Put America to Work Campaign

June 9 >> Memphis Tri-State JOBS FOR ALL Town Hall Meeting

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 08 Jun 2018 14:27:00 +0000

MEMPHIS

TRI-STATE JOBS FOR ALL
TOWN HALL MEETING

Saturday, June 9th, 2018

9 AM - 2 PM (doors open 8:30 AM)

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Labor Center - AFSCME

485 Beale Street
Memphis, TN

The Memphis Jobs for All Town Hall Meeting is bringing together the Memphis community for a day-long dialogue on how to create jobs and secure the well-beling of citizens. Please join us!

The Town Hall Meeting will feature testimony on the long-term effects of unemployment, under-employment and poverty. There will be presentations on job creation, health care, raising the minimum wage, job training, transportation and other important issues.

Featuring Dr. Philip Harvey, Ph.D. professor at Rutgers University, and Rachel Rodgers, Career Specialist, Workforce Services Division, TN - Career Center

West Tennessee and the Tri-State Area need a strong voice for progressive job creation ideas like HR 1000 and HR 2206!

Hosted by: Logan Martinez, Outreach Coordinator, National Jobs for All Coalition, and Rep. Barbara Cooper, District 86 State Representative

Event Contacts:

Warren Cole, Program Chair
901-604-9166
warrencole33 [at] gmail.com

Logan Martinezloganmartinez2u [at] yahoo.com

National Jobs for All Coalition sponsors Ohio Town Hall Meetings on Jobs and Economic Inequality

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 10 Jan 2016 17:04:00 +0000

Full Video of 12/5/15 Dayton Town Hall Meeting

1 Hour Video of 12/5/15 Dayton Town Hall Meeting

by Logan Martinez, Outreach Coordinator, National Jobs for All Coalition

The Town Hall Meetings in Dayton and Columbus featuring Rep. John Conyers went extremely well with good turnouts in both cities. The speeches were informative and the dialogue during questions and answers was positive and highlighted the economic hardship and inequality facing the American people both locally and nationally. The Town Hall meetings succeeded in raising the prominence of the need for jobs, health care, raising the minimum wage, and other key issues.

Rep. Conyers has initiated two pieces of legislation that would go a long way toward reducing these problems: HR 1000, the “Humphrey Hawkins Full Employment and Training Act” and HR 676, The Expanded And Improved Medicare For All Act.
Prof. Philip Harvey spoke at both Town Meetings, explaining how this legislation would work and what it would do for the unemployed and the nation. Two great teams worked independently on the Town Meetings but with shared agendas.

As principal organizer of these events, NJFAC Outreach Coordinator Logan Martinez thanks everyone involved in both Town Hall meetings; the volunteers who put many hours of time in organizing and publicizing, the great co-sponsors in Dayton and Columbus, the financial supporters who made it possible, and the great speakers and panelists. And thanks to Rep. John Conyers for his continuing leadership in the fight for jobs, health care, and a better America. NJFAC looks forward to building an ongoing network for jobs, health care and social justice in Ohio and to mounting comparable Town Meetings around the nation.

For more information, visit the National Jobs for All Coalition web site, www.NJFAC.org or contact Logan Martinez, Outreach Coordinator, loganmartinez2u [at] yahoo.com

Dayton Program

Welcome and Opening Remarks, Rev. Robert E. Jones
Jeff Mims, Dayton City Commissioner
Mayor Nan Whaley and the Dayton City Commission have declared Saturday December 5, 2015 John Conyers Day in Dayton.
Moderator, Debbie Silverstein, SPAN Ohio State Director
Keynote, U.S. Congressman John Conyers Jr.

Panel:

Charles Morton, Executive Secretary, Dayton-Miami Valley AFL-CIO
Phillip Harvey, Professor of Law and Economics, Rutgers School of Law
Morris Brown, MD, Family Practitioner, Single Payer Health Care
Acknowledgements, Derrick Forward, President NAACP
Closing Remarks, John T. Donnellan, President &CEO Community Action Partnership
Adjournment, Rev. Robert E. Jones

Dayton Sponsors: Community Action Partnership of the Greater Dayton Area; Dayton-Miami Valley AFL-CIO; Dr. P. E. Henderson Jr., Corinthian Baptist Church; Greater Dayton Move to Amend; Miami Valley Full Employment Council; Edgemont Neighborhood Association; SPAN Ohio (Single Payer Action Network of Ohio); Rev. Robert E. Jones, United Theological Seminary; Dayton Unit NAACP; Organize!Ohio; Pastor Jerome McCorry; National Jobs for All Coalition

Columbus Program

Moderator, Melissa Cropper, President of the Ohio Federation of Teachers
Keynote, U.S. Congressman John Conyers Jr.

Panel:

Tim Burga, President Ohio AFL-CIO
Debbie Silverstein, State Director SPAN Ohio Kevin Kee, President Local 4501 Communication Workers of America
Phillip Harvey, Professor of Law and Economics Rutgers School of Law
Rubén Castilla Herrera, Central Ohio Worker Center

Columbus Sponsors: SPAN Ohio (Single Payer Action Network of Ohio); Communication Workers of America District 4; Dr. Victor M Davis, Trinity Baptist Church; Columbus Effective Resistance; Elder Dale Snyder, President Columbus Interdenominational Ministerial, Pastor Bethal AME Church; Community Organizing Center; Jobs for Columbus; Central Ohio Worker Center; Democratic Socialists of Central Ohio; Columbus Free Press; Rev. Joel L. King Jr.; Bounce 23 TV; Organize!Ohio; National Jobs for All Coalition

Thanks to Trudy Goldberg, Chair and to the other members of the Board of the National Jobs for All Coalition and to the Jobs for All Network for their support in this effort; and to Erik Sperling, Legislative Assistant to Rep. John Conyers Jr., and Maria D.Reddick, Scheduler for to Rep. John Conyers Jr.

Special Thanks to the Dayton Team: Mary Sue Gmeiner, Deborah Ferguson, Renee Shephard, Tim Bruce, Rev. Robert E. Jones, and Chuck Morton. And Carla Pitsinger, Carole Grimes, Adbullah Shakir, Tiki Kai-Krismano, Gwen Woodall Given and Michelle Jone, and John Bennett, Director of Communications and Public Relations Community Action Partnership of the Greater Dayton Area.

Special Thanks to the Columbus Team: Marilyn Webster, Connie Hammond, Elicia Finnell, Debbie Silverstein, Rev. Joel King, Rev. Thomas Toney, Ruben Castilla Herrera, Mark Stansberry, Kurt Bateman and Terrence Gilchrist. Thanks to: Dr. Victor M. Davis, Pastor, Trinity Baptist Church, Brian Coston, Media Ministry, Trinity Baptist Church, Stan Cartwright, Facilities Administrator, Trinity Baptist Church, Hostess Ministry, Trinity Baptist Church, Gabrielle P. Moore and Ron McGuire with Representative U.S. Congresswoman Joyce Beatty, Diane Bailey, Communication Workers of America, Bob Fitrakis and Suzanne Patzer of the Columbus Free Press.

Dec 4-5 >> Jobs for All National Tour Comes to Ohio

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 20 Nov 2015 02:15:00 +0000

U.S. Congressman John Conyers is coming to Ohio in conjunction with the Jobs for All National 2015/16 Tour. The Town Hall meetings will feature testimony on the impact of long-term unemployment and poverty on the Dayton community. There will be presentations on job creation, health care, raising the minimum wage, and other important issues. The primary goal is to elevate the jobs issue to national prominence.

Rep. Conyers is the Dean of the U.S. Congress, and the first African American to serve in this capacity. He represents the Detroit, Michigan area and has been a strong voice for progressive ideas including job creation with his introduction of HR 1000 and healthcare with HR 676. He is also co-chair of the Full Employment Caucus of the U.S. House of Representatives.

There are currently two meetings planned in Ohio:

Columbus, OH -- Friday, December 4, 2015 at 6:00 PM

Gathering at 6 pm, Program at 6:45 pm
Trinity Baptist Church
461 Saint Clair Avenue Columbus, Ohio 43203

Dayton, OH -- Saturday, December 5, 2015 at 10 am

UTS Center for Urban Ministry
1516 Salem Ave.
Dayton, OH 45406

Flyers are posted below.

