Jobs with Justice Rallies to Support Verizon Workers

This past Saturday, December 10th, more than forty activists from Colorado Jobs with Justice rallied to tell Verizon to bargain fairly with its workers. All across the East Coast, forty five thousand CWA and IBEW members are trying to hold on to middle class jobs, but the massively-profitable Verizon wants to cut starting pay, force retirees to pay up to $6,000 a year for healthcare they've already earned, make it easier to outsource jobs, and cut pensions. Jobs with Justice coalitions across the country have been taking action in solidarity.



Here in Denver, in front of the Verizon Wireless store on the 16th Street Mall, the gathered crowd heard from Mary Taylor, Vice President of District 7 for CWA, Brother David Garner of Interfaith Worker Justice, and Seth Donovan, Co-Chair for Colorado Jobs with Justice. Mary Taylor said CWA is "proud of the fact that [we've] worked hard to make sure our member have stable middle-class jobs. . .what Verizon is doing is not just an attack on its own workers, but an attack on working people across the country." Brother David Garner emphasized that this struggle "must be seen in a moral context" because "we believe in people over profits. . .but profits over people is in the corporate DNA."


Last but not least, Seth Donovan from Jobs with Justice spoke to why JwJ turned out for our sisters and brothers at Verizon: We all took the Be There Pledge to show up for others' fights as well as our own, to stand against corporate greed and for workers' rights, and Jobs with Justice promised to show up to support Verizon workers. Thanks to everyone who showed up to help us keep that promise!

For more pictures from the rally, go here.

Time to stand up for Jeanette Vizguerra

by David Garner
posted orginally at examiner.com

Jeanette Vizguerra, a Colorado leader and mother of four, faces what may be her final court date on July 13. She faces deportation as an undocumented alien. Jeanette has lived in Colorado for over 14 years. She has 3 small children who are all US citizens

During her time in Colorado, she started a small business with her husband and has given selflessly as a community activist. She worked for SEIU as a labor organizer and currently volunteers at her children’s schools. She is part of the the Aurora Neighborhood Watch Program, and Rights for All People.  During the time she was doing all of this, her husband was diagnosed with cancer and the family incurred over twenty eight thousand dollars in medical bills. By working sometimes as many as three jobs at one time, this debt was retired. Not one dime of tax payer money went toward helping the family because, in Jeanette’s words, “It wouldn’t have been right.”  In any other situation, and most any other country, all of this would have qualified Jeanette for a Citizen of the Year award.  But not in our community and not in this country at this time in our nation’ history.

Jeanette’s story exemplifies our broken immigration system in which mothers, fathers, students, and workers are criminalized for minor violations. In her case, it was a matter of an expired emissions sticker. When she was pulled over, the first question asked was “Are you in this country illegally?” With that traffic stop, she entered the criminal justice system and became a statistic.

In testifying before the US Senate Committee on the Judiciary on March 9 of this year, Secretary of Interior Janet Napolitano said the following: “Likeour actions at the border, our interior enforcement efforts are achieving major results. In Fiscal Years 2009 and 2010, ICE removed more illegal immigrants from our country than ever before, with more than 779,000 removals nationwide in the last two years. Most importantly, more than half of those aliens removed last year – upwards of 195,000 – were convicted criminals, the most ever removed from our country in a single year.”There is a good chance that Jeanette Vizguerra will join that number.

Mark Twain once wrote that “there are three kinds of lies: plain lies, damned lies and statistics.” Our immigration policy is based upon the third kind of lie. It is time we change that. There will be a demonstration prior to Jeanette’s court appearance. It will be at 7:30Am in front of the federal court building at 17th and Welton in downtown Denver. It is your chance to help in this change.


