of Jobs with Justice, “but to solve the economic crisis we must create not just jobs, but good jobs that allow workers and their families to lead healthy, stable lives.” For decades, the economic policies of the United States government have led to a hemorrhaging of the good-paying jobs that built our middle-class. More and more people are working at lower-paying jobs with fewer benefits. Today, we find ourselves living in a country where one in 10 homes is in foreclosure. One in eight people - 40% of whom are in working families - must rely on food stamps. One in six have no health insurance. Unchecked corporate greed has put workers in a bind, forcing Continue reading The Jobs Crisis is About More than Unemployment |
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