November 2011

Jobs with Justice is joining with its strategic ally, the Grassroots Global Justice Alliance (GGJ), in taking part in an important delegation of 16 people to attend the 17th Conference of Parties (COP 17) in Durban, South Africa, which GGJ is coordinating. The COP 17 is part of the United Nations Framework Convention for Climate Change (UNFCCC) negotiations.  As part of GGJ’s ongoing work for global well-being, the delegation will be participating in both inside negotiations and outside civil society activities to advance climate justice solutions that are real alternatives to the false solutions of REDDs, soil carbon, blue carbon and other carbon offset mechanisms that perpetuate the crisis of pollution.

The GGJ delegation is unique in that it is one of the only North American delegations made up of people from communities directly impacted by environmental racism and climate disruption. These delegates also represent communities at the frontlines of transformative change: they have been successfully organizing for decades to find solutions to the climate crisis -- through pollution reduction, clean energy policies, food sovereignty initiatives, mass transit investment, and more.

Did you know that Fund for the Arts monies continue to flow to the Louisville Orchestra while no musicians have been employed since May 2011?  Those funds have been used to fund the Louisville Orchestra in bankruptcy court an in an attempt to strip the musicians of the Orchestra of their jobs, provisions of their Contract, their positions and the unemployment compensation some have received since the Orchestra last produced a performance six (6) months ago.

The Louisville Orchestra is trying to impose making the jobs of all Orchestra musicians PART-TIME rather than FULL-TIME and cannibalizing our Musicians' bargaining unit by breaking the orchestra into three tiers, each with less employment and fewer benefits than the last.

Our Louisville Orchestra musicians provide Making Music concerts to every 4th and 5th grader in Jefferson County Public Schools and provide the highest quality symphonic music to our community.  We cannot teach our children that we accept the abuse and disrespect of any group of workers so that the elite 1% in our city can be entertained at the expense of human rights.

Do you give to the Fund for the Arts (directly or via check-off contributions)?  If so, request that your donation(s) be restricted from being given to the Louisville Orchestra until a settlement with a fairly negotiated and ratified Contract is reached with the Musicians by the Louisville Orchestra.

In a backdrop of police repression against Occupy encampments of the 99% in cities across the country, workers and community members are joining together on November 17th to say “Enough is enough, we need jobs and infrastructure—not cuts”.  Jobs with Justice coalitions are working with a number of allies including SEIU and the Fight for a Fair Economy to organize actions at bridges and public buildings nationwide to demonstrate the need for repair and the jobs needed to do it.  The Obama Administration is pushing the American Jobs Act, which many see as an initial step in meeting these over all needs.  The recent police attacks against Occupy Wall Street and Occupy protestors across the country adds fuel to the fire of these mobilizations, with the Occupy Movement of the 99% taking the day as their own in a serious way.

This latest series of demonstrations could not have come at a more charged time.  In the early morning hours of November 15th, the NYPD raided Occupy Wall Street’s encampment at Zuccotti Park in an attempt to remove protestors once and for all.  Though these actions by police have been temporarily thwarted, similar raids are happening or have happened in Portland, Oakland, Atlanta and Nashville in the last 3 weeks.  Throughout, Jobs with Justice and many in organized labor have stepped-up their solidarity and support of both the occupiers but also the overall demand for jobs, not cuts.

On November 11th, Alice Walton—one of the heirs of the Walmart throne opened the Crystal Bridges Museum in Bentonville Arkansas. The project cost the Walton Family Foundation a whopping $1.2 billion, and was launched hardly weeks after slashing the healthcare of hundreds of thousands of Walmart workers.

In response, members of the Organization United for Respect at Walmart joined protestors at various Occupy encampments around the country to tell their story as members of the 99% and placing the Waltons squarely within the 1%.

This wasn’t hard to do. The Waltons are the richest family in the United States, representing 4 of the 11 wealthiest people in the country. This family could give nearly $5,000 to every resident of New York and still have $1 billion left over.

Although members of OUR Walmart were not able to get back to Bentonville to reach those who gathered for the museum opening, participants in the newly launched “Occupy Bentonville” were present with leaflets and signs. They mobilized in front of Sam Walton’s original five and dime to show that there is opposition to the company’s practices even in their own backyard.

Statistics released today by the US Department of Labor show the nation's unemployment rate "little changed" at 9%.  Atlanta's high unemployment rate (10.3% in September) has remained static for a year, and Georgia's has exceeded the national rate for 50 months in a row.  A recent report back the Department of Census found that Atlanta had the greatest gap between rich and poor of any major city.  The Congressional Budget Office reports that between 1979-2007, the super-rich--those in the top 1% of wage earners--saw their after-tax incomes nearly quadruple while those in the bottom 20% saw their wages remain relatively flat during that nearly 30-year period.

"This is the real crisis our country and our city are facing," said Charmaine Davis, organizing director and co-chair of Atlanta Jobs with Justice.  "We are indebted to the Occupy Wall Street and Occupy Atlanta movements for raising public awareness of the shocking inequality in our society, greater than at any time since 1928, and the unemployment crisis that is robbing families of their homes, livelihoods and hope for the future."