Jobs With Justice

When word came down that the USPS had slated to close 5 post offices in the Orlando area, Central Florida JwJ teamed up with APWU 1462 to build community pressure against the closures. Central Florida JwJ set up a 6 week mobilization plan to engage their member organizations, residents, and the media to pressure elected officials and the USPS to keep these post offices open.

JwJ mobilized their member organizations and residents to send letters and emails to their Congressperson.  Every Friday, JwJ activists and postal workers collected signatures in front of a one of the 5 set to be closed post office. Local press was invited to cover these events every week, and the story got bigger every time.

On December 14th, the USPS announced that 4 of the 5 post offices slated to close in Orlando were removed from the closing list! This is a great win for the affected communities and the workers.  More than 100 jobs were saved in Orlando, and more importantly essential services were saved for thousands of people.  It these concrete victories that lead to greater wins together in the end!

Fran Ansley and I have been involved with the JwJ network since 1995 when our local Central Labor Council invited us to help organize our local East Tennessee JwJ. For the past several years, we have made a monthly automatic contribution to both the Jobs with Justice Education Fund (national JwJ) and to our local JwJ coalition, JwJ of East Tennessee.

Early on, we got to witness the power and significance of union/community solidarity in the Mineworkers’ strike against Pittston Coal Company in the hollows and on the ridges of Southern Appalachia.  We saw what the union and its members meant to the community and what the community, its churches and civic organizations brought to the struggle for labor justice and workers’ rights.  To win that fight, it took national and even international support, and I think most fundamentally, the shoulder-to-shoulder daily support of neighbors, pastors, and local community organizations.  Across the board Solidarity of material support and mutual reinforcement was necessary to win.  We have seen those lessons multiplied in years since.

Editor's Note:  In October, Jobs with Justice released a report warning about the working conditions at the American Red Cross and the safety of its blood supply.

December 10- One week ago, more than 100 frontline blood collection workers employed by the American Red Cross and members of Teamsters Local 929 went on strike to educate the public about working conditions in the Pennsylvania-New Jersey area that could potentially put the region's blood supply at risk.

These blood collection workers often work 14 hours a day, up to twenty one days in a row, driving to and from blood drives, unloading and loading heavy equipment, labeling blood donations, assuring the safe disposal of used needles, packaging blood, and transporting it for processing and testing.  Workers are standing strong in Philadelphia, expanding picket lines around the city, and getting the word out about the Red Cross. 

You can send a message to the Red Cross supporting these workers here:  TAKE ACTION

Sean Rudolph works for the International Brotherhood of  Teamsters.

As the semester winds down and students retreat to their classrooms and studies, is a good time to reflect on the struggles that young people are facing and our willingness to fight back and demand a real change in the system that will protect young people in this fragile economy.

Last week AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Liz Shuler posted a blog on the Huffington Post about the dire situation of young workers and the AFL-CIO's proposed five point initial steps to support workers in this economy.  In these steps, you can see the immediate connection to the current work that students nationwide are engaged in against budget cuts and layoffs.  Two points in the AFL-CIO's plan for addressing the jobs crisis speak directly to the needs and demands that we have been pushing for in the student movement. 

Rebuild America's schools, roads and energy systems and invest in green technology and green jobs. Increase aid to state and local governments to maintain vital services.

It is not surprising that the labor movement and the student movement see the same problems and solutions.  We share the need to fight back against the corporatization of our lives and for a real change in the current economic system we live in.