For more information, contact: Logan Martinez, Outreach Coordinator, The National Jobs for All Coalition / Jobs for All Network, www.njfac.org / www.PutAmericaToWork.net , (937) 260-2591, loganmartinez2u [at] yahoo [dot] com

Clergy group in Ohio pushing federal jobs bill

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 19 Nov 2015 02:27:00 +0000

Cross posted from: http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/local/2015/11/19/coalition-bringing-in-congressman-to-raise-awareness-discuss-jobs-bill.html

By JoAnne VivianoThe Columbus Dispatch • Thursday November 19, 2015 7:50 AM

A new local coalition of jobs advocates, unions and clergy members will host a congressman from Detroit who is the sponsor of bills to create jobs and provide universal health care.

The group will hold a town-hall meeting with U.S. Rep John Conyers on Dec. 4 at Trinity Baptist Church on the Near East Side as part of a National Jobs for All Coalition tour. The event will include testimony on long-term unemployment and a discussion panel.

Among the group’s goals is raising awareness about unemployment and under-employment among African-Americans, Hispanics and youth in Columbus, said the Rev. Joel King, vice president of the Ohio Interdenominational Ministers Alliance, which represents about 60 clergy members.

Beyond that, he said, he hopes residents will be encouraged to get involved in the issue, by asking elected officials to support Conyers’ bills.

“We feel like millions of people are being left behind in the American dream,” said Logan Martinez, Jobs for All outreach coordinator.

“They’re working extremely hard and unable to make ends meet or working hard and there are holes in the safety net.

“There’s great disparity in what we pretend to say people can do here and what people can actually do.”

Conyers’ jobs bill, introduced by the Democrat in February, would create a tax on certain financial transactions, to fund workforce-investment programs and to make job-creation grants to states, local governments, schools, nonprofit organizations and Indian tribes. It is referred to as the Humphrey-Hawkins 21st Century Full Employment and Training Act.

The health-care bill, referred to as the Expanded & Improved Medicare for All Act, also was introduced in February and would establish a single-payer health-care system to provide free necessary health care to everyone living in the United States.

Both bills had died in previous congressional sessions before being reintroduced this year.

The U.S. unemployment level of 5 percent represents nearly 8 million Americans. On top of that, millions more work only part time or have given up looking for jobs, Martinez said.

In Columbus, pockets of the city suffer significantly higher unemployment. According to 2009-2013 Census Bureau data analyzed by the nonprofit Community Research Partners, that was true in 17 of the city’s 28 ZIP codes, with Franklinton at the top with a 29 percent unemployment rate. The poverty rate is at least 26 percent in 15 of the city’s ZIP codes, with Weinland Park at the top with a poverty rate of nearly 60 percent.

About a dozen groups have signed on to support the town-hall event, Martinez said.

Among them is Jobs for Columbus, an initiative aimed at increasing the city income tax to provide local transitional jobs.

The proposal would increase the city income tax by half a percentage point, in an attempt to raise $120 million annually dedicated to job training and creation, said Elicia Finnell, founder of the initiative.

She said the money would pay minimum wage for thousands of Columbus residents hired by participating businesses and other locations. In return, employers would provide job experience and training in marketable skills.

“It would be sort of a job safety net, that anyone who needed immediate employment could get one of these jobs — sort of a survival job,” Finnell said.

The program, she said, could help the homeless, the chronically unemployed, people with criminal records, unemployed youth and unemployed men with child-support obligations.

A goal is to place the initiative before voters in November 2016, Finnell said, but efforts are in the early stages. The campaign is creating a petition that it hopes to circulate to gain the signatures needed to get a shot at the ballot.

jviviano@dispatch.com

@JoAnneViviano

Social Security at 80: Expanded But Still Missing the Keystone

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 15 Aug 2015 13:42:00 +0000

cross-posted from Huffington Post >> http://www.huffingtonpost.com/gertrude-schaffner-goldberg/social-security-at-eighty_b_7980418.html

Gertrude Schaffner Goldberg Become a fan

Scholar/author/activist; Professor emeritae, Adelphi University; Chair, National Jobs for All Coalition

Eighty years ago, on August 14, 1935, President Franklin Roosevelt signed the Social Security Act, famously declaring: "If the Senate and House of Representatives had done nothing more... than pass this Bill, the session would be regarded as historic for all time." Nonetheless, Roosevelt acknowledged that this groundbreaking Act was "a cornerstone in a structure... by no means complete."

Initially, the Social Security structure was indeed incomplete. Only a portion of the workforce was covered by the retirement and unemployment insurance programs. Left out were employees in very small establishments and the public sector as well as self-employed workers. Also excluded were domestic workers -- largely women, and agricultural laborers, an occupation employing the vast majority of African Americans.

Since FDR laid the cornerstone, Old Age Insurance has expanded almost beyond recognition. Within four years it began covering widows and orphans, transforming Social Security into a family program. In 1950, Congress added coverage for domestic and agricultural laborers. An additional, grave risk -- disability -- was added later in the fifties, and Medicare, in the mid-1960s. In 1972, automatic cost-of-living increases began protecting retirement benefits against the risk of inflation.

Retirement benefits have increased in adequacy but are often too low, particularly for one-third of seniors whose principal income is social security -- a proportion increasing with the decline in private pensions.

Unemployment Insurance has been less expandable, but excluded groups were covered in 1970 when Congress also enacted automatic extension of weeks of coverage during recessions. While Old Age and Survivors' Insurance is almost universal, most jobless workers are still not eligible for Unemployment Insurance in ordinary times, although the proportion increases during recessions when so many more people are laid off.

But what is social security without a job?

That was the keystone, according to the report of the Cabinet-level Committee on Economic Security that planned the Social Security Act: "Since most people must live by work, the first objective in a program of economic security must be maximum employment." Headed by the first female Cabinet member, Labor Secretary Frances Perkins, the Committee proposed "employment assurance" -- "that the federal government should stimulate private employment and provide employment for those able-bodied workers whom industry cannot employ." They observed that public-work programs are most necessary in periods of severe depression, but may also be needed in normal times.

Except for short-term unemployment, both Roosevelt and Federal Relief Administrator Harry Hopkins, preferred work to cash benefits. They considered a permanent government employment program for those still jobless after receiving short-term unemployment compensation, but the two elements were split into permanent but short Unemployment Insurance (only 16 weeks originally), and a temporary employment program, the famous Works Progress Administration (WPA). The WPA literally changed the face of this nation, vastly enriching our physical, social, and cultural resources, but it was terminated during World War II when full employment made such job creation temporarily unnecessary.

Thus, as Perkins wrote in the mid-1940s, "Unemployment Insurance stands alone as the only protection for people out of work."

What would Roosevelt, Hopkins, and Perkins have said when, during the Great Recession, many jobless workers collected extended unemployment benefits instead of being paid for work that would have benefitted not only them but all of us -- by repairing our decaying infrastructure, making our economy and the planet more sustainable, and providing sorely needed services.

Unemployment continues to undermine economic security and is neither short-term nor confined to deep economic downturns. Today, six years after the official end of the Great Recession, 20 million people are either jobless or forced to work part-time. The labor-force participation rate or proportion of working-age people either working or actively looking for work is the lowest since 1976. If it were the same as before the recession, the unemployment rate would be 7.3 percent, instead of 5.3 percent. Periods of unemployment, moreover, reduce workers' retirement benefits and rob the Social Security Trust Funds of revenues.

Enactment of pending legislation would come close to completing the Social Security edifice.

The Humphrey-Hawkins 21st Century Full Employment & Training Act, introduced by Rep. John Conyers, Jr. (D-MI) commits the U.S. to full employment, the assurance of useful work at a living wage for all. Paid for by a small tax on financial transactions, HR 1000 would create millions of new jobs in construction, infrastructure repair, energy and conservation, education, health care, human services, and neighborhood renovation. Such jobs could be targeted to neighborhoods like West Baltimore, where most adults are jobless.

Other pending legislation like Rep. Marcy Kaptur's (D-OH) 21st Century Civilian Conservation Corps would create jobs and give the public a taste of how government job creation could preserve the nation's resources.

Let's observe Social Security's 80th birthday by taking steps toward employment assurance -- what its planners considered the keystone of economic security. Let's make their support of employment assurance a test of whether candidates for federal office in 2016 deserve our votes.

December 10 is International Human Rights Day. We demand our right to a Living Wage Job!!

