Monday, December 28, 2009

Mass Movement Needed to Raise Wages, Create Good Jobs for All

Jobs Crisis

By GREGORY N. HEIRES
Public Employee Press, January 2010
District Council 37, AFSCME, AFL-CIO

With the unemployment rate at 10 percent, workers are growing increasingly anxious over the disappearance of secure jobs with decent wages and benefits.

“Good jobs are the central economic issue of our times,” said DC 37 Executive Director Lillian Roberts. “The high rate of unemployment is a wake-up call about the need to make the economy work better for ordinary people, not just the bankers and Wall Street elite.”

With a rebound of stock prices and modest economic growth, many mainstream economists are saying the Great Recession may be ending. But norecession is over until working people who want a job are back at work.

The jobs crisis facing our country is undeniable:

· one in five Americans is unemployed or underemployed, or has given up hope and stopped looking for work;
· only one job is available for every six Americans seeking work;
· unemployment now lasts for an average of six months, the longest since the 1930s, and
· when workers find a new job, it usually pays less than their old one.

Trade unionists, academics and religious and community activists gathered at the Interchurch Center on Riverside Drive Nov. 13 and at DC 37 Nov. 14 for a national conference on jobs. The National Jobs for All Coalition, a full-employment advocacy group, organized the conference with the support of DC 37 and other unions and organizations.

DC 37 Assistant Associate Director Henry Garrido served on the conference steering committee and Roberts spoke on a panel. She described the union’s fight to help low-wage workers, including DC 37 members in the city’s Jobs Training Program for former welfare recipients, as well as exploited employees of city contractors.

Moved by the urgency of the jobs crisis, participants pledged to organize a nationwide movement to fight for decent jobs with an eye toward a march on Washington in 2010. “Change will not come about without a mass movement,” said Coalition Chair Gertrude Schaffner Goldberg, who heads the Ph.D. program in Social Work at Adelphi University.

Reserve army of labor

Robert Pollin, a professor of economics at the University of Massachusetts, underscored the importance of steady work for individuals and the country, noting that people derive their sense of self-worth from their jobs and the government relies on their taxes to fund federal services. High unemployment, he said, can devastate individuals and families and pit worker against worker in the competition for jobs among the “reserve army of the unemployed.”

Pollin said the current jobs crisis is rooted in the abandonment of the national commitment to full employment that Franklin D. Roosevelt and Democratic presidents promoted during the New Deal and through the 1960s. In the 1970s, neoliberal policymakers abandoned the goal of full employment to focus on controlling inflation to protect wealthy investors while conservatives pushed to cut taxes, reduce government services and deregulate the labor and financial markets. These policies have caused greater economic inequality and undermined union power. Wages used to rise in tandem with workers’ productivity, but that hasn’t been true in the last three decades.

During the expansion of the 1960s, the median income of middle-income families rose 33 percent, adjusted for inflation. But in the “boom” of the early 2000s, their income rose only 1.6 percent. If the minimum wage had kept up with productivity over the past 30 years, it would be $19 an hour rather than $7.25.

President Ronald Reagan smashed the air traffic controllers’ strike in 1981 and intensified the assault on unions, whose membership since then has dropped from 22 percent of the labor force to less than 12 percent.

Speakers and participants at the conference had several suggestions for addressing the jobs crisis:

· shifting resources from the military sector of the economy toward clean energy, education and health care, which produce more jobs (see chart);
· supporting the Employee Free Choice Act to increase unionization;
· fighting for living wage laws to improve opportunities for less-educated workers
· raising the federal minimum wage;
· extending unemployment benefits, and
· increasing aid to state and local governments to preserve jobs and services threatened by the loss of tax revenues.

Speaker Glen Ford, executive editor of the online Black Agenda Report, said it makes little sense to talk about creating jobs without first addressing employment discrimination and the high incarceration rate of Black men.

Government action

At a forum Dec. 4 at the Murphy Institute in New York City, panelists Steven C. Pitts, an economist at the University of California, Berkeley, and David Jones, president of the Community Service Society of New York, said raising union representation and rebuilding an alliance with the white progressive community are critical to creating good jobs in the Black community.

With official employment affecting 15.4 million people, hidden employment hitting 15.3 million and the nation’s working poor estimated at 30 million, people at the Nov. 13-14 conference called for a jobs program modeled after the New Deal and urged the Obama administration to carry out a second stimulus package. Given the private sector’s failure to create jobs, conferees generally felt it’s up to the government to solve the jobs crisis.

