Originally appeared in the July 26th edition of the Louisville Courier-Journal.

Are you unemployed? Are you receiving unemployment compensation? Are you about to lose your unemployment benefits? Do you care about people who are unemployed?

If your answer to any of these questions is yes, then you most certainly will want to join Kentucky Jobs with Justice on Sept. 15, along with allies from organized labor, community groups, faith leaders, student activists and progressive elected officials, as we hold a day of direct action on full and fair employment.

This day of direct action stems from energy generated at the July 7 march and rally in downtown Louisville at Sen. Mitch McConnell’s office and the U.S. Social Forum, which drew over 25,000 national activists to Detroit (including more than 125 from Kentucky) for issue awareness and massive networking to solve social ills on the principle of: “Another world is possible, another U.S. is necessary.”

A month before the Sept. 15 day of direct action, we will begin building relationships with individuals who are directly impacted by the jobs crisis by visiting

Continue reading Kentucky JwJ Challenges Community to Call for Full Employment

The main purpose of social media is to make it easier for people to stay connected with family and friends around the world.  Websites such as Facebook, Twitter, and Youtube have created a space where people can share pictures, videos, and generally keep in touch.  In recent years, organizations have been finding new ways to utilize these social mediums to spread their message and reach more people.

At the US Social Forum, the workshop “Social Networking for Social Justice”, facilitated by  Attica Scott of Kentucky JwJ and Shameka Parrish-Wright of Kentuckians for the Commonwealth, illustrated some of the ways that social media can aid in the fight for social justice.

For social justice organizations, one of the main advantages of using social networking to spread a message or further a movement is that it’s FREE.  Social media is like free advertising – you can say all that you need to say and reach so many people without having to pay a dime.  Another advantage to using social media is that you can present your message in a fun interactive way, and in ways that

Continue reading Social Networking for Social Justice at the US Social Forum

Yesterday was an exciting day of education and action at the U.S. Social Forum! 

JwJ coalitions convened and spoke at a variety of workshops, including: Uncovering the Truth on Police & ICE Collaborations (DC JwJ), Social Networking for Social Justice (KY JwJ), Writers’ Circle (Missouri JwJ), The Impact of Financial Restructuring on Michigan Workers and the Union Response (SE Michigan JwJ), Good Jobs for All:  Winning Full and Fair Employment for a New Economy (National JwJ), and The TRADE Act as a Tool for Global Justice (Southern Oregon JwJ). 

Jobs with Justice members participated in the Excluded Workers Congress People’s Movement Assembly which focused on how we can expand workers’ rights to organize.  We heard inspiring testimony from a variety of workers who are fighting for their rights on the job (stay tuned for more on this, including video).

In the evening, JwJ co-sponsored a march and rally with AFSCME Council 65 and the Metro Detroit AFL-CIO to demand, “Money for JOBS, not Banks!”

What an amazing day!

Jobs with Justice held an orientation session for local coalition folks early in the day and then got on buses to meet up with local labor activists for the USSF opening march. 

JwJ joined the march with the other members of the Inter-Alliance dialogue more than 10,o00 people for a lively march through downtown Detroit and then convened at Cobo Hall for the USSF opening ceremonies. 

Check out our photo album from the march here.

 Tonight JwJ held a meeting of our local coalition leaders to discuss our ongoing jobs campaign.  We had a rich discussion about the depth of the jobs emergency and possible approaches for how to address it, including challenging the corporate- funded scare tactics about the deficit that are distracting us from the reality of the jobs crisis.   We came away from the meeting with renewed dedication to a more coordinated strategy to challenge the right wing agenda and win good jobs for all.

Kentucky Jobs with Justice will be joining more than 10 other social justice organizations on two charter buses to Detroit to take part in the US Social Forum.  Here is a snippet from the USSF Web site:

The US Social Forum (USSF) is a movement building process. It is not a conference but it is a space to come up with the peoples’ solutions to the economic and ecological crisis. The USSF   is the next most important step in our struggle to build a powerful multi-racial, multi-sector, inter-generational, diverse, inclusive, internationalist movement that transforms this country and changes history.

