Jobs with Justice is in the running to win a free booth in the exhibit hall at the annual Netroots Nation convention this summer. The top three vote-getters in this online contest will automatically get a booth in the Hall AND two registrations to the conference.
Scroll down to Jobs with Justice and click the “like” button (you must be logged into Facebook to vote)
Netroots Nation’s goal is to amplify progressive voices by providing an online and in-person campus for exchanging ideas and learning how to be more effective in using technology to influence the public debate. The annual Netroots Nation convention inspires action and serves as an incubator for ideas that challenge the status quo and ultimately affect change in the public sphere.
By participating in Netroots Nation, Jobs with Justice hopes to build awareness of our organization among progressive activists and bloggers, build relationships with participants, and take advantage of the many trainings and workshops available to convention participants.
A majority of the employees who work as Red Cross collection specialists and technicians in Atlanta have voted to join the Teamsters Union. This will be the first time a union will represent the 51 workers employed at seven sites throughout Atlanta.
“We had many strong supporters here for Teamster representation.” said Karen Moore, a five-year collection specialist for Red Cross. “It was really good to see everyone so happy after the vote.” Friday’s vote was 36-14.
This union’s organizing victory marks the third such victory in the south in the last three months. In early and mid-October, employees in Charlotte and Wilmington, North Carolina also voted for Teamster representation.
“All of these Red Cross employees demonstrated their unity with the Teamsters by wearing buttons and signing petitions,” said Ben Speight, organizer for Teamsters Local 728 in Atlanta.
“This victory came despite management hiring a very anti-union law firm that conducted numerous captive-audience meetings. Red Cross even promised they would give a flat-screen TV away to the first person who could answer the most questions correctly on an anti-union questionnaire.”
Teamsters Local 728 and the Atlanta Red Cross workers are looking forward to beginning negotiations for a strong Teamster
The holiday season is fast approaching, and around here that means one thing: it’s time for our annual “Scrooge of the Year” election!
Starting today, Jobs with Justice national is accepting nominations for the greediest, most cold-hearted company, CEO, or politician of the year for our eleventh annual “Scrooge of the Year” election.
Last year’s Scrooge of the Year was the U.S. Chamber of Commerce for their narrow, radical agenda advocating for anti-worker, profit-focused solutions to the broken health care, labor, and environmental systems. Other past winners of this dubious honor include: WalMart, George W. Bush, and the Wall Street executives who broke our economy.
We’ll pick the top nominees and start the national Scrooge of the Year election shortly after Thanksgiving. Be on the lookout for the start of the national election and keep an eye on your inbox to see if your local Jobs with Justice coalition is planning a party to elect a local Scrooge.
This November 2nd, young people, workers, and communities of color have the power to help define the direction of our nation with their votes. The Hip Hop Caucus and American Rights at Work have teamed up for a video and photo campaign targeted at young voters: Respect My Vote!
The video features women of color in the labor movement talking about why it is so important for young people to vote and get involved in making progressive change. Sarita Gupta, Executive Director of Jobs with Justice, said, “the face of workers is changing. The notion of work is changing. We need young people to be engaged in helping define what the new standards are out there and what we need to be fighting for.”
Also featured in the video are Jobs with Justice National Board members Esther Lopez of the UFCW and Ana Avendano of the AFL-CIO.
Watch the video below and check out the photos and more from the campaign. And don’t forget to vote on November 2nd!
Unemployment benefits expired for 2.5 million long-term jobless back in May. Since then, the Senate has almost restored unemployment benefits three times, but each time Republicans have blocked the votes with procedural delays.
Tomorrow, the unemployment benefits extension is expected to come to a vote. Tell your Senators not to fall for GOP scare-tactics about the budget deficit — or their offensive assertions that the unemployed are “spoiled” brats who are just “sitting there” collecting unemployment benefits.
One job for every five people looking for work is a jobless emergency, and we need emergency action now!