The Congressional Budget Office estimates that President Barack Obama’s $787 billion economic stimulus plan protected or created up to 1.6 million jobs. Many of those jobs are in the public sector, where tax revenue has fallen because of the weak economy.

On Dec. 3, the Obama administration held a jobs summit at the White House. Obama told the gathering that the administration would consider “every demonstrably good idea” for job creation. But he said that while government can play a “critical role” in establishing economic conditions for growth, “ultimately, true economic recovery is only going to come from the private sector.”

Coinciding with Obama’s jobs summit, the labor movement issued its own plan. The AFL-CIO called for extending assistance to unemployed workers; rebuilding public schools, energy systems and roads; increasing aid to cities and states to maintain jobs and services; supporting community-based job initiatives, and directing unused funds from the bank bailout to help small- and medium-sized business get credit.

In a talk at the Brookings Institution on Dec. 8, Obama outlined a series of proposals to help small businesses and promote jobs. These included tapping the unused $200 billion in the bank bailout for jobs creation, rebates to homeowners who make energy-saving weatherization improvements, business tax incentives and increasing stimulus plan spending on public infrastructure.

“The president really does understand the urgency of job creation,” said AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka after the White House summit. “He said it numerous times: jobs, jobs, jobs.”

[ Note: this article appears in the January 2010 issue of the Public Employee Press ]

Thursday, December 3, 2009

Organize and Build Community Power for Direct Public Job Creation!!

December 3, 2009

Dear Jobs Advocate,

Our November 13-14 National Conference to Create Living Wage Jobs, Meet Human Needs and Sustain the Environment greatly exceeded our expectations. Over 125 attendees came representing over 50 organizations. The diversity of attendees was as impressive as their numbers. People came from Atlanta, Chicago, California and many points in between. Participating organizations spanned the broad range of constituencies we need to mobilize to achieve the conference goals of jobs for all at a living wage. The religious community, labor, community non-profits and employment policy experts all participated.

The passion that the speakers, panelists and audience members expressed at the conference was contagious. Equally striking to us was the widespread agreement on the essential components of a jobs program: that besides promoting a decent, living wage job for all who want to work, it should be long-term, address the shortfall of social investment and the lack of the human services needed to build a good society, and include a significant role for the public sector.

So, where do we go from here?

We -- and attendees like you -- have lots of ideas. There have been suggestions that similar events be held in other parts of the country so that those who came to NYC can kindle the excitement about a jobs program in their own region. Others are urging development of legislative proposals as the basis of a national political campaign. Today, December 3, President Obama is holding a jobs summit at the White House that offers an opportunity to advance the jobs agenda into the national policy debate And there is talk of a mass mobilization for jobs in D.C. sometime in late 2010 or early 2011.

All of these – and more – ideas are good ones. We are excited by the willingness of so many to stay involved on this issue. We are writing to ask if you would continue to work with us on the goal of achieving living wage jobs for all of our people. We envision an ongoing grassroots and national advocacy network, led by a Continuation Committee representing the array of groups and constituencies that were with us in NYC. This Continuation Committee would have several functions:

Communication & Coordination -- the Continuation Committee will provide a vehicle for sharing information among us on the wide range of local and state initiatives on jobs, and provide a means to coordinate between different locales to increase the impact of actions that have been initiated in one place and that others find useful.

Organizing and Outreach – The Committee would also work to recruit additional religious, labor, community and policy organizations to form an ongoing national advocacy network that supports public job creation and social investment.

Tools Development and Resource Center -- The Continuation Committee would also lead efforts to compile resources resources and ideas that could be drawn upon by groups around the country in their work. A variety of proposals were made to carry out local "demonstration projects" to raise the visibility of the jobs crisis and engage community members. We can create and disseminate simple tools such as local unemployment report cards, resolutions for state and local legislatures, guides to organizing community hearings and "truth commissions," community jobs needs assessments, etc.

Strategy Development, Resource Mobilization, and Organizing -- Finally, and most ambitiously, the Committee could be charged with developing a political strategy around the living wage jobs for all agenda, and developing a political campaign on this issue that is strong and vibrant at the grassroots, but fully national in its scope. The committee will also need to secure funding and mobilize resources to support the proposed organizing campaign, and ensure we are able to do broad outreach to the many affected communities and groups who are concerned about jobs issues.