The USSF provides spaces to learn from each other’s experiences and struggles, share our analysis of the problems our communities face, build relationships, and align with our international brothers and sisters to strategize how to reclaim our world.

The first US Social Forum was held in Atlanta in 2007 with KY JwJ taking over 40 delegates.  KY JwJ hosted the first Kentucky Social Forum in 2009

Continue reading Kentucky Jobs with Justice is Taking 100 Activists to the USSF in Detroit!

The U.S. Social Forum is one month away!

From June 22-27, more than 10,000 activists representing thousands of grassroots organizations will converge in Detroit for the 2nd US Social Forum (USSF).  The purpose of the USSF is to effectively and affirmatively articulate the values and strategies of a growing and vibrant movement for justice in the United States.

Are you a local Jobs with Justice activist who is coming to the US Social Forum?

PLEASE LET US KNOW!

We want to invite you to our orientation session on June 22 where you can connect with other JwJ activists from across the country, find out about workshops and other program we are planning, & get an awesome t-shirt to wear as you walk with us during the USSF’s opening march.

Jobs with Justice is very excited about the program that is shaping up for this year’s USSF.  Labor is playing a large role in this year’s USSF, with the AFL-CIO, AFGE, AFSCME, UAW, UFCW, USW,

Continue reading Join Jobs with Justice at the U.S. Social Forum June 22-25 in Detroit

This June, 20,000+ grassroots activists from hundreds of community-based social justice and social action organizations will gather in Detroit to come up with the peoples’ solutions to the economic and ecological crisis. The 2010 U.S. Social Forum (USSF) will gather social & economic justice organizers, environmentalists, peace & justice activists, community-based organizations, Indigenous nations, unions, and students to address the key issues of our time.

The U.S. Social Forum grew out of a worldwide movement - the World Social Forum – that was in part inspired by the 1999 demonstrations against the World Trade Organization (WTO) in Seattle.  In 2007, more than 10,000 activists (including 350+ JwJ activists) gathered in Atlanta for the first U.S. Social Forum.

The USSF is more than just a conference or event.  It’s a way to build opposition to the corporate agenda, and create an alternative vision and direction for our country.  Through workshops, presentations,

Continue reading Join us at the U.S. Social Forum this June

A new year is here.  Usually this means new resolutions, new hopes, and new goals are being set. Some things, however, are hard to shake off.  Take for example the great recession and jobs crisis.  Today the official numbers came out, and they’re a sad reminder that 2010 is going to be a bumpy ride.

From the AP:

Lack of confidence…led employers to shed a more-than-expected 85,000 jobs in December… The unemployment rate held at 10 percent. The rate would have been higher if more people had been looking for work instead of leaving the labor force because they can’t find jobs.

The sharp drop in the work force – 661,000 fewer people – showed that more of the jobless are giving up on their search for work. Once people stop looking for jobs, they are no longer counted among the unemployed.

For reasons unknown to me, media outlets are writing about something relevant and covering one of the biggest issues affecting the nation – the lack of jobs.  Not only are they covering jobs, they’re writing

Continue reading New Year, Same Problem. Young Workers Can Overcome the Recession and Jobs Crisis

The G-20 meeting is over, the military got to showcase its new toys, and the city of Pittsburgh can once again enjoy its civil liberties after having surrendered them to “the guest with an iron fist.” (for more on how local folks saw the G-20, check out these cartoons in the local paper)

To say that the things that happened in Pittsburgh were, as President Obama said in the lead up to the G-20, “protests about abstractions [such] as global capitalism” and that those protests were “not really going to make much of a difference” would be missing the real story about what took place in Pittsburgh and where “the movement” is going.

Jobs with Justice worked with local and national groups to plan three events as part of activities inserting “People’s Voices” into the discussion during the

Continue reading Reflections From the G-20. What Happened? Where Are We Going?