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 10 Dec 2014 15:14:00 +0000

Fast food workers, healthcare workers and their supporters shout slogans
at a rally and march to demand an increase of the minimum wage
in Los Angeles, Calif. on Dec. 4, 2014. Photo by Robyn Beck/AFP/Getty

http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/fast-food-workers-strike-again

"…Where, after all, do universal rights begin? In small places, close to home -- so close and so small that they cannot be seen on any maps of the world. Yet they are the world of the individual person; the neighborhood he or she lives in; the school or college he or she attends; the factory, the farm or office where he or she works.

Such are the places where every man, woman and child seeks equal justice, equal opportunity, and equal dignity without discrimination. Unless these rights have meaning there, they have little meaning anywhere. Without concerted citizen action to uphold them close to home, we shall look in vain for progress in the larger world…"

--Eleanor Roosevelt (1968) commenting on the 20th anniversary of the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948)

:"...It is the purpose of the Humphrey Hawkins 21st Century Full Employment and Training Act (HR 1000) to expedite progress to fulfill the right to useful work at living wages for all persons seeking employment, as promptly as possible and at the earliest practicable date by establishing a Full Employment Trust Fund to fund and operate a national program of public service employment and to provide additional labor market opportunities to complement those offered by the existing private, public, and nonprofit sectors." -- HR 1000 (Full Text), introduced by Rep. John Conyers (D-MI) with 57 co-sponsors

December 10 is International Human Rights Day and the anniversary of the day that the Universal Declaration was adopted in 1948. This year’s slogan, Human Rights 365, encompasses the idea that every day is Human Rights Day. It celebrates the fundamental proposition in the Universal Declaration that each one of us, everywhere, at all times is entitled to the full range of human rights, that human rights belong equally to each of us and bind us together as a global community with the same ideals and values.

For more info, visit >> http://www.un.org/en/events/humanrightsday/
www.PutAmericaToWork.net

60 Minutes Highlights Infrastructure Investment Crisis

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 24 Nov 2014 01:23:00 +0000

Falling apart: America's neglected infrastructure

7/9, WED >> Jobs for All: Building the Movement for Full Employment

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 09 Jul 2014 03:18:00 +0000

Live Webcast >> July 9 from 10:00 - 12:30 PM
Jobs for All: Building the Movement for Full Employment

National Jobs For All Coalition

Join us for a strategy briefing to help build a national movement for full employment.

REACHING

FULL

EMPLOYMENT

In Conjunction With:

The Congressional Full Employment Caucus

Wednesday, July 9, 2014

10:00am-12:30pm*

2226 Rayburn HOB

*This meeting will kick off two days of dialogue among national and grassroots jobs creation advocates, for the purpose of developing a coordinated national strategy. An afternoon session, the same day, will address activity moving the coalition forward---participation would be welcomed and appreciated!

www.njfac.org

The National Jobs for All Coalition is dedicated to the propositions that meaningful employment is a precondition for a fulfilling life and that every person capable of working should have the right to a job. The Coalition not only fights to make these propositions facts of life, but it publishes invaluable research by noted scholars to support them.

Jobs for All Strategy Briefing

Representative John Conyers, Jr. (MI)

Representative Frederica Wilson (FL)

Representative Marcy Kaptur (OH)

Representative Barbara Lee (CA)

Rev. Rodney S. Sadler, Jr., Ph.D.

Moral Monday

Associate Professor of Bible

Union Presbyterian Seminary

Debby Szeredy

Executive Vice President, American Postal Workers Union

Kevin Bradshaw  

President, Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco, Workers

& Grain Millers Union Local 252G

Kellogg's Workers in Memphis, TN have been off the job since October 2013.

George H. Lambert, Jr.

President and CEO of the Greater Washington Urban League,

Philip Harvey

Professor of Law & Economics

Rutgers School of Law

Executive Committee, National Jobs for All Coalition

Josh Nassar

Legislative Director, United Auto Workers

Chris Horton

Worcester Unemployment Action Group (MA)

Voices of Unemployed Workers

Deborah Weinstein

Executive Director, Coalition on Human Needs

Gertrude Schaffner Goldberg

Chair, National Jobs for All Coalition

Professor Emerita of Social Policy, Adelphi University

Jessica Schieder

Policy Associate, Center for Effective Government

Lunch with Witness Wednesdays , the critical effort to renew extended unemployment benefits, will be at the Triangle on the Capitol Hill lawn.

Witness Wednesdays for July 9 will be hosted by Representative Barbara Lee (CA) and will feature the stories of unemployed African Americans, Latinos, Asian Americans and Native Americans.

Strategy Session A, July 9, 2014

2226 Rayburn House Office Building

2:00 p.m. – 5:30 p.m.

Chuck Bell , Facilitator

National Jobs for All Coalition

Robert Creamer

Democracy Partners

Miriam Pemberton

Institute for Policy Studies

Bill Barclay

Chicago Political Economy Group

Andrea Miller

Progressive Democrats of America

Local Reports

Kae Halonen

South East Michigan Jobs with Justice

Sheena Foster

Worker's Interfaith Network, Memphis, TN

Rev. Glencie Rhedrick

Mecklenburg Ministries, NC

Clinton Smith

Gray Panthers, Austin, TX

Joel Segal

Progressive Democrats of America, VA

Former Senior Legislative Assistant, Representative John Conyers, Jr.

Leonard Mell

National Jobs for All Coalition, VA

Larry Bresler

Organize Ohio

More, TBA

__________________________________________________________________

Thursday Morning Panel, July 10, 2014

10:00 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.

2226 Rayburn House Office Building

Logan Martinez , Facilitator

Miami Valley Full Employment Council and National Jobs for All Coalition

Frank Peterson

Unemployed Veteran

Other panelists, TBA

Thursday afternoon we will be meeting members of the US Congress regarding job creation legislation

Conference Host

National Jobs for All Coalition

Co-sponsors

Gray Panthers

Social Democrats

Progressive Democrats of America

People's Empowerment Coalition of Ohio

Jobs For All Campaign

Worcester Unemployment Action Group

Questions? Contact trudygoldberg@njfac.org or (203) 856-3877

Join National Sign-On Campaign in support of HR 1000!

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 31 Jan 2014 02:36:00 +0000

Jobs for All Campaign

Sign-on Letter in Support of Rep. John Conyers’ Jobs Legislation - HR 1000 The “Humphrey-Hawkins 21st Century Full Employment & Training Act”Preliminary list of endorsers - list in formation

Rodney S. Sadler, Jr., Ph.D, Associate Professor of Bible

Union Presbyterian Seminary

Moral Monday / Charlotte NAACP

State Representative Barbara Cooper

Tennessee District 86

Dayton-Miami Valley AFL-CIO Central Labor Council

Charles Morton, Executive Director

Gray Panthers, San Francisco Chapter

Rev. Jerome McCorry

THE ADAM PROJECT

Dayton Ohio

A Peace of Mind

Carmen Gray

Cleveland Ohio

United Clevelanders Against Poverty

Diana King Chair

Cleveland, Ohio

Labor Council for Latin American Advancement (LCLAA) - New York City Chapter

Eduardo Rosario

New York, NY

Women's International League for Peace and Freedom –

San Francisco Branch (WILPF-SF)

Public Citizen, Congress Watch

Micah Hauptman, Financial Policy Counsel

Rick D’Loss, National Chair

Social Democrats USA

Dr. P. E. Henderson Jr.

Corinthian Baptist Church

Dayton, OH

Helen Lachs Ginsburg

Co-Chair, Columbia University Seminar on

Full Employment, Social Welfare and Equity

Professor Emerita of Economics

Brooklyn College--City University of New York 

Gray Panthers (National)

Washington, DC

Clinton Smith,

Texas Gray Panthers

Austin, TX

 Gray Panthers, San Francisco Chapter

San Francisco, CA

Rev. Les Stansbery

Columbus, Ohio

Philip Harvey, Associate Professor of Law & Economics

Rutgers School of Law

Camden, NJ

Eldon R. Clingan,

State Organizer, Massachusetts Social Democrats

Dedham, MA

Coalition of Labor Union Women, South Florida Chapter

Tanaka Charles, President (AFSCME)

Opa Locka, FL

Memphis Workers' Center

Workers Interfaith Network

Alfredo Pena, Executive Director

Memphis, TN

Greater Charleston AFL-CIO Central Labor Council

Erin McKee, President, and President South Carolina AFL-CIO

Mt. Pleasant, SC

Dee R. Wernette, Ph.D., Activist Researcher

Chicago, IL

Georgia Citizens' Coalition on Hunger

Carolyn Pittman, Executive Director

Atlanta, GA

College Hill Community Church

Presbyterian Church (USA)

Pastor Robert E. Jones

Dayton, OH

Community Organizing Center

Mark D. Stansbery

Columbus, OH

Arkansas Interfaith Committee for Worker Justice

Arkansas Interfaith Alliance.

