February 2010

Jobs! Jobs! Jobs! March 1-7: National Week of Action to save and create jobs

Submitted by JwJNational on February 24, 2010

People across the country are angry - for good reason.  Corporate greed and Wall Street recklessness drove our economy into a crisis.  Sky high unemployment has created a state of emergency - but political leaders in Washington D.C.  have not yet offered a real solution to this crisis, while Wall Street and corporate executives are trying to block a recovery for the rest of us and go back to business as usual.

In this environment, corporate flacks have been able to manipulate grassroots frustration, deflect it from the real causes of the crisis and shift the main stream discussion from the emergency of joblessness to a phony concern for the budget deficit (about which they said nothing while bailing out Wall Street or invading Iraq).

JwJ and our partners will not allow our anger to be deflected from the real causes of this crisis:  corporate greed that has been putting the squeeze on workers for decades, through globalization, privatization and the free-for-all deregulation of Wall Street.

Oregon Unions Save Services, Tapping Voter Anger to Tax Wealthy

Submitted by Margaret Butler on February 24, 2010

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.

Salt Lake’s “Climate of Change” conference infused with spirit of Joe Hill

Submitted by rand wilson on February 18, 2010

A diverse group of trade unionists, environmentalists, academics and social justice activists gathered at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City for the third annual “Climate of Change” conference.

Conference organizers – The Healthy Planet Mobilization Committee* – kicked it off with a well attended press conference on Friday night featuring dozens of scientists, climate experts and the former Mayor of Salt Lake City. All the speakers took a strong public stand against a resolution adopted by the Utah House of Representatives earlier this month that rejected scientific evidence of global warming, criticized federal efforts to deal with it, and called for the state to abstain from regional collaboration to reduce carbon emissions. The press event was well covered by the local media.

On Saturday morning, former CWA Rep. and well-known author Steve Early and I opened up the conference with a workshop on reviving the labor movement and building labor – community coalitions. The roughly sixty participants were drawn from a great mix of local union leaders and staffers, rank-and-file activists, students, faculty members, and longtime Salt Lake City progressives. There was a lively exchange on topics like labor-environmental coalitions, based on the emerging Blue Green Alliance model, supported by the United Steelworkers Union. (More info at www.bluegreenalliance.org.)

Flash Mob at DC Auto Show Targets Chrysler

Submitted by JwJNational on February 12, 2010

On January 30, 2010, consumers and union members performed a hilarious flash mob dance at the Washington, DC auto show to protest Fiat/Chrysler's broken promises.

The $14 billion taxpayer bailout of Chrysler was meant to help save good jobs.  Instead, Chrysler is threatening to throw professional auto delivery drivers onto the unemployment lines and replace them with less experienced independent contractors and "alternative" carriers, some of which are using flat bed trucks or other transporters that are not designed to protect cars over long distances.   More than 5,000 jobs are at stake.

You can help the Teamsters and their consumer allies to end Chrysler's dangerous new transportation policy in three ways:

RI JwJ Demands Justice for Gillette Stadium Workers Ambushed by ICE

Submitted by Camilo Viveiros on February 12, 2010

Members of community, labor, religious and student organizations gathered on February 11th to hear from and support workers facing exploitation at the hands of Gillette stadium's contractor and the outrageous tactics by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in ambushing  dozens of immigrant workers.

Earlier this year ICE detained 58 workers who were on their way to work at Gillette Stadium at a roadblock in Foxboro.  The workers were hired to shovel snow from the stadium seats in preparation for a New England Patriots game.  These hardworking Rhode Islanders now face deportation.

This ICE attack is the most high-profile act by ICE against Rhode Islanders since the raids at six RI courthouses in 2008.  It is the largest number of Rhode Islanders detained by ICE since the 2007 raid at the Bianco Factory in New Bedford.

While ICE and the Department of Homeland Security have tried to claim that the raid was directed toward people with criminal records, the vast majority of people arrested had no record whatsoever, and were unknown to ICE at the time of their arrest.  According to Juan Garcia of the Immigrants in Action Committee, “This action shows that ICE is not focused on going after people with records – they continue to go after large groups of people just for being immigrants.”

Camilo Viveiros of RI Jobs with Justice said:

Central Florida Townhall and Call to Action on the Economic Crisis

Submitted by Denise Diaz on February 11, 2010

As President Obama announced in Tampa that High Speed rail jobs were coming to Orlando, local community and labor activists came together to understand the uphill battle for workers accessing these jobs.   Central Florida Jobs with Justice along with the Central Florida AFL-CIO hosted a townhall to discuss how this economic crisis will impact the city’s outlook for jobs.

With over 40 people in attendance, people heard passages from the study Battered by the Storm: How the Safety Net is failing Americans and How to fix it which shows the severity of families quickly falling into poverty.  We also heard from the report Beyond the Quick Fix: ARRA Contracting, Jobs and building a fair recovery that highlighted the lack or transparency and impact of Stimulus dollars on communities of color and low income.

Hugo Boss Threatens to Move Overseas if Workers Refuse $4/Hr Pay Cut

Submitted by Debbie Kline on February 3, 2010

Clevelanders Protest the Closing of Hugo BossIt wasn’t very long ago that every time you looked at a clothing label you would see “Made in the USA.”  Not only was it made in the USA but it probably also had some sort of connection to a thriving garment industry in the Cleveland area.  Names like Joseph & Feiss Co, Bobbie Brooks, Printz-Biederman, Lion Knitting Mills, and Cleveland Worsted Mill dominated the industry and union cards kept people gainfully employed.

But this good thing has come to an end.  Now Hugo Boss, the last clothing manufacturer in Cleveland, has given notice of their intent to shutter their plant and permanently lay off 400 workers at the end of April.

Hugo is closing because they want to ship the jobs to a plant in Turkey where they can pay much less than the average current rate of $12 per hour they pay Cleveland employees.

Hugo management offered to stay if the employees were willing to cut pay to $8 an hour.

Maybe there should be a new rule—no more pay cuts anywhere unless and until management actually lives on what they are asking the workers to live on for at least a year.

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Jobs with Justice is a national network of local coalitions that bring together labor unions, faith groups, community organizations, and student activists to fight for working people. Our members are in the streets in 46 cities in 24 states across the country.

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