jobs

This week, the Labor Movement and allies are calling for a week of action October 10-16 to create and keep good jobs. To learn more about the America Wants to Work campaign demands, check out the 6 pillars to create & keep good jobs.

Many Jobs with Justice coalitions are organizing actions this week at Verizon Wireless and Apple stores to support CWA & IBEW members bargaining with Verizon.  The Student Labor Action Project is leading a National Day of Action October 14 in the fight for full and fair employment as students take action to support workers at Verizon.  Others are coordinating efforts with local “occupy” protests, and putting pressure on members of the so-called “super-committee” to let them know we can’t balance the budget on the backs of working people.

Click here to find an America Wants to Work action near you next week and here for information on the Oct. 12 National Teach-In.  Follow the action on Twitter with the hashtag #want2work.

There are still over 15 million unemployed Americans, nearly 6 job-seekers for each opening, and about 100,000 workers entering the job market each month.  Public services and education are being wiped out.  Corporate greed and Wall Street recklessness put the squeeze on working people and have created the worst economic crisis in a generation.  Big corporations shipped jobs overseas and Wall Street speculators took more and more of our wealth, getting rich quickly at the expense of workers and families.

But this is not news.

What has developed is the upsurge of workers, youth, and the communities we all live in to Occupy Wall Street, and to be in solidarity with these actions around the country.  This momentum came just in time, as workers around the country have begun to fight back in bigger and more coordinated ways—understanding that the fight is over who has control over what happens in our workplaces and our communities — working people or Wall Street corporations.

Today, in cities across the U.S., communities are coming together to stop H.R. 2164, legislation presented by Texas Congressman Lamar Smith.  H.R. 2164 would make it mandatory for nearly every employer in the U.S. to use a computer program to access an error-prone government database to verify whether or not a job applicant is eligible to work before any worker could start a new job through a process known as “e-verify.”  This legislation is expected to be taken up by the House Judiciary committee for markup tomorrow.

E-Verify will hurt all businesses and the fragile economy, and will leave workers more vulnerable to abuse on the job by giving unscrupulous employers yet another tool to use against workers who try to stand up for their rights.

TAKE ACTION NOW!  Tell Congress to Stop E-Verify

E-Verify will place a significant burden on small businesses, raising their costs even as they are struggling in this economy. Almost every business—no matter how small—will be forced to implement this complicated system.  The estimated cost to small businesses is $2.6 billion, according to Bloomberg News.

Today, in cities across the U.S., communities are coming together to educate and take collective action to stop H.R. 2164, legislation presented by Texas Congressman Lamar Smith.  H.R. 2164 will make the use of E-Verify mandatory for nearly every employer in the United States.  This legislation is expected to be taken up by the House Judiciary committee for markup at the end of this week.

Mandatory E-Verify is a jobs killer. It is bad for working people, bad for business and bad for the economy.  That is why community leaders, small business owners, and workers are speaking out today against the E-Verify program.

In Portland, Portland Jobs with Justice will join community leaders in a press conference telling Congress that forcing employers to use the flawed E-Verify system will harm U.S. workers and employers and undercut the country’s economic recovery.

Our country is facing the worst economic crisis of a generation. Big corporations shipped jobs overseas and Wall Street speculators took more and more of our wealth, getting rich quickly at the expense of workers and families. People are struggling and workers are angry and frustrated. Too many people cannot find good jobs and too many jobs don’t pay enough to support a family. Workers and communities are being divided as immigrant workers and public employees are scapegoated and blamed for the economic crisis caused by unregulated corporate greed.

At Jobs with Justice, we know that good jobs are the cornerstone of strong, healthy, happy communities. A good job is one where workers have collective bargaining rights, employment security, and wages and benefits that allow their families to enjoy a decent standard of living and earn a fair share of the wealth produced by their labor.

Last year, one in five American adults worked in jobs that paid poverty-level wages. Right now, not only are there are not enough jobs to go around, there are not enough of the good jobs we need to get our economy going again.

Today’s dismal jobs report reminds us that we’re in a jobs emergency requiring bold federal action.

Tell Congress: Tax Wall Street to heal Main Street, and put America back to work

Our communities are devastated by foreclosures and unemployment.  Corporate-funded politicians are gutting services and attacking worker rights, claiming our state and national governments are broke – while Wall Street and corporate CEOs are getting record bonuses and sitting on record cash reserves (and often paying little or nothing in taxes).  Despite massive fraud and reckless greed that wrecked our economy, throwing millions of Americans out of work and out of their homes, not a single Wall Street "bankster" has gone to jail.

The fight back is growing!