Rev. Steve Copley

North Little Rock, AR

South Eastern Michigan Jobs With Justice,  Kae Halonen, Jobs Committee

Restaurant Opportunities Centers United

Miami, FL; Washington, DC; Los Angeles, CA

Detroit, MI; Albuquerque, NM; Oakland, CA;

New Orleans, LA; Chicago, IL; Houston, TX; &

Philadelphia, PA

Britton Loftin, National Policy Coordinator

Washington, DC

Demos

Benjamin P. Peck, Senior Legislative and Policy Associate Washington, DC

Chris Tilly, Professor Department of Urban Planning, UCLA

Los Angeles, CA

New York City Council Progressive Caucus

Greater New York Labor-Religion Coalition

Rabbi Michael Feinberg, Executive Director

New York, NY

National Jobs for All Coalition

Trudy Goldberg, Chair

Chicago Political Economy Group

Bill Barclay

Oak Park IL 60302

U.S. Labor Against the War (USLAW)

Michael Eisenscher, National Coordinator

Frank Stricker, Emeritus Professor of History and Labor

Studies, California State University, Dominguez Hills, CA

Organize! Ohio

Larry Bresler Cleveland, OH

Green For All

Kimberly Freeman Brown, DC Office Chief

Washington, DC

James C Clark, CEO Rimson Development Corp (Detroit) Detroit, MI

Association of UW Professionals (AFT Local 3535)

Bryan Kennedy, Ph.D. President, AFT-Wisconsin

Boston Democratic Socialists of America

Mike Pattberg, Boston DSA Exec Board

Boston, MA

People's Empowerment Coalition of Ohio

Lynn Williams, Contact Center

Cincinnati, OH

Coalition for Economic and Social Justice (CESJ)

Jesse Arms  San Francisco, CA & Belleville, IL

Advocacy and Education Committee (Community Action Partnership) Carole L. Grimes, Chairwoman

Dayton, OH

Miami Valley Full Employment Council

Tiki Kai-Krismano, Exec Board

Dayton, OH

George Friday

North Carolina Activist

Dayton-Miami Valley AFL-CIO Central Labor Council

Charles Morton Executive Director

The Adam Project

Rev. Jerome McCorry

Dayton Ohio

Virginia People's Assembly

Faber, VA

(To endorse the letter shown below, contact Logan Martinez -- loganmartinez2u [at] yahoo.com)

Jobs for All Campaign

Quality Jobs with a Living Wage and a Voice in the Workplace

Dear Friends,

US Representative John Conyers has reintroduced jobs legislation HR 1000. It is the most significant jobs creation bill in recent times. The “Humphrey-Hawkins 21st Century Full Employment & Training Act” is a comprehensive and innovative federal and local government job creation and training bill that would create millions of new jobs for the nation’s unemployed. It targets the long-term unemployed and poor communities that are being left behind. The bill will be funded by a financial transactions tax on stocks and bonds.

We are very exited by the legislation and its potential role in mobilizing a larger movement for jobs. Below is the sign-on letter in support of HR 1000, We are seeking organizational and individual endorsements. Our goal is to have as many local, state and national organizations as possible endorse the bill over the next several months. This effort is key in making job creation by the federal government a national priority. Please forward this e-mail to key contacts with a note of your support. Let us know of any endorsements you are able to secure. Thanks.

For Jobs & Peace,

Logan Martinez
Outreach Coordinator
The National Jobs for All Coalition / Jobs for All Campaign

Email: loganmartinez2u [at] yahoo.com

Please click here H.R.1000 for the complete text, summary and cosponsors for the Humphrey-Hawkins Full Employment and Training Act. 

www.njfac.org / http://www.jobscampaign.org / www.PutAmericaToWork.net

Jobs for All Campaign

Sign-on Letter in Support of Rep. John Conyers’ Jobs Legislation - HR 1000 The “Humphrey-Hawkins 21st Century Full Employment & Training Act”

Dear Member of Congress,

We are writing on behalf of the members of our organizations urging you to cosponsor and pass into law Representative John Conyers’ bill, H.R. 1000, the Humphrey Hawkins 21^st Century Full Employment and Training Act. This legislation would create a national public jobs program to complement job creation by the private sector. Ultimately, it would ensure full employment, so that every American seeking work would have a job.

We're facing a severe jobs crisis. The economy is consistently failing to create sufficient new jobs to sustain the struggling recovery. The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported the Seasonally Adjusted Unemployment Rate was 7.5% in April. While 12 million Americans are "officially" unemployed, millions of others have given up looking for work entirely. More than 17 million Americans are currently unemployed, and millions more remain underemployed. 4.6 million Americans have been unemployed for more than six months, and more than 3 million have been out of work for at least a year.

Economists, as well as religious, civil society, political, and other leaders from across the political spectrum agree: Creating jobs is preferable to providing government assistance. Persistent joblessness devastates families, communities, and our economy, drives up our deficit, and weakens our nation. The Humphrey Hawkins Act would solve this crisis.

Philip Harvey, Professor of Law and Economics at the Rutgers School of Law, estimates The Humphrey Hawkins Act would provide resources to businesses, states and localities to directly create 3.1 to 6.2 million jobs, and 1 to 2 million additional jobs indirectly within two years. The National Full Employment and Training Trust Fund—supported by a modest levy on financial transactions—would finance creation of these new jobs.

New jobs would provide opportunity and security to millions of Americans who would also benefit from improved infrastructure including newer, safer, and better roads, dams, bridges, community facilities, schools, libraries, parks, and more. New hires would quickly begin work improving and repairing our dangerously distressed infrastructure, providing child and elder care, offering job training and other education. Communities could hire more police, first responders, teachers, and similar public servants.

We the undersigned strongly urge you to cosponsor H.R. 1000 and to work with your colleagues in Congress to pass this jobs-creating legislation into law as a top priority.

Thank you.

Sincerely,

Endorsers [list in formation - see above]

(To endorse this letter, contact Logan Martinez -- loganmartinez2u [at] yahoo.com)

Conyers forms Full Employment Caucus

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 30 Jan 2014 02:17:00 +0000

Cross-posted from Detroit News

January 29, 2014 at 4:51 pm

Conyers forms Full Employment Caucus

Marisa Schultz
Detroit News Washington Bureau
24 Comments

Zoom

Rep. John Conyers (Drew Angerer / Getty Images)

Washington — Rep. John Conyers launched a new congressional caucus Wednesday aimed at cultivating ideas to put all Americans back to work.

The Full Employment Caucus was formed by the longtime Democratic leader with the idea jobs will solve the country’s poverty and crime problems, particularly in his hometown of Detroit.

“In African-American and Hispanic communities, unemployment is 30 percent or more,” Conyers said Wednesday, flanked by fellow members of the Congressional Black Caucus who have joined Conyers in his effort. “... In our communities, we experience profound unemployment and, without a job, poverty is the only alternative.”

There are nearly 300 official caucuses in Congress that bring together lawmakers with similar interests or backgrounds. They range from political (Tea Party Caucus) to ethnic (Hispanic Caucus) and everything in between (Congressional Songwriter Caucus and the Bourbon Caucus).

Conyers, the dean of the Congressional Black Caucus and a leading liberal voice in Congress, said this caucus will meet regularly with economic experts and organize events in members’ districts to find the best solutions.

Fellow caucus member Sheila Jackson-Lee, D-Texas, noted President Barack Obama’s State of the Union speech Tuesday in which he pledged to move on economic initiatives even if Congress drags its feet. She argues the work of the caucus could formulate executive orders the president could sign without congressional approval.

“We will be answering the call of all of America because people need work and we’re not doing right by them by creating work,” Jackson-Lee said. “I believe this caucus will put us on the right path and we’ll give President Obama a number of executive orders that he can sign with pride and strength.”