We have revised our Conference Call to Action to accommodate the new, ongoing organizing focus outlined above. We therefore have four requests:

1. Will you please endorse the revised Call to Action, so we may continue to list your name/organization as a supporter of the proposed advocacy network?

2. Please indicate whether you would be willing to serve on the network’s Continuation Committee and/or Steering Group, and any particular areas you can help with, such as organizing and outreach, convening local or regional meetings or conferences, public policy analysis, and/or fundraising.

3. Please recommend 2-3 other organizations or individuals you think should be invited to endorse the Call to Action and join the network.

4. Please share any additional thoughts and ideas that you have for how we can follow up on the conference, and continue momentum toward development of a powerful social movement for economic renewal. (NOTE: if you have additional drafting suggestions or recommendations for additional points or policy recommendations to include in the Call to Action, please let us know that as well.)

In solidarity,

Bill Barclay, Chicago Political Economy Group
Chuck Bell, Conference Chair, and Vice Chair, National Jobs for All Coalition
Larry Bresler, Executive Director, Poor Peoples Economic Human Rights Campaign*
Rev. Dr. James A. Forbes, Senior Pastor Emeritus, Riverside Church of New York, Pres., Healing of the Nations Foundation
Barbara George, Healing of the Nations Foundation
Gertrude Schaffner Goldberg, Chair, National Jobs for All Coalition
Logan Martinez, Miami Valley Full Employment Council/Organize Ohio (Dayton, OH)
Bill Quigley, Legal Director, Center for Constitutional Rights
Annie Rawlings, Associate Executive Presbyter for Social Witness, Presbytery of New York City*
Elce Redmond, Organizer, South Austin Community Coalition (Chicago, IL)
Melvin Rothenberg, Chicago Political Economy Group
Rev. Marcel Welty (New York, NY)

* Organization listed for identification purposes only

Please Endorse the Call to Action by sending your name, affilliation and contact information to JobsConference@njfac.org

Please Endorse the Revised Call to Action, and Join Our Organizing Network!!

National Network to Create Living Wage Jobs for All, Meet Human Needs & Sustain the Environment [ working name ]

CALL TO ACTION [ Updated 12/04/09]

Our country is in the throes of an economic crisis—the most severe since the Great Depression of the 1930s. Unemployment is at the disaster level. And even before the onset of our current, deep recession, chronic unemployment, low and stagnant wages, myriad unmet needs and unprecedented environmental degradation were endemic.Current Job Crisis* Nearly 31 million workers fully or partially jobless (October 2009)* Most rapid job less of any downturn -- and the highest percentage of long-term unemployed workers --since the Great Depression* 8 million fewer jobs in the U.S. economy since the onset of the recession.
* High unemployment expected to persist, even if the economy "recovers."* Many of the long-term unemployed will lose benefits, their savings, their homes and moreWeak Stimulus By the Administration’s own estimate, the economic stimulus package enacted in February 2009 will only make up for a fraction of the millions of jobs lost since the recession began. Nor will the stimulus stem the continuing job hemorrhage.

The health and well-being of workers and communities suffer greatly when there is inadequate availability of living wage jobs. In addition, the current official high unemployment rate of over 10% is exceedingly costly to the economy as a whole, costing $1 trillion or more annually in output of goods and services. As former Nobel Prize winner Robert Eisner has pointed out, a nation that tolerates high levels of unemployment is "literally throwing away its potential output." The "Good Old Days"Even before the recent economic meltdown, 5 million or more women and men were officially jobless; hidden unemployment afflicted many millions more; and poverty wages were rampant. Inequality reigned, our infrastructure was crumbling, and human services fell far short of needs.

We must not go back to those "Good Old Days." Instead, we should be guided by President Franklin D. Roosevelt (1933): "We cannot be content, no matter how high the general standard of living may be, if some fraction of our people … is ill-fed, ill-clothed, ill-housed, and insecure."
Real ReformNow is the time to organize and mobilize to create a just economy.

We call for:

Establishment of a long-term, permanent federal jobs program, leading to the legal right to a living wage job.

Creation of millions of new, publicly-financed living-wage jobs in education and human services, clean energy and environmental conservation, and infrastructure development and repair.

