September 2009

People gathered at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in DC yesterday to protest a meeting of the Financial Services Roundtable (FSR), a lobbying group of the US’s top financial institutions.  Protestors staged a mock trial of the FSR to try them for their criminal use of taxpayer’s TARP money from last year’s bailout to enrich themselves instead of putting money back into the economy to help end the recession.

The Financial Services Roundtable is a group of 90 companies in the finance and insurance industry who received an estimated $213.8 billion in taxpayer funds as a part of the bail-out.  The FSR spent $43.9 million on lobbying from 2000-2008.  They have lobbied Congress to:

• oppose accountability for TARP recipients
• oppose solutions to the housing crisis
• oppose basic consumer protections
• oppose the Employee Free Choice Act

Thursday's protest and mock trial was organized by National JwJ, DC JwJ, and SEIU and included participants from the Teamsters, AFSCME, CWA, Americans for Financial Reform, and other union and community groups.

Cross-posted  from Common Dreams.org.

One year ago Jobs with Justice, a coalition of labor and community organizations, took to the streets to oppose the Bush Administration’s bailout of Wall Street’s banks and other financial institutions. We warned against transferring public money to private banks through Bush’s Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) without some level of public ownership and control.  But the TARP passed as is, entrusting the banks to put money back into the economy and help put the brakes on the recession. 

Instead, these corporate criminals stole our money. 

The banks said they needed taxpayer money to continue lending and to keep the economy running, yet they refuse to extend credit to viable companies like Hartmarx and Republic Windows and Doors.  They are forcing small businesses to close and costing thousands of workers their jobs.  Today, unemployment stands at 9.7%.

Mortgage lenders have failed to work with homeowners to curtail foreclosures, even those who qualify for refinancing.  Today, nearly 1 in 25 homes is in foreclosure.

Cross-posted from the Philadelphia JwJ Blog.

One of the main road blocks that workers face to exercising their rights on the job is the powerful and frightening coercive power that an employer has over an employee.

Imagine an election in which the party in power could force you to attend mandatory meetings to tell you why you should not vote for the other party. Imagine the party in power could also make you lose your job, and harass your neighbors who support the opposition party. The party in power could bring in professional campaigners (lawyers and anti-union consultants) to help them win their election. They were guaranteed access to the voters every day leading up to the election -- but the opposition party could only campaign in secret and when their volunteers happened to catch other voters at home. Let’s say that the party in power could also sit you down, all by yourself, and interrogate you to see how you intended on voting?

Sounds pretty intimidating, huh? Well these are the troubles that the security guards at the Philadelphia Museum of Art are bound to face in the next thirty days as they try to form a union.

Our Day of Action JUST started – we need your help!  Do your part to fight greedy CEOs and corporate lobbyists who are trying to kill the Employee Free Choice Act.

CALL TOLL-FREE at 1-888-318-1664
UPDATE:  The Capitol Switchboard is overwhelmed!  Follow this link to look up your Senator's direct line.
Tell your Senators to Support the Employee Free Choice Act.

Soaring health care costs. Foreclosures on the rise. An uncertain future. And now, a so-called "jobless recovery."

How did this happen?  For years, we tried trickle-down economics. And it was a miserable failure.  That's why hundreds of state leaders are in Washington DC TODAY, fighting for the Employee Free Choice Act – so workers can fix our economy from the bottom up. 

When more folks can negotiate for better wages, health care, and working conditions by joining a union, things get better for all of us. That's what this bill is all about.

A sampling of what Jobs with Justice coalitions worked on from August 22-September 7.

Security Guards at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, after repeated requests for a meeting, welcomed new director Timothy Rub with a rally on the steps of the museum.  On September 3rd, the guards filed a petition with the National Labor Relations Board to allow them  to unionize as members of the Philadelphia Security Officers Union, an independent union.