Conyers, the top Democrat on House Judiciary Committee, has long championed legislation to fund jobs and employment programs, known as the Humphrey-Hawkins Full Employment and Training Act.

His legislation would create two separate federal trust funds. The first would grant money to communities and states for job-creating activities and the other for training people without skills.

mschultz@detroitnews.com
(202) 662-8736

From The Detroit News: http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20140129/POLITICS03/301290102#ixzz2rwCqjaf9

Aspirations of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 12 Dec 2013 14:16:00 +0000

Aspirations of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights

By Rep. John Conyers (D-MI), Dean of the Congressional Black Caucus, co-authored by Gertrude Schaffner Goldberg and Sheila Collins

December 11, 2013, cross-posted from Huffington Post

On Tuesday, December 10 the world observed Human Rights Day, marking the 65th anniversary of the adoption by the United Nations of a Universal Declaration of Human Rights. It is sometimes forgotten that this Universal Declaration has important roots in American soil. The Commission that framed the Universal Declaration was led by Eleanor Roosevelt who was deeply influenced by her husband, President Franklin Roosevelt's thinking, particularly regarding the interdependence of economic, political, and civil rights. As she observed at the time, President Roosevelt believed that freedom without bread was meaningless.

In his Annual Message to Congress in 1944, President Roosevelt went further in joining the vaunted American ideal of freedom and liberty to economic rights: by proposing an Economic or Second Bill of Rights. In this message, Roosevelt referred to the U.S. Constitution and invoked familiar words, phrases and ideals from the American Declaration of Independence:

This Republic had its beginning, and grew to its present strength, under the protection of certain inalienable political rights.... They were our rights to life and liberty.

As our nation has grown in size and stature, however--as our industrial economy expanded--these political rights proved inadequate to assure us equality in the pursuit of happiness.

We have come to a clear realization of the fact that true individual freedom cannot exist without economic security and independence.....

In our day these economic truths have become accepted as self-evident. We have accepted, so to speak, a second Bill of Rights under which a new basis of security and prosperity can be established for all....

Roosevelt's Economic Bill of Rights began with the guarantee of what he subsequently referred to as the "paramount right" -- the right to useful work. It was to be living-wage work that would "earn enough to provide adequate food and clothing and recreation." The Universal Declaration, for its part, further elaborated this economic right, calling, in addition to the right to work, the right for just and favorable payment, for equal pay for equal work, and for the right to form and join trade unions.

Unfortunately, this paramount economic right has not been accepted as self-evident, either in the United States or elsewhere. The failure to guarantee this right is not simply a consequence of the worldwide Great Recession. Also at play, is the divergence between productivity growth and wage growth, where gains have gone almost exclusively to the top earners -- exacerbating income inequality. An estimated 18 million people in the United States are working poor, meaning they are employed full-time, year-round for less than the four-person poverty level -- around $22,000 in earnings per year. Meanwhile, 10.9 million Americans are unemployed and an additional 5.7 million "missing workers" have completely dropped out of the jobs search and are no longer counted in the monthly Jobs Reports.

The rise in poverty in America underscores that it is time for Congress to act, to pivot away from austerity, and focus on creating jobs and economic growth for everyone, as it has done historically. Today, millions of American families are struggling to satisfy their basic needs. Our solution to this poverty and unemployment crisis is the "Humphrey-Hawkins Full Employment and Training Act" (H.R. 1000), a 21st Century New Deal proposal to put all Americans to work rebuilding and modernizing our communities.

The declared ideals of nations or united nations are important, for even though achievements fall short of aspirations, they can serve to urge humanity forward. Take the paradox of a Declaration by slaveholders that "all men are created equal." Even at the dark moment when too many of the gains of Civil War had been lost, the great African-American leader W.E.B. DuBois urged his people to "cling unwaveringly" to "those great words" of the Declaration. In observing Human Rights Day we must "cling unwaveringly" to the ideals of the Universal Declaration and its stirring American antecedents, but we must seize the opportunity to take stock of the gap between aspirations and achievements in order to urge ourselves forward.

Representative John Conyers, Jr. is the Ranking Member of the House Judiciary Committee, representing Southeast Michigan. Gertrude Schaffner Goldberg is Professor Emerita of Social Policy at Adelphi University. Sheila D. Collins is Professor Emerita of Political Science at William Paterson University. They are co-founders of the National Jobs for All Coalition, and editors/co-authors of the recently published, When Government Helped: Learning from the Successes and Failures of the New Deal (Oxford University Press, 2013).

Murray-Ryan Budget Deal Fails to Extend Aid for Long-Term Unemployed Workers

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 12 Dec 2013 14:07:00 +0000

More than 2 million unemployed workers will lose federal jobless aid by early 2014, if Congress allows Federal Benefits to shut down at year's end

Source: National Employment Law Project

Despite efforts by Democrats, the recent budget deal struck by Sen. Patty Murray and Rep. Paul Ryan failed to include extension of benefits for long-term unemployed workers. See great issue brief from National Employment Law Project on the risk that Congress may cutoff aid to long-term unemployed workers:

"...In the wake of October’s harmful government shutdown, we now face another critical looming deadline – the shutdown of federal unemployment insurance for long-term unemployed workers at the end of December. As detailed below, with unemployment still unacceptably high, labor market conditions persistently weak and long-term unemployment remaining at crisis levels, Congress must act to avert a shutdown of federal jobless aid and swiftly renew the program for 2014.

If Congress fails to reauthorize the federally-funded Emergency Unemployment Compensation (EUC) program, more than two million unemployed job-seekers will lose federal jobless aid by the end of March 2014. In the week between Christmas and New Year’s, the 1.3 million workers currently receiving federal EUC willbe abruptly cut off. Another 850,000 workers will run out of stateunemployment insurance in the first three months of 2014, with no access to federal EUC..."

Read the NELP Issue Brief

Visit the National Employment Law Project web site: www.nelp.org

An Economic Bill of Rights for the 21st Century (webcast)

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 20 Oct 2013 22:20:00 +0000

50:19

John Conyers @The Economic Bill of Rights for the...

Rep. John Conyers speaks at the An Economic Bill of Rights for the 21st Century conference at Columbia University on October 18, introduced by Chuck Bell of the National Jobs for All Coalition

An Economic Bill of Rights for the 21st Century -...

Morning sessions from the conference

02:28:47

An Economic Bill of Rights for the 21st Century -...

Afternoon sessions from the conference

Webcast sponsored by ISOC-NY

FRI, OCT 18 >> An Economic Bill of Rights for the 21st Century - Conference in New York

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 17 Sep 2013 10:36:00 +0000

Download Event Flyer

An Economic Bill of Rights for the 21st Century

A conference celebrating the 25th anniversary of the Columbia University Seminar on Full Employment, Social Welfare & Equity

Friday, October 18, 2013, 9:00 AM—4:30 PM (breakfast at 8:30 AM)
Columbia University Faculty House
64 Morningside Dr., Manhattan

Livestream Webcast

internetsocietychapters on livestream.com. Broadcast Live Free

$20 Pre-registration, $25 at Door (includes breakfast & lunch)
$10 low-income, unemployed, students

To register for this event, please visit:

http://economicrights.eventbrite.com

Web: www.EconomicBillofRights.net

Co-sponsors: Columbia University Seminar on Full Employment, Social Welfare & Equity; the Roosevelt Institute; The Nation, The National Jobs for All Coalition; Demos; Dollars & Sense; Workers Defense League; Modern Money Network, Greater New York Labor-Religion Coalition, The Worker Institute at Cornell, ILR School

In 1944 Franklin D. Roosevelt proposed an Economic Bill of Rights whose guarantees included employment at living wages, housing, medical care, education and old age security. This conference will consider FDR’s proposal in light of subsequent history. Have any of those rights originally proposed been achieved? What are their interconnections? How does FDR’s Bill of Rights need to be updated for the 21st Century? How can we secure these rights in the present political climate?

Speakers: The Honorable John Conyers (D-MI); David Woolner, Senior Fellow and Resident Hyde Park Historian, The Roosevelt Institute; Philip Harvey, Prof. of Law and Economics, Rutgers University; William Quigley, Prof. of Law, Loyola University; Gertrude Schaffner Goldberg, Professor Emerita of Social Policy, Adelphi University; Sheila D. Collins, Professor Emerita of Political Science, William Paterson University; Helen Lachs Ginsburg, Professor Emerita of Economics, Brooklyn College, CUNY; Dean Baker, Co-Director Center for Economic and Policy Research; William Darity, Jr. , Professor of Public Policy, African and African-American Studies and Economics, Duke University; Katrina vanden Heuvel, Editor and Publisher, The Nation; Gary Dorrien, Reinhold Niebuhr Professor of Social Ethics, Union Theological Seminary; ; Michael Lighty, Director of Public Policy, California Nurses’ Association/National Nurses United; Chris Policano, Director of Communications, AFSCME.