Priority measures to target new jobs to employ structurally unemployed and underemployed workers, including people living in economically depressed communities, young people, people of color, people with disabilities, ex-offenders, and immigrants, among others.

Guaranteed income support for those who are unemployed, unable to work, and/or doing vital work in the home (including extension of unemployment benefits, an end to TANF time limits, and support for single adults living without adequate income)

Continuation and expansion of federal assistance to ailing state governments, to preserve essential services and prevent further job loss in local communities.

Comprehensive protection of workers’ labor and social rights, including the right to organize, form trade unions and bargain collectively; the right to equal opportunity, with vigorous enforcement of laws and regulations relating to unfair discrimination in hiring and employment against women, people of color and other minorities; worker safety and health; rights to paid sick leave and vacations; and decent working conditions and quality of work life, including autonomy on the job.

Development of industrial and trade policies to promote comprehensive recovery of the manufacturing and services sectors, and other, complementary policies to promote full employment, community economic stability, environmental sustainability, and a fair global economic system.

Fair financing for economic renewal through 1) discontinuing or not renewing the Bush-era tax cuts for wealthy taxpayers; 2) reducing military spending to genuine defense needs, and redirecting the savings to the civilian economy 3) enacting a financial speculation tax on short-term securities transactions; and 4) recapturing federal revenue as more Americans return to work and pay taxes, and the devastating financial and social costs of unemployment are avoided.

Comprehensive measures to ensure public accountability and transparency for the jobs program and public investments, including 1) racial, gender, geographic and social equity in program spending and results and 2) establishment of a national employment accounting office to measure the impact and benefits.

To achieve these goals, we will work together to

1. Document unmet public needs for jobs, infrastructure and public services
2. Inform and educate our communities about those needs, and how can they be addressed through our proposed program
3. Organize a strong, vibrant social movement to inspire grassroots action and arouse the conscience of the public
4. Encourage policy organizations to support this program, and related initiatives to expand availability of living wage jobs, and protect worker rights
5. Develop an effective national advocacy network by reaching out to a wide range of labor, religious, nonprofit and community organizations, and building coalitions and alliances
6. Mobilize regional and national demonstrations in support of this program
7. Design and advocate comprehensive federal legislation to achieve the right to employment at living wages, and develop alliances with members of Congress and other public officials who will support these measures
8. Provide ongoing public oversight of the development and implementation of our proposed program

YES!! I/we endorse the Call to Action and Join the Network to Create Living-Wage Jobs for All, Meet Human Needs, & Sustain the Environment

____ Individual Endorsement

___ List organization for affiliation only

___ Do not list organization

____ Organizational Endorsement


Name:____________________________________________

Organizational Affiliation:_______________________________

Address:__________________________________________

City/State/ZIP:_____________________________________

Phone:___________________________________________

Email:____________________________________________

Web Site:_________________________________________


_____ YES, I would be willing to serve on the Continuation Committee
_____ YES, I would be willing to serve on the Continuation’s Committee’s Steering Group

_____ YES, I would be willing to serve on a committee or workgroup on:

__________________________________________________


______Please send the Call to Action to the following individuals/organizations:


1) Name:____________________________________________

Organizational Affiliation:_______________________________

Address:____________________________________________

City/State/ZIP:________________________________________

Phone:______________________________________________

Email:______________________________________________


2) Name:____________________________________________

Organizational Affiliation:_______________________________

Address:____________________________________________

City/State/ZIP:________________________________________

Phone:______________________________________________

Email:______________________________________________


3) Name:____________________________________________

Organizational Affiliation:_______________________________

Address:____________________________________________

City/State/ZIP:________________________________________

Phone:______________________________________________

Email:______________________________________________


Please return to: JobsConference@njfac.org

Conference Organizing Committee
c/o National Jobs for All Coalition / CIPA
777 United Nations Plaza, Suite 3C
New York, NY 10017
Phone: 212-972-9879
Fax: 212-972-9878

Web: http://www.jobsconference.org/
Email: JobsConference@njfac.org

Friday, November 20, 2009

Conference Presentations

Much thanks and gratitude to all who attended, endorsed and supported the November 13-14 conference to create Living Wage Jobs.

We hope to post more materials from the conference program very soon, along with photos and video. In the meantime, here are copies of speeches and presentations from some of the conference speakers that we've collected so far.

