March 2010

The AFL-CIO and Jobs with Justice went another round against big banks this week.

Jobs with Justice mobilized this week with the AFL-CIO’s “Make Wall Street Pay” week of action.  Building on our week of action to save jobs earlier this month, JwJ Coalitions participated in actions in at least 12 cities this week.  Some 200 actions are reported nationwide, and the profile of these actions is rising as well, as this week’s New York Times article illustrates.

In Washington, DC the Billionaires for Bailouts asked lunchtime passersby to spare a few million dollars for their bonuses.   Actions are escalating in several cities as anger mounts against CEO pay and consumer gouging.  Over 1,000 people rallied at a Bank of America branch in Philadelphia, with 50 entering the bank and disrupting business.  In Orlando, nearly 100 blocked the Bank of America branch, and 12 withdrew their money from the bank. 

Students at Eckerd College in St. Petersburg, FL held an all day rally on campus fighting for workers rights and student representation. They started at 8:00 AM and did not finish with everything until Midnight. The goal of the event was to raise student awareness about their own power and raise the awareness about low-wage workers on Eckerd’s campus (housekeeping, groundswork, maintenance, etc.). Throughout the day, students made signs, spoke with workers, other students, and the administration about their call for a living wage. Collaboration between other clubs provided creative and interesting ways for students to actively participate in the struggle for a living wage. Everything from planting seeds with the student run community garden to making and bagging sandwiches for the homeless of St. Petersburg happened throughout the day. The day ended with a vigil for women’s rights around the world and in the Eckerd Community, as most low-wage workers at Eckerd College are women.

Over 200 labor and community supporters turned out for a rally in at the Shaw's Supermarket in Dorchester to support striking warehouse workers at the company's Methuen Distribution Center.

Over 300 members of UFCW Local 791 voted overwhelmingly to reject the company's final contract offer and have now been on strike since March 7th.

The company's substandard wage proposals combined with its demand for increased employee health care contributions would result in a net loss of income for workers during the term of the proposed contract.

The company's final offer would also allow for the use of outside agencies to perform work at the facility, costing union jobs.

In addition to Massachusetts Jobs with Justice, the rally was sponsored by UFCW Local 791, the Massachusetts AFL-CIO and the Greater Boston Labor Council.

Don't shop at Shaw's until it respects its workers and reaches an agreement that preserves good jobs with decent wages and benefits!

June 22 – June 26 in Detroit, MI
Another World is Possible!

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 fight for keeping and creating jobs grew stronger in Florida this past week.  Central Florida Jobs with Justice mobilized for a rally, organized by the Space Coast AFL-CIO and Florida state AFL-CIO, that brought over 2,000 people from across the state to say “Save Our Space”!  Workers and their families traveled to the space coast from Miami, Pensacola, Jacksonville and all points in between to join business and community leaders to rally in support of continued federal funding of this vital economic driver for Florida’s future.  The rally featured National AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka and other leaders from the American labor movement who used this dire situation as a backdrop to launch a national jobs campaign that would create 10 million American jobs.

Recent budget proposals working their way through Congress all but eliminate funding for NASA’s human spaceflight operations in Florida. Space operations have long been one of Florida’s most important economic sectors, supporting tens of thousands of good jobs and providing the economic cornerstone for many communities across the state. The loss of funding would eliminate tens of thousands of jobs, decimate many communities, and send shock waves across the state this at a time when Florida is facing the greatest unemployment and economic crisis in recent memory.