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By jwjnational, on September 9th, 2011
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. People are struggling and workers are angry and frustrated. Too many people cannot find good jobs and too many jobs don’t pay enough to support a family. Workers and communities are being divided as immigrant workers and public employees are scapegoated and blamed for the economic crisis caused by unregulated corporate greed.
At Jobs with Justice, we know that good jobs are the cornerstone of strong, healthy, happy communities. A good job is 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.
Last year, one in five American adults worked in jobs that paid poverty-level wages. Right now, not only are there are not enough jobs to go around, there are not enough of the good jobs we need to get our economy going again.
Last night, President Obama laid out a plan that he hopes
Continue reading The Fight for Good Jobs
By jwjnational, on January 21st, 2010
During his election victory speech Obama said, “This victory alone is not the change we seek — it is only the chance for us to make that change. And that cannot happen if we go back to the way things were. It cannot happen without you.”
Over the last year there have been some steps forward in the struggle to build a more just society, and unfortunately some missteps along the way. Corporate interests are manipulating frustrations over lack of progress in fixing health care, the economy, labor law, Wall Street and the financial sector. Wall Street and the Chamber of Commerce are attempting to deflect their own responsibility for the economic crisis and use grassroots anger to block the very reforms we need for a new economy.
This last year has served as an important reminder that it takes a movement to make real change. The transformation of our country will not come from Capitol Hill, but from people like us taking action to demand change.
We have the opportunity to create positive change for working people in this country. We know that the road to a
Continue reading Change Cannot Happen Without You.
By Elce Redmond, on December 4th, 2009
On December 3rd, unemployed workers and their supporters who are angered about the lack of public funding to address the continued economic assault of unemeployment and underemployment on communities of color, people with disabilities, and youth, held a “Jobless Summit” in Chicago to discuss innvovative strategies to put people back to work. The summit was in direct response to the “Jobs Summit” called by President Obama. While we applauded the President’s effort, we were concerned about the fact that the voices of the communities most affected by the crisis were ot invited to the table.
The “Jobless Summit” brought together a broad based sector that included unemployed workers, union representatives, economists, religious leaders, and people with disabilities who outlined specific recommendations to increase employment, including a National Jobs Program that puts the most vulnerable members of our communities back to work.
Aronzo Davis, an unemployed worker, said:
This Summit was the first step of a long-term organizing campaign to win a National Jobs Program. The epidemic of joblessness in the African-American community has become a social catastrophe. Unless something is done soon, I’m afraid our nation will head down a long road of endless violence. But we want to create vibrant communities, not desolate ghettos. We need
Continue reading Unemployed Workers Hold Jobless Summit
By jwjnational, on December 2nd, 2009
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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