Gertrude Schaffner Goldberg, Our Practical Dream (Opening remarks)

Robert Pollin, The Economic Logic and Moral Imperative of Full Employment

Bill Barclay, A Permanent Jobs Program for the U.S.: Economic Restructuring to Meet Human Needs

Chloe Tribich, Green Jobs New York

Bill Quigley, Human Rights and Living Wage Jobs

Mel Rothenberg, Presentation on Political Strategy

Philip Harvey, Learning from the New Deal (Powerpoint)

Philip Harvey, Learning from the New Deal (Draft Paper)

Friday, November 13, 2009

National Jobs Conference Set For Nov. 13-14 in New York City!

NATIONAL CONFERENCE TO CREATE LIVING-WAGE JOBS FOR ALL, MEET HUMAN NEEDS & SUSTAIN THE ENVIRONMENT

Friday & Saturday, November 13-14, 2009, New York, NY

Friday, Nov. 13: Interchurch Center, 475 Riverside Drive, New York, NY -- Map
Saturday, Nov. 14: District Council 37, 125 Barclay Street, New York, NY -- Map

Register Now! Registration fee includes continental breakfast and buffet lunch for both days

Conference Brochure with Agenda as of 11-11-09 (Word)

Conference Promotional Booklet with Call to Action & Endorser List (PDF)

11/6/09 News Release

Join Cause and publicize through Facebook

Confirmed speakers include:

Barbara Arms
, Treasurer and Community Organizer, Coalition for Economic and Social Justice, Belleville, IL

Bill Barclay, Chicago Political Economy Group

Cassandra Barham, Ohio Empowerment Coalition/ Cincinnati Contact Center

Charles Bell, Conference Chair, Vice-President, National Jobs for All Coalition, and Programs Director, Consumers Union

Pres. Barbara Bowen, Professional Staff Congress-CUNY, AFL-CIO

Larry Bresler, Poor People’s Economic Human Rights Campaign

Sheila Collins, Professor of Political Science, William Paterson University. Author, Let Them Eat Ketchup: The Politics of Poverty and Inequality; co-author, Washington's New Poor Law: Welfare Reform and the Roads Not Taken, 1935 to the Present.

Gary Dorrien, Reinhold Niebuhr Professor of Social Ethics, Union Theological Seminary, New York, NY, and Professor of Religion, Columbia University, author of many books, including Social Ethics in the Making: Interpreting an American Tradition, and Imperial Designs: Neoconservatism and the New Pax Americana

Glen Ford, Editor, Black Agenda Report

Gertrude Schaffner Goldberg, Professor of Social Policy and Chair, Ph.D. Program in Social Work, Adelphi University. Poor Women in Rich Countries: The Feminization of Poverty over the Life Course (editor and co-author). Washington's New Poor Law: Welfare "Reform" and the Roads Not Taken, 1935 to the Present (co-author)

Helen Lachs Ginsburg, Professor Emerita of Economics, Brooklyn College, CUNY. Author, Full Employment and Public Policy: The United States and Sweden; Jobs for All: A Plan for the Revitalization of America (co-authored)

Philip Harvey, Professor of Law and Economics, Rutgers School of Law. Author, Securing the Right to Employment: Social Welfare Policy and the Unemployed in the United States; co-author of America's Misunderstood Welfare State: Persistent Myths, Enduring Realities.

Christine Firer Hinze, Professor, Christian Ethics, Fordham University. Author, Comprehending Power in Christian Social Ethics

Peter Knowlton, President of the United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America (UE), Northeast Region, and Vice-President on the General Executive Board of the UE National

Myles Lennon, Laborers Union, Local 10

Dedrick Muhammad
, Senior Organizer and Research Associate, Program on Inequality and the Common Good, Institute for Policy Studies

Ed Ott, Joseph Murphy Center for Labor, Community, and Policy Studies, CUNY

Bill Perkins, Senator, New York State Senate, 30th District

Joe Persky, Professor of Economics, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago Political Economy Group

Robert Pollin, Professor of Economics and founding Co-Director of the Political Economy Research Institute (PERI) at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, co-author, Green Recovery: A Program to Create Good Jobs and Start Building a Low-Carbon Economy

Bill Quigley, Legal Director, Center for Constitutional Rights, and Loyola University School of Law. Author of Ending Poverty as We Know It: Guaranteeing a Right to a Job at a Living Wage and Storms Still Raging: Katrina, New Orleans and Social Justice .