Br. David received his doctorate in religious studies from Emerson Theological Institute. Dr. Garner also holds an MBA from Fairleigh Dickinson University and a bachelor of arts degree from the University of Denver. Br. David is a member of the Interfaith Worker Justice Council of Colorado and serves on the Steering Committee of the Abrahamic Initiative here in Denver. He was recently recognized by the Denver Area Chapter of the Labor Council for Latin American Advancement for his commitment to the community and to the Latino Movement. Author, teacher and social activist , he is currently Abbot of St. Dunstan's Benedictine Abbey in Denver, Colorado.

Regis University Ends Relationship with Sodexo

by Victoria Harris

After a student and faculty campaign to raise awareness about Sodexo’s practices, Regis has ended its relationship with Sodexo.

Students on campus were concerned that they weren’t getting what they were paying for.  Regis students described the campaign “ 'I Love Sodexo Workers’  as an effort to bring awareness to the fact that Sodexo, one of the biggest food service providers for college campuses here in the US, and also at Regis, has been accused of paying poverty wages, cutting hours, and offering its employees unaffordable health insurance.  Meanwhile students are paying high prices for low quality food, and contributing their money to a corporation that mistreats its employees.   The purpose of the campaign is that we want to show Sodexo workers that we appreciate them, but find that Sodexo as a company does not fit in with the Regis motto of 'How Ought We to Live?"

Students wore purple on campus to show support for workers rights and to send a message to Sodexo management and university decision makers.  Students also filled out hundreds of comment cards, reflecting on the poor quality of food and their continuing support of the workers.  "The workers are the only reason why I still eat at Sodexo. The food is AWFUL! But the workers try to make your eating experiences better,” said one Regis student. Another student comments, “"The workers here deserve better. We are a Jesuit University, let's start acting like one!"

In a speech to classmates in the Sodexo dining hall, Jon Denzler stated, “Workers have a right to organize, have decent pay, and affordable health care benefits. We think at Regis University, as a Jesuit School, when we ask “How Ought We to Live?” maybe our campus food providers should fit into that model as well.  We also think that whoever the food service provider is, the workers should be hired back.  These aren’t just workers, they are our friends.”

The new food service provider, Bon Apetit, will be on campus beginning in July.

Build Power. Fight Back. Win!

By jwjnational, on May 26th, 2011

JOBS WITH JUSTICE NATIONAL CONFERENCE AUGUST 5-7, 2011 IN WASHINGTON, DC

Corporations want to use the failing economy as an excuse to reverse every worker protection put in place over the last century, but we are standing together and fighting back!

Come to the Jobs with Justice conference to learn from and strategize with labor leaders, rank & file workers, students, religious leaders, community activists, workers excluded from labor law protection, and many, many more about how to build a powerful movement of working people to defeat the corporate agenda! Join us as we explore:

Establishing a new framework for collective bargaining rights in the 21st century

Building a new economy that supports full & fair employment

From the Middle East to the Midwest, building a culture of resistance – what’s next?

Defending, promoting, & expanding collective bargaining rights

Defeating attacks that divide workers by turning the tide on immigration criminalization & enforcement

Forging successful coalitions to defeat the corporate attack on working people

Kickoff to the Jobs with Justice 25th Anniversary Celebration

REGISTER NOW! Early bird rates in effect until June 24th.

HIGHLIGHTS OF

Continue reading Build Power. Fight Back. Win!

After Three Years, Reynolds Agrees to Meet with Tobacco Workers | AFL-CIO NOW BLOG

After Three Years, Reynolds Agrees to Meet with Tobacco Workers by James Parks, May 15, 2011

Tobacco workers march in front of Reynolds American headquarters last week.

In a major turnaround, officials of Reynolds American, who have refused for three years to meet with representatives of tobacco workers, agreed last week to look into the labor practices in their supply chain and work with other parties, including the Farm Labor Organizing Committee (FLOC) to ensure they are not complicit with human rights violations.

More than 50 FLOC members entered theReynolds American shareholders’ meeting last week in Winston-Salem, N.C., to deliver a report on the horrible conditions in the fields. Nearly 100,000 immigrant tobacco workers in North Carolina are paid sub-minimum wages and are exposed to dangerous conditions in the fields.