Faced with yet more blood-letting of public services, Oregon voters chose a different treatment: Tax those most able to pay. It’s given union activists hope that relentless organizing can settle bulging state deficits by targeting recipients of the bubble economy’s billions, not public services and public workers. By 54 percent, they passed new taxes on the wealthiest 3 percent of the state’s residents and on corporations in a special election in late January. The vote preserved funding levels for schools, critical human services, and public safety statewide. It’s also given union activists nationwide hope that relentless organizing can turn the media fascination with the anti-tax Tea Party on its head and settle bulging state deficits by taking money from recipients of the bubble economy’s billions instead of public services and public workers. The tax boosts should cover a $727 million hole in the state budget-although the latest revenue estimates forecast deeper shortfalls. Oregon’s budget situation has been critical for many years. One of five states without a sales tax, Oregon has relied on an essentially flat personal income tax and limited property taxes. Lacking the ability to create a “rainy day” fund, Oregon has been hit by the recession especially hard. Unemployment hovers above 12 percent. After cutting $2 billion from services last year, Democrats, who had enough of a majority to pass revenue measures, enacted two measures to plug the remaining budget gap. But most business groups opposed the tax increases, so business sent out paid signature gatherers, who collected enough to refer both measures to the voters. The Yes for Oregon campaign was based in many organizations that have worked together over the years, most recently in the 2008 election to fight off anti-union, anti-tax, and anti-immigrant ballot measures. Key funders and strategists included the Service Employees (SEIU), the Oregon Education Association, AFSCME, AARP, Our Oregon, Stand for Children, and the Oregon Health Care Association. The state AFL-CIO was an important source of volunteers and funds. Staff from many coalition partners were loaned to the campaign and provided its leadership. The campaign built a coalition of 250 groups statewide, including all five Jobs with Justice chapters. “There was an amazing willingness from the average citizen to say, ‘I’ve got skin in this game and I’ve got to get involved,’” said Timothy Welp, a 15-year member of SEIU Local 503 now organizing for the local. Beginning in the summer, all the coalition partners signed their members up on a “vote yes” pledge and started to focus their persuasion on undecided voters. Polling showed that we began the campaign with a solid majority of the voters. The challenge was to keep them in the face of what the Yes campaigners knew would be a well-funded, slick, and dishonest “vote no” drive. The state’s minimum corporate tax had been $10 since 1931, making the need to increase corporate taxes an easy sell that appealed to voter anger at corporate greed and corruption and the federal bailout. Business groups reported raising $4.6 million for their group, Oregonians Against Job-Killing Taxes, but the Yes campaign, largely bankrolled by public employee unions, raised $6.9 million. Most newspapers editorialized against the measures. Portland’s influential Oregonian sold the No campaign wrapper advertising, so in the days before the election the front of the paper advertised its “vote no” position. TV ads from the no side were misleading but effective, implying that the taxes would affect middle-class Oregonians. Oregon votes only by mail, stretching the get-out-the-vote push for weeks. We thought as we went into the last two weeks that it was very close and knew that turnout would determine the outcome. Thousands of people phone-banked and canvassed during the final push. Volunteers at SEIU Local 503 made so many calls that phone service crashed throughout the neighborhood. In total, Yes campaigners made more than a million phone calls at locations around the state. We knocked on 300,000 doors-nearly one-fifth of registered voters in the state. Jobs with Justice had a small piece: recruiting volunteers, getting faith leaders on board, creating our own JwJ voters pamphlet statement, and helping pull together a rally in the campaign’s closing days. The backbone of the volunteer base was the public employee unions. ANGER AT BUSINESS It was very clear as we went door to door that the business message was not resonating with working people this time. People are angry about corporations and the $10 minimum tax struck most people as ludicrous. “Oregon has had decades of anti-tax rhetoric, but at some point people are pushed to the wall,” Welp said. “Working folk have been squeezed so hard here. They’re tired of getting squeezed.” The “vote no” message combined the two ballot measures and hit several themes, many of them false: a bad recession was the wrong time to raise taxes; 70,000 Oregon jobs would be lost; businesses would close or raise prices; public employees got a big raise. Oregonians Against Job Killing Taxes argued that many of the households making over $250,000 were really single proprietorships who filed taxes as individuals. Their message was complicated: for some corporations, the tax would be on sales, not profits. We said that both taxes were modest and affordable and that enacting them would save critical services we all depend upon. No polling has surfaced, but it seems clear that majorities of people voted their class interest. The keys to victory were the smart strategy, the broad coalition, the incredible number of volunteers, and the breadth of the field campaign. There is much more to do to stabilize the state’s finances, even with the new taxes. Their passage, the first tax increase in Oregon since the 1930s, was a historic step toward fairness-although many Oregonians agree that our tax structure needs more change to make it stable and fair. ——— Margaret Butler is the director of Portland Jobs with Justice.
Each year, national Jobs with Justice gives an “award” to the greediest, most cold-hearted company or person of the year. Past winners of this dubious honor include: Wal-Mart, George W. Bush, and Goodyear Tire & Rubber. Jobs with Justice National is now accepting nominations for the 2009 “Scrooge of the Year” contest. We are collecting nominations this week and will start the election on December 7th.
Families across the state of Oregon will be gathering over this holiday season to share updates, latest news, gossip and whose side are you on in the upcoming greatest civil war football game between the Oregon Ducks and the Oregon State Beavers. (For full disclosure, Go DUCKS!)
On many people’s minds, but less talked about, are our worries. Jobs security, health care cost, and our family’s future. In January, in a special election, Oregonians will decide on two very important ballot initiatives, measures 66 and 67 which would fund vital services, preserve jobs, and safeguard working families from this recession. Measures 66 and 67 would increase the corporate minimum tax from $10 – which has not been changed since 1931 – to $150. Two out of three corporations pay just $10 a year in income tax. Just $10!
Oregon’s five Jobs with Justice Coalitions recognized the importance of the upcoming election for working families and the communities and collectively worked on a statement for the upcoming voter guide. JwJ encourage Oregonians to talk to family, friends, neighbors, and co-workers about the need for to pass measures 66 and 67 in January. So, get a second or third
Jobs with Justice is in the running to win a free booth in the exhibit hall at the annual Netroots Nation convention this summer. The top three vote-getters in this online contest will automatically get a booth in the Hall AND two registrations to the conference.