Elce Redmond, South Austin Community Coalition, Committee for New Priorities and Executive Committee, Chicago Job With Justice

Lillian Roberts, Executive Director, District Council 37, AFSCME, AFL-CIO

Paul Sherry, former President, United Church of Christ

Holly Sklar, policy advisor, Let Justice Roll Living Wage Campaign, author, Raise the Floor: Wages and Policies That Work for All of Us.

James Thindwa, labor and community activist, and former Executive Director of Chicago Jobs With Justice. James recently joined the American Federation of Teacher's Strategic Campaigns Team, a national campaign to organize charter school employees. He writes for, and is a board member of In These Times magazine, and serves on the board of directors of Illinois Labor History Society

Chloe Tribich, Senior Organizer, Center for Working Families

Ricardo Valadez, Program and Communications Director, Jobs with Justice

Deborah Weinstein, Executive Director, Coalition on Human Needs, Washington, DC

TOPICS TO BE ADDRESSED during the two-day conference include:

-- the current crisis in unemployment and underemployment;
-- faith and community perspectives on the need for living wage jobs and decent work;
-- America’s “other deficit” of underinvestment in physical infrastructure and public services, and opportunities to create jobs that fix America and put unemployed people back to work;
-- labor union initiatives to create jobs, raise wages and improve working conditions;
-- policy options to promote green jobs and environmental sustainability;
-- developing a transformative legislative program for job creation and economic renewal; and
-- organizing and building a broad-based social movement to create living wage jobs for everyone who wants to work, and achieve full employment.


CONFERENCE CALL TO ACTION

Our country is in the throes of an economic crisis—the most severe since the Great Depression of the 1930s. Unemployment is at the disaster level. And even before the onset of our current, deep recession, chronic unemployment, low and stagnant wages, myriad unmet needs and unprecedented environmental degradation were endemic.

Current Job Crisis

* Nearly 30 million workers fully or partially jobless (June 2009)
* Most rapid job less of any downturn since the Great Depression
* 5 million fewer jobs in the U.S. economy since the onset of the recession.
* High unemployment expected to persist, even if the economy “recovers.”
* Many of the long-term unemployed will lose benefits, their savings, their homes and more

Weak Stimulus

By the Administration’s own estimate, the economic stimulus will make up for a fraction of the millions of jobs lost since the recession began. Nor will the Stimulus stem the continuing job hemorrhage.

“Good Old Days”

Even in “good” times: 5 million or more women and men were officially jobless; hidden unemployment afflicted many millions more; and poverty wages were rampant. Inequality reigned, our infrastructure was crumbling, and human services fell far short of needs. We must not go back to those “Good Old Days.”

Instead, we should be guided by President Franklin D. Roosevelt (1933): We cannot be content, no matter how high the general standard of living may be, if some fraction of our people … is ill-fed, ill-clothed, ill-housed, and insecure.

Real Reform

Now is the time to organize and mobilize to create a just economy--one that assures living wage jobs for all, sustains the environment, and repairs our social and physical infrastructure.

JOIN A COALITION of LABOR, RELIGIOUS, ANTI-POVERTY, COMMUNITY ACTION ORGANIZATIONS … & CONCERNED PEOPLE

- ATTEND & SUPPORT THE NATIONAL CONFERENCE IN NEW YORK
- HELP TO ORGANIZE SIMILAR CONFERENCES ALL OVER THE UNITED STATES
- PLAN A MASS DEMONSTRATION FOR ECONOMIC JUSTICE IN WASHINGTON

Registration is $60 for general admission (or $50 Early Bird rate through Nov. 6) and $35 for students. The fee includes continental breakfast and buffet lunch for both days.

One day registration is $35 for general admission, and $20 for students.

NOTE: The Friday dinner/social event is NOT included in the registration fee and will be an extra charge).

To register for the conference, visit: http://www.jobsconference.org/ and the registration page at: http://www.jobsconference.eventbrite.com/ If you need more information or have suggestions for the program, please email us at JobsConference@njfac.org


INITIAL ENDORSERS OF THE CONFERENCE -- [list in formation]

Adelphi University School of Social Work
Americans for Democratic Action, Darryl Fagin, Legal Director
Ron Baiman, Chicago Political Economy Group, Director of Budget and Policy Analysis, Center for Tax and Budget Accountability. Chicago
Bill Barclay, Chicago Political Economy Group, Oak Park Citizens for Truth and Justice, Progressive Democrats of America
Charles Bell, National Jobs for All Coalition, Conference Chair
Center for Constitutional Rights, Bill Quigley, Legal Director
Center for Media and Democracy
Chicago & Midwest Regional Joint Board, Workers United, SEIU
Coalition for Economic and Social Justice, San Francisco & Belleville, IL, Barbara Arms, Community Organizer
Coalition of Black Trade Unionists, Hartford, Ct Chapter
Coalition on Human Needs, Deborah Weinstein, Executive Director
Sheila Collins, National Jobs for All Coalition, Professor of Political Science, William Paterson University
Committee For New Priorities/Chicago Jobs With Justice
NY Administrative Employees CWA Local 1180
University of Connecticut School of Social Work
Cornell ILR Extension Programs, New York City
Deborah D'Amico, Murphy Institute of CUNY
DC 37 AFSCME, Lillian Roberts, President
Democratic Socialists of American, NYC Chapter
Bill Fletcher, Jr., Executive Editor, BlackCommentator.com
Rev. Dr. James A. Forbes, Senior Pastor Emeritus, Riverside Church of New York, Pres., Healing of the Nations Foundation
Helen Ginsburg, National Jobs for All Coalition, Professor Emerita of Economics, Brooklyn College, City University of New York
General Board of Global Ministries, United Methodist Church
Greater New York Labor Religion Coalition, Rabbi Michael Feinberg, Director
Green Party, NYC Local
Philip Harvey, Professor of Law & Economics, Rutgers School of Law
Howie Hawkins, Green Party, Teamsters Local 317, Syracuse NY
Hospitality House Inc [Maine]
Hunter College School of Social Work
Haydar Kurban, Chicago Political Economy Group, Associate Professor of Economics, Howard University
Garth Mangum, Max McGraw Professor Emeritus, Economics & Management, Univ. of Utah
Logan Martinez, Miami Valley Full Employment Council/Organize Ohio
Mass Welfare Rights Union
Muntu Matsimela, Professor, John Jay College of Criminal Justice, African American Studies Dept.
Martin Morand, Emeritus, Indiana U of PA, Industrial-Labor Relations
Joseph Murphy Center for Labor, Community, and Policy Studies, CUNY
National Council of Churches
National Jobs for All Coalition, Trudy Goldberg, Chair
New Priorities/Chicago Jobs With Justice
Ohio Empowerment Coalition
Jeanette Mott Oxford, Missouri House of Representatives, State Representative, 59th District
Joseph Persky, Chicago Political Economy Group, Professor of Economics, University of Illinois, Chicago
Robert Pollin, Professor of Economics and Co-Director of the Political Economy Research Institute (PERI), University of Massachusetts-Amherst
Poor Peoples Economic Human Rights Campaign
Presbyterian Public Policy Network of the Synod of the Northeast (PPAN)
Presbytery of New York
Professional Staff Congress-CUNY, AFL-CIO
Elce Redmond, Chicago Political Economy Group, South Austin Coalition, Chicago
Nancy E. Rose, Professor and Chair, Department of Economics, California State University, San Bernardino
Marguerite G. Rosenthal, National Jobs for All Coalition, Professor Emerita of Social Work, Salem State College
Shalom Center, Rabbi Arthur Waskow, Director
Stony Brook University, School of Social Welfare, Social Justice Center
Frank Stricker, Emeritus Professor of History, California State University, Dominguez Hills
Rekindling Reform
Mel Rothenberg, Chicago Political Economy Group, Professor Emeritus of Mathematics, University of Chicago
Rutgers University School of Social Work
Dr. Peg Strobel, Professor Emerita, University of Illinois at Chicago
Survival News
Union of Radical Political Economists (URPE)
UAW Local 2110
David Welsh, Delegate, San Francisco Labor Council
Rev. Marcel Welty, Conference Coordinator
Women in Transition [Louisville]
Workers Defense League
Working Families Party
Wurzweiler School of Social Work, Yeshiva University
June Zaccone, National Jobs for All Coalition, Associate Professor Emerita of Economics, Hofstra University

October unemployment rate hits 10.2%: dozens of organizations launch national campaign for job creation

National Jobs for All Coalition
777 U.N. Plaza, Suite 3C
New York, NY 10017

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

October unemployment rate hits 10.2%: dozens of organizations launch national campaign for job creation.