The FLOC representatives pressed company executives to ensure that this new stance is more than just words and is backed up with serious action, including meeting with farmworkers and their representatives. No date for a meeting has yet been set.

Continue reading After Three Years, Reynolds Agrees to Meet with Tobacco Workers | AFL-CIO NOW BLOG

BREAKING NEWS: The National Labor Relations Board Doing Its Job: GOP Upset

by Russell Bannan

The National Labor Relations Board filed a complaint against Boeing for violating sections of the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA).   In its complaint, the board said that Boeing’s decision to move a production line to South Carolina was illegal retaliation against union workers for a previous strike and would discourage employees from striking again in the future (employees went out on a 58-day strike in 2008 over a contract dispute).

The board explained that Boeing officials had clearly, in both interoffice communications and in a news interview, stated that the move to South Carolina was to avoid potential work stoppages.  According to the NLRA, it is illegal for employers to retaliate against workers for striking or for engaging in protected concerted activity.

The GOP quickly began defending the corporation by verbally attacking the board for holding Boeing accountable to the law.  South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley stated several times that the board is “bullying” employers. “The administration, I believe, is acting like thugs that you might see in a third-world country, trying to bully and intimidate employers,” stated Senator Jim Demint (dictionary.com defines “bully” as “a blustering, quarrelsome, overbearing person who habitually badgers and intimidates”).

Also now Senator Lindsey Graham is threatening to defund the NLRB.  Why? He doesn’t agree with the board’s complaint against Boeing.  Sen. Graham’s threat to defund the board would be like someone threatening to defund the Supreme Court because they did not agree with a decision made.  South Carolina politicians have a history of staging flamboyant political theatre when they do not get their way.¹

The GOP’s recent bullying has made one thing crystal clear:  they will stand to defend corporations; not working people.

¹ Senator Strom Thurmond has the record for the longest filibuster, speaking for 24 hours and 18 minutes in a failed effort to stop the Civil Rights Act of 1957. More recently Joe Wilson continued the tradition by yelling “You Lie!” at President Obama.

The title for this article came from the Mario Solis-Marich show in the interview below.
Listen to AM 760's Mario Solis-Marich interview with Russell Bannan about the GOP's attack on the NLRB

Wisconsin: The Implications

by Russell Bannan

originally published in the Colorado Labor Advocate

Wisconsin public sector unions face a sobering truth after nine weeks of over 100,000 activists in the streets --- no contracts.

Wisconsin Republicans with the leadership of Governor Scott Walker railroaded through the “budget repair” bill on March 9, which will strip many public sector unions of almost all of their collective bargaining rights.  Although it is currently tied up in the legal process many expect the bill to eventually take effect.

This may seem like a statement we should be depressed about, but it is not.  It is a statement we should be proud of.  Out of the nine week struggle came forth a realization that all of us, together, must fight back.  Out of the nine week struggle rose up unprecedented solidarity across the country speaking out loud enough that a sleeping giant awoke---the labor movement.

The implications of what has already taken place in Wisconsin are now being felt across the country. Governors are using the budget crisis to justify cutting resources to public programs and blaming teachers, firefighters, and nurses who exercise their right to collectively speak together to advocate for safety and economic democracy as the problem.  Why? Politicians receive financial contributions from the same individuals and corporations that are not contributing to the community by paying their fair share in taxes.

Dennis Kucinich, U.S. representative from Ohio, stated it best at a rally in Wisconsin:

This attack on our workers, this attack in Washington on working people that results in wealth being accelerated to the top, that results in tax cuts going to the rich, that results in energy policy turned over to the oil companies, that results in defense policy turned over to the arms manufacturers, that results in endless war, that results in the National security State, it's all a part of the same thing, and it's up to us to FIGHT BACK!

So now working people are being asked to bear the budget on their backs. The question is: Will we?