On August 20, 2011, over 500 long-term care workers, older adults, people with disabilities, family members, political leaders and broad array of activists packed San Francisco’s Mission High School for the regional launch of Caring Across Generations, a movement to create millions of new care jobs and protect the social safety net from budget cuts at a time when America’s long-term care needs are skyrocketing.

America’s “age wave” begins this year, with one adult turning 65 every eight seconds. Caring Across Generations meets this moment by aiming to protect what we have—Medicaid, Medicare, Social Security—while creating what we need: two million new care jobs, training and protection for workers, new paths to citizenship for immigrant workers, and measures to make care more affordable for struggling families.

The San Francisco Bay Area “Care Congress” was a lively grassroots town-hall meeting featuring speakers, video presentations, small and large group dialogue, dinner, and an evening cultural program.  The event was organized by a broad coalition of organizations representing care workers,

Continue reading San Francisco Holds Care Congress

Coalitions in cities targeted for new Walmart stores gathered and took strategic actions on April 21, 2011 to urge elected leaders to make sure Walmart’s desire to open or expand stores is rejected or met with enforcement of strong standards.

In cities across the United States, Walmart is seeking access to new markets and customers, spurring local and national debate for good reason. Local coalitions of community members, elected officials, religious leaders, small business owners and others are joining together and speaking out to voice their concern and ensure the jobs being offered by Walmart meet strong standards for healthy, growing communities.

Jobs with Justice is playing a key role in these coalitions, either coordinating or participating in a number of cities including:  Boston, New York, Washington DC, Chicago, Philadelphia and San Francisco.  Other cities where local coalitions held aligned events include:  Los Angeles, Seattle.  Here are some highlights:

In San Francisco:

Jobs with Justice joined together with a number of community organizations to publicly announce the formation

Continue reading Community coalitions in major cities tell elected officials to reject Walmart or impose strong standards

Members of Jobs with Justice San Francisco turned out in force to support UNITE HERE Local 2 hotel and restaurant workers as they took to the streets to demand a fair contract on July 22.  Prior to the rally at Local 2 Plaza in downtown San Francisco, community activists, clergy, and union members packed a civil disobedience training session at Local 2 headquarters.  There they reviewed plans to close the street in front of the Grand Hyatt in Union Square.

An hour later, as tourists stared in amazement and snapped photos, fifteen hundred people marched through the streets and converged on the Grand Hyatt, cheering and chanting in several languages in support of the hotel and restaurant workers.  The boisterous crowd reflected the diversity of San Francisco as youth from POWER (People Organized to Win Employment Rights), PODER (People Organizing to demand Environmental and Economic Rights), Chinese Progressive Association and Young Workers

Continue reading JwJ San Francisco Sits Down to Support Hotel Workers Rising