Friday, November 6, 2009

Media Contacts:

Media Contacts:

Chuck Bell, National Jobs for All Coalition (914) 830-0639
Dr. Trudy Goldberg, National Jobs for All Coalition (203) 856-3877
Dr. Melvin Rothenberg, Chicago Political Economy Group (773) 573-0727
Dr. Sheila Collins, National Jobs for All Coalition (914)560-6485
_______________________________________________________________________

With official unemployment now in the double digits, a unique coalition of labor, religious, community, social welfare, educational and anti-poverty organizations will launch a national campaign to place the need for job creation at the center of the nation’s agenda November 13-14 in New York City.

Spearheaded by the National Jobs for All Coalition and the Chicago Political Economy Group the conference will take place in two different venues: Friday, November 13 from 9:00 AM-5:30 PM at the Interchurch Center, 475 Riverside Dr., Manhattan and on Saturday, November 14 from 9:00 AM-5:00 PM at District Council 37 American Federation of State, County and Municipal Workers (AFSCME).

This conference follows on the Labor Department’s announcement today that official unemployment rose to 10.2 percent in October, the highest rate in almost three decades.

According to Dr. Melvin Rothenburg of the Chicago Political Economy Group, “the official unemployment rate doesn’t begin to tell the story of what’s happening to the American people. We should really be talking about a 19% unemployment rate,” he said. “If you include all the discouraged workers who have given up looking for work, part-time workers who want full-time jobs, and others who want a job but are not looking for a variety of reasons the figure comes to almost twice the official unemployment rate.”

Using the Labor Department’s estimates of the number of job vacancies, there are now nearly 13 job-wanters for each available job. Until lobbied by the National Jobs for All Coalition, the Bureau of Labor Statistics did not keep track of this kind of statistic, a more graphic way of illustrating how serious the unemployment situation is.

“31 million unemployed people in the richest nation in the world is not only an economic issue, it is a moral crisis,” said the Rev. Marcel Welty, conference coordinator. “People without jobs suffer spiritually as well as economically.”

“Without a productive workforce none of the things we want to accomplish in this country—health care for all, quality education for our children, social security and elder care protection, greening our economy, or infrastructure repair—can be achieved,” said Dr. Gertrude Goldberg, Professor of Social Work at Adelphi University and Chair of the National Jobs for All Coalition.

Conference organizers hope to catalyze the kind of political spirit that existed during the Great Depression when millions of the unemployed were put to work by the government, building America’s infrastructure, providing necessary goods for the indigent, conserving the country’s degraded natural resources, and producing historical archives and works of art that became part of the nation’s national cultural treasury.

Monday, June 1, 2009

Endorse




View the Call to Action here

Please endorse by sending an email with name, organization and contact information to: JobsConference [at] njfac.org

Thursday, January 1, 2009

Co-Sponsor and Fund the National Conference to Create Living-Wage Jobs!

You Are Invited to Be a Conference Convenor/Co-Sponsor: We seek broad participation and sponsorship for the National Conference to Create Living-Wage Jobs, especially organizations with a primary focus on the quality and quantity of jobs, economic justice, social security, the safety net and poverty prevention.

Other critical participants will be organizations not primarily concerned with employment, but whose goals for union rights, health care, education, child care, elder care, disability rights, housing, economic restructuring, public transportation, environmental sustainability, and the arts would be furthered by job creation in their areas of interest.

The hope is to gain their ongoing commitment to conquering unemployment and low wages-- even after the crisis subsides. This would build on a plans of the National Jobs for All Coalition and the Chicago Political Economy Group to simultaneously create living wage jobs for all and, through a renewed public sector, to repair our deeply deficient social and physical infrastructure.

As unemployment spiked this year, over 7.5 million people have lost their jobs, leaving 15 million Americans unemployed. Millions more are underemployed, and many have seen their hours cut even further. The US needs a strong social movement that will fight for good living wage jobs for all in bad times and good times. But to move forward, we need to come together and develop a shared strategy for how we can be successful.

Can you help? Please download the conference sponsorship form, or print out this page and return the attached contact information.

____