Conference Welcome: Robert Pollack, Director, Columbia University Seminars Program Panel Chairs: June Zaccone, Assoc. Prof. Emerita of Economics, Hofstra University; Eduardo Rosario, Executive Board, Labor Council for Latin American Advancement (NYC Chapter); Chuck Bell, Programs Director, Consumers Union; Logan Martinez, Outreach Coordinator, National Jobs for All Coalition Concluding Remarks: Peter Marcuse, Prof. Emeritus of Urban Planning, Columbia University, co-editor Cities for People, Not for Profit, and Searching for the Just City.

To view the Program for this event, visit www.EconomicBillofRights.net

To register for this event, please visit:

http://economicrights.eventbrite.com

More information? Please email us at: economicbillofrights [at] yahoo.com

Web: www.EconomicBillofRights.net

Download Event Flyer

Jobs Advocates Join 50th Anniversary March for Jobs and Freedom!

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 28 Aug 2013 01:51:00 +0000

Photos from 50th Anniversary March for Jobs and Freedom,

Washington, DC 8/24/13

HR 1000 Supporters on the Move!!
Marching to Lincoln Memorial

Rep. John Conyers Speaks at Lincoln Memorial
to HR 1000 Supporters, Calls for End to Budget Sequester
and Passage of National Jobs Program

Trudy Goldberg, Chair and Prof. Phil Harvey,
National Jobs for All Coalition

Chuck Bell, Vice Chair of National Jobs for All Coalition

Prof. Phil Harvey, Author of "Back to Work:
A Public Jobs Proposal for Economic Recovery"

Margarite Rosenthal & Chuck Bell
of National Jobs For All Coalition

Organization of United People (Washington DC) Produced
An Excellent Pro-Jobs T-Shirt and Included
a Free Jobs For All Flyer with Each Sale

Put America to Work!

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 27 Aug 2013 23:01:00 +0000

Leaflet for 50th Anniversary March for Jobs and Freedom

(produced by National Jobs for All Coalition)

Download Leaflet

8/24 >> 50th Anniversary March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 27 Jul 2013 00:39:00 +0000

Cross-posted from Labor Fightback Network

Demand Jobs and Freedom for All! March on Washington August 24!

Join the March on Washington August 24, 2013, to demand jobs and freedom for all; defend and expand Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid; respect and protect workers’ rights; and restore and expand voting rights!

Fifty years ago, the Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. led a great March for JOBS and FREEDOM on Washington that demanded:

“A massive federal program to train and place all unemployed workers—Negro and white—on meaningful and dignified jobs at decent wages.
“A national minimum wage act that will give all Americans a decent standard of living. (Government surveys show that anything less than $2.00 [$15.23 at May 2013 prices] an hour fails to do this.)”

Shockingly, most working people are worse off today than in the 1960s:

Employment statistics today are clearly worse. Thanks to the Great Recession, the national unemployment rate still hovers at 7.6 percent; in 1963 it was 5.7 percent. But that is only part of the picture. Part-time workers who want full-time work are on the rise. And even worse, the number of those who have completely given up hope of finding a job has increased precipitously: in 1954, 96 percent of U.S. men between 25 and 54 years old worked but today that number has dropped to 80 percent. When all these sectors of unemployed or partially employed are combined and only those men who are unemployed but want work are included, the unemployment rate jumps to 16 percent.
The 1963 March and other struggles of the 1960s by workers and unions succeeded in raising the minimum wage, along with other wages, so that in 1968, we achieved the highest minimum wage ever. Were it that high now, it would be $10.70 instead of only $7.25. The average hourly wage in the private sector reached a peak in the early 1970’s, not reached since, forty years later. Partly as a consequence of the declining strength of unions, wages have stagnated or even declined in relation to our ability to produce, with the lion’s share flowing to the very top income receivers. And most of those who have been lucky enough to find work since the Great Recession have been channeled into the low-wage sector of the job market.
Black workers continue to be unemployed at a rate that is twice that for white workers; Hispanic workers have a rate nearly 40% higher than white, non-Hispanic workers, and both suffer wage disparities.
In the 1930s, during the Great Depression, the government instituted job programs and put millions to work. Today, President Obama has announced that it is not the government’s job to create the needed number of jobs. In fact, the Obama administration has advocated a totally inadequate plan that would provide less than two million new jobs.
Compounding these dire circumstances, social safety net programs, like food stamps and unemployment compensation, including for those suffering long-term joblessness, have been cut across the board on the national, state, and local levels and will likely be cut again, especially in light of the recent decision by the House to push through a farm bill without food stamps.
Whatever recovery there has been from the Great Recession has resulted in income gains concentrated at the top. This division in economic gains is not new. It extends and reinforces the trend toward Gilded Age inequality that has been going on for four decades. In 2010, 93 percent of all new income that was created went to the wealthiest 1 percent of the population.
The attacks on African Americans and people of color have continued unabated, as witnessed by the brutal murder of Trayvon Martin and the exoneration of his killer. This on top of the June 25 Supreme Court decision that gutted the Voting Rights Act.
It’s high time for all victims of austerity cuts, potential victims of further cuts in the near and long-term future — particularly low-income and poor people — along with communities of color, students, environmentalists and other sectors of the population reeling from the deteriorating conditions under which we live to come together to fight collectively for our rights and achieve a new wave of social progress.
We demand that the federal government create tens of millions of good paying jobs to rebuild our crumbling infrastructure, protect the environment, and rehire laid-off teachers and other essential public workers.
These jobs will partially pay for themselves, because workers with decent jobs pay more in taxes and don’t need unemployment compensation or food stamps. But of course there will be some costs. that can be paid for by more tax revenues from corporations, banks and the rich, financial transfer taxes, and ending the 12-year Afghanistan war — which would save $10 billion a month — while saving tens of billions more by avoiding further unjust wars and occupations.
Join tens of thousands of people in Washington on August 24 to commemorate the ideals of Rev. King and the 1963 March. Renew the call for jobs, freedom, and economic justice, and work to make civil and economic rights a reality for all!

Labor Organizations Endorsing the March on Washington

American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees
International Brotherhood of Teamsters
United Steelworkers
Laborers International Union of North America
Communications Workers of America
American Federation of Government Employees
UNITE-HERE
Service Employees International Union
United Food and Commercial Workers
Farm Labor Organizing Committee
American Federation of Teachers
International Association of Machinists
1199-SEIU
District 1199C, National Union of Hospital and Health Care Employees, AFSCME, AFL-CIO
North Shore AFL-CIO Federation of Labor (Cleveland, Ohio)
New Jersey State Industrial Union Council
South Carolina AFL-CIO
San Francisco Labor Council
Coalition of Black Trade Unionists
A. Philip Randolph Institute
Pennsylvania Federation Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employees–International Brotherhood of Teamsters
Utility Workers Union of America Local 601
AFSCME New Jersey Council 1
Communications Workers of America Local 1082
Communications Workers of America Local 1081
Communications Workers of America Local 1080
Service Employees International Union Local 668
Amalgamated Transit Union Local 819
Amalgamated Transit Union New Jersey State Council
Savannah Regional Central Labor Council, AFL-CIO
Rutgers University American Association of University Professors–American Federation of Teachers
Council of New Jersey State College Locals, AFT, AFL-CIO
Labor Fightback Network

If your union wishes to endorse the March on Washington, click here

To download a printable flyer for the March on Washington, click here (requires Adobe Acrobat Reader)

March Jobs Report Lays Bare Pain of Budgetary Sequester

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 06 Apr 2013 22:51:00 +0000

(DETROIT, April 5) – This morning, the Department of Labor announced that employers in the United States increased their payrolls by individuals for the month of March – less than half of the estimates and far below the February jobs growth of 268,000. Following the release of the Bureau of Labor Statistics report, Congressman John Conyers, Jr. (D-Mich.) released this statement:

“With this unacceptable March jobs report it has become all too clear that the budgetary sequester, which arbitrarily cuts government spending by $85 billion this year alone and $1.2 trillion over the decade, has begun to hit the brakes on the country’s economic engine,” said Conyers.

“For many, the sequester seemed abstract when it went into effect a month ago. However, the disappointing number of 88,000 jobs filled or created for the month of March, on the heels of an overwhelming 268,000 increase in payrolls for the month of February, demonstrates the real pain that the sequester has just begun to inflict on our economy. And unfortunately, this is only the beginning, as more than 750,000 jobs are expected to be slashed across the country this year alone.

“For the last 37 months, the U.S. economy has had positive private sector job growth, totaling more than 6.4 million jobs. I seek to continue on this path towards full employment, but as the sequester begins to hit home it is all too apparent that these self-induced cuts are impeding economic progress. It is for this reason that last month I introduced H.R. 900, the ‘Cancel the Sequester Act of 2013.’ It is only a single line, but with one sentence Congress can repeal the part of the law that created the sequester.

“The March jobs report should be a warning sign to my colleagues of things to come. We cannot continue to hold the economy hostage with deep, across the board spending cuts when the gainful employment of working class families is on the line. I strongly advocate for the repeal of the sequester, and I urge Speaker Boehner to hold a vote on my legislation cancelling it.”

###

Crossposted to www.PutAmericaToWork.net
Endorse HR 1000 - The Humphrey Hawkins 21st Century Employment and Training Act

HR 1000 Reintroduced on March 6!!

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 07 Mar 2013 00:07:00 +0000

HR 1000, the Humphrey-Hawkins 21st Century Full Employment and Training Act, was reintroduced by Rep. John Conyers (D-MI) on March 6, 2013. This transformative federal legislation would create a national public service jobs program to complement job creation efforts in the private and nonprofit sectors.

Most notably, the bill "aims to provide a job to any American that seeks work, and to ultimately, create a full employment society."

HR 1000 creates a national "Full Employment and Training Trust Fund," funded by a small Financial Transactions Tax on stock, bond and derivatives transactions. This would create a major new national funding source large enough to create 2.5 to 4 million jobs in the first two years of the program. The bill would also provide much additional funding to support innovative job training programs, such as one-stop career centers, YouthBuild and Job Corps, among others.

(Previous versions of HR 1000 were introduced in 2010 and 2011 (HR 870 and HR 4277)).

For more information, read HR 1000 and the bill summary.

Download Full Text of HR 1000

Download Bill Summary

Sign our Petition!!

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 10 Feb 2013 14:22:00 +0000

Poster from the WPA Work Programs of the 1930s

Join the movement for Jobs for All by signing the petition to Congress to enact HR 1000, the Humphrey Hawkins 21st Century Full Employment and Training Act, introduced by Rep. John Conyers (D-MI).

Promote the link to the petition: >> http://www.blastroots.com/campaign/put-america-to-work

Detropia film released

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 25 Sep 2012 00:28:00 +0000

Detropia

Detroit's story has encapsulated the iconic narrative of America over the last century— the Great Migration of African Americans escaping Jim Crow; the rise of manufacturing and the middle class; the love affair with automobiles; the flowering of the American dream; and now . . . the collapse of the economy and the fading American mythos. With its vivid, painterly palette and haunting score, DETROPIA sculpts a dreamlike collage of a grand city teetering on the brink of dissolution. These soulful pragmatists and stalwart philosophers strive to make ends meet and make sense of it all, refusing to abandon hope or resistance. Their grit and pluck embody the spirit of the Motor City as it struggles to survive postindustrial America and begins to envision a radically different future.

- by Caroline Libresco

Visit Detropia web site

National Organizations Endorse HR 4277!

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 27 Aug 2012 21:57:00 +0000

Three resolutions featuring HR 4277 and related jobs legislation have been passed by national organizations in the last several months, including AFSCME, the Labor Council for Latin American Advancement, and the National Organization for Women!!

See below for the text of the resolutions.

Help build momentum for HR 4277 and a national jobs program by passing a resolution in your religious, labor, civic or community organization, or passing a local resolution in your city, county or state legislature!

And, please let us know if you do suceed in passing a resolution, so we can keep track of endorsements and list them on this web site.

Much thanks and appreciation to Ed Rosario of LCLAA for his help in advancing the resolutions at AFSCME and LCLAA, and to our good friends at National Organization for Women for speaking out so clearly on the jobs crisis and the benefits of HR 4277.

Recently Passed Resolutions that Feature HR 4277

AFSCME 2012 Convention Amended Jobs Resolution -- passed at 40th International Convention, 6/18-22/12, Los Angeles, CA

Labor Council for Latin American Advancement (LCLAA) Resolution -- passed at National Confereence, 7/26-28/12, Orlando, FL

National Organization For Women (NOW) Resolution -- passed at National Conference, Baltimore, MD 7/1/12
Draft New York City Resolution in Support of HR 870/HR 4277 (pending)

Other resources for passing local jobs resolutions:

Local Jobs Resolution Toolkit, from Cities for Progress

The text of the AFSCME Resolution follows below:

40^th INTERNATIONAL CONVENTION

LOS ANGELES CONVENTION CENTER June 18 – 22, 2012

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA

AFSCME Support for Federal Jobs Acts

1. WHEREAS:

2. There is a jobs crisis in which mass unemployment continues to take its toll. At any given time during the Great Recession and its aftermath in the United States about 14 – 15 million people are officially unemployed (forced to work part-time or want a job but are not looking often because they can’t find one). 16 – 18 million full-time workers earn less than the poverty level. That means about 44 million people and their families are casualties of the jobs crisis; and

3. WHEREAS:

4. Even before the Great Recession, millions were unemployed, underemployed and underpaid; and

5. WHEREAS:

6. America’s roads need repair, our bridges are eroding, our children need more teachers, parents lack affordable childcare, seniors lack elder care, millions lack adequate healthcare, affordable housing is under siege, and we must green our economy; and

7. WHEREAS:

8. All of these needs can and should be met by the federal government; and

9. WHEREAS:

10. This was done during the Great Depression of the 1930’s when Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal put millions of the unemployed to work doing useful jobs that have made a lasting contribution to our nation – roads, bridges, schools, libraries, housing, parks, arts, culture and much more; and

11. WHEREAS:

12. The labor movement and all its affiliates and supporters need to support the passage of legislation that guarantees a living-wage job to all who want one. Steps in that direction are: 1. HR 4277 (Rep. John Conyers, D-MI) The Humphrey-Hawkins 21^st Century Full Employment and Training Act – would create a national jobs program, including 2.6 to 3.9 million jobs over the first two years, in affordable housing, neighborhood rehabilitation, energy conservation and weatherization, infrastructure repair, education, and human services; 2. The Emergency Jobs to Restore the American Dream Act – HR 2914 (Rep. Jan Schakowsky, D-IL) would create, 2.2 million public service jobs in school construction and maintenance, park improvement and restoration, education, child care, law enforcement, health care, energy conservation, and affordable housing; 3. The National Infrastructure Development Bank Act of 2011 HR 402 (Rep. Rosa DeLauro D-Con.) establishes a National Infrastructure Development Bank, an independent body designed to evaluate and finance infrastructure projects of substantial regional and national significance. (A similar bill, S-652, the Senate BUILD Act introduced by Sen. John Kerry would establish an American Infrastructure Financing Authority - AIFA); 4. S. 2252, the Rebuild America Act, introduced by Sen. Tom Harkin in March, a comprehensive bill to invest in roads, bridges and schools, raise the minimum wage, and reform trade policies and the tax code; and

13. WHEREAS:

14. Privatization, deregulation and outsourcing are tools for unionbusting and a major source of job loss; and

15. WHEREAS:

16. Legislation is needed to create jobs and we need to organize and demand for it now!

17. THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED:

18. The AFSMCE 40^th International Convention being held at Los Angeles, CA – June 18 – 22, 2012, endorse, lobby and mobilize for the passage of the Humphrey-Hawkins 21^st Century Full Employment and Training Act, the Emergency Jobs to Restore the American Dream Act and the National Infrastructure Development Bank Act of 2011, the BUILD Act, and the Rebuild America Act; and

19. THEREFORE BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED:

20. AFSCME urge all its affiliates and friends of labor to endorse, lobby and mobilize for the passage of the Humphrey-Hawkins 21^st Century Full Employment and Training Act, the Emergency Jobs to Restore the American Dream Act and the National Infrastructure Development Bank Act of 2011, the BUILD Act, and the Rebuild America Act; and

21. THEREFORE BE IT FINALLY RESOLVED:

22. That AFSCME and all its affiliates mobilize against all schemes that embrace the privatization, deregulation and outsourcing of jobs and in support of legislation that would employ millions of jobless workers here in the United States at decent pay and for the improvement of the quality of life through repair and expansion of our physical and social infrastructure.

SUBMITTED BY; Behrouz Fathi, President and Delegate

Frank G. Thomas, Executive Chair and Delegate

AFSMCE Council 37

Local 375, The Civil Service Technical Guild

New York, New York

How Did Congress Vote on Jobs Issues?

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 27 Aug 2012 21:15:00 +0000

In the national media, a lot of attention is being given to the Presidential race between President Obama and Mitt Romney.

But when voters go to the polls, they will also need to assess whether Congress has been doing enough to enact legislation to create jobs. Many members of Congress have staunchly opposed the American Jobs Act proposed by President Obama, and other legislation to create jobs by investing in infrastructure and public services.

How can voters find out how their member of Congress voted on jobs legislation, and other matters that affect labor rights?

Three resources for looking up Congressional Voting Records on Jobs Issues are:

AFL-CIO Scorecard (2012 and prior years)

SEIU.org Key Votes

UFCW Congressional Scorecard

Workers Stand for America -- Mass Mobilization In Philadelphia

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 10 Aug 2012 13:30:00 +0000

From: WorkersStandForAmerica.com

Join Us in Philly!

11 a.m. Saturday, August 11, 2012

Eakins Oval
26th Street and the Benjamin Franklin Parkway
Philadelphia, PA 19130

NEW: LIVE DIGITAL COVERAGE ON AUGUST 11TH... (click for more info)

America's Second Bill of Rights

We the People want to strengthen our nation, as a beacon of equality, economic opportunity and freedom for all. We hold these rights to be essential to our vision of America and believe that the principles contained therein should guide our government, business leaders, organizations and individuals in our common goal of a just and fair society.

The Right to Full Employment and a Living Wage:

All Americans willing and able to work have the right to safe, gainful employment at a fair and livable wage. We call on the public and private sectors to invest in America’s infrastructure and promote industrial development, maintaining job creation as a top policy priority.

The Right to Full Participation in the Electoral Process:

Recent initiatives to disenfranchise citizens seek to reduce the rolls of eligible voters and empower money instead of people. We believe these actions constitute an assault on our nation’s democracy and history of heroic struggle against voting restrictions based upon property ownership, religion, race and gender and call for reinforcing our fundamental right to vote.

The Right to a Voice at Work:

All workers have the right of freedom of association in the workplace, including the right to collectively bargain with their employer to improve wages, benefits and working conditions.

The Right to a Quality Education:

Education is a fundamental bedrock of our democracy, vital to America’s competitive position in the world and the principal means by which citizens empower themselves to participate in our nation's economic and political systems. Quality, affordable education should be universally available from pre-kindergarten to college level, including an expanded use of apprenticeships and specialty skills training to prepare Americans for the workplace.

The Right to a Secure, Healthy Future:

Americans have the right to a baseline level of health care, unemployment insurance and retirement security, all of which have been badly eroded by the disruption of the social compact that served the nation well for decades. We call on government and private industry together to confront the issues of declining access to health care especially for children, weakening of unemployment coverage, and inadequate pension plans that undermine the ability of working men and women to retire in dignity, even as Social Security and Medicare are under strain and threatened with cutbacks.

Endorse the Second Bill of Rights at WorkersStandForAmerica.com

Click to Download the "Bill of Rights"in Printable PDF format

Click to Download the "Sign-up Sheet" in Printable PDF format

Rep. Jesse Jackson Introduces Legislation to Raise National Minimum Wage to $10

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 16 Jul 2012 23:18:00 +0000

Representative Jesse Jackson Jr. (D-IL) is joined by, left to right, Ralph Nader, Representative Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) and Representative John Conyers (D-MI) at a press conference outside the US Capitol on June 6, 2012, to call for an increase in the minimum wage. Photo by George Zornick. Photo coutesy of the Nation (read Zornick blog)

HR 5901 - Text of legislation (23 cosponsors as of 7/15/2012)

Press Release

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 6, 2012

CONTACT: FRANK E. WATKINS

202.225.0773

THE CATCHING UP TO 1968 ACT OF 2012 - A $10 PER HOUR MINIMUM WAGE

Statement By Congressman Jesse L. Jackson, Jr.

Attached please find legislation - the Catching Up To 1968 Act of 2012 - that I will introduce in the House of Representatives today regarding raising the minimum wage to $10 per hour. That may sound like a hefty wage increase but it doesn't fully equal the purchasing power of the minimum wage in 1968 - which today would be closer to $11 per hour. The bill is really only allowing American workers a degree of "catch-up." Thus the name and theme around the bill: "Catching Up To 1968." Of course, the current federal minimum wage has been $7.25 per hour since 2007.

The Catching Up To 1968 Act of 2012 contains four basic elements:

It raises the minimum wage to $10.00 per hour;
The minimum wage is raised immediately - not gradually as in the past - beginning 60 days after the date of enactment; and
Beginning one year after the $10.00 per hour minimum wage takes effect, and each year thereafter, the minimum wage will be indexed in proportion to the increase in the Consumer Price Index (CPI).
For workers earning their living on the basis of tips, the cash wage paid to such an employee is to be 70% of the minimum wage when the law takes effect, but in no case less than $5.50 an hour, adjusted annually as necessary thereafter.

The bill will affect more than 30 million workers and give the economy an immediate boost by significantly increasing aggregate demand. Most economists that I've talked with said there was no economic reason to increase it incrementally over a couple of years.

Raising the federal minimum wage and indexing it to keep up with inflation has been supported historically by 70% of the American people. The AFL-CIO, National Council of La Raza, civil rights organizations, Ralph Nader, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and many others have all supported raising it and indexing it. Even Rick Santorum (as Senator) and Mitt Romney (while Governor), believed in raising the minimum wage and Mr. Romney wanted to index it to inflation. If Mr. Romney had put it into effect during his time as Governor of Massachusetts, it would now be around $10 per hour in that state.

$10 per hour at 40 hours per week is $400. $400 times 52 weeks equals $20,800 annually. As of 2010, the average income in the US per person was $40,584 (per capita personal income).

A $10 minimum wage, after years of windfall price increases and executive compensation windfalls at labor’s expense, would annually pump tens of billions of dollars into greater consumer (or aggregate) demand by low-income families in this depressed economy.

The federal minimum wage, covered by the 1938 Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), operates as a floor. States and communities have the leeway to set higher livable wage standards and cover more workers - and a few do. Ten states have indexed the minimum wage to inflation.

Throughout the 1950s and 1960s the minimum wage represented nearly 50 percent of average wages for private-sector, non-supervisory workers. But in 2010, that figure had fallen to only 38 percent. The purchasing power of the minimum wage plummeted in the 1980s when Congress did not increase it from January 1981 to April 1990.

In 2007, Congress raised the federal minimum wage by $2.10 per hour—from $5.15 to $7.25 per hour—as a first step toward restoring its historical value, providing an additional $1.6 billion annually in increased wages. It's now time to complete the job and index it into the future.

Research has shown no job loss resulting from reasonable minimum wage increases, even when the economy is struggling. On the contrary, to fix the underlying weakness of our economy, we must boost aggregate demand and increase the purchasing power of millions of low-wage workers—and one proven and effective way of doing that is to raise the federal minimum wage.

In conclusion, I want to especially thank Ralph Nader for encouraging me to introduce this legislation. While he has not been able to secure the presidency, he has been right on the issues and for his vast contributions to the betterment of our country, every American should be grateful.

-30-

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Rep. Jesse Jackson Introduces Legislation to Raise National Minimum Wage to $10

MEMPHIS

TRI-STATE JOBS FOR ALL
TOWN HALL MEETING

9 AM - 2 PM (doors open 8:30 AM)

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Labor Center - AFSCME

485 Beale Street
Memphis, TN

Join Us in Philly!

11 a.m. Saturday, August 11, 2012

Eakins Oval
26th Street and the Benjamin Franklin Parkway
Philadelphia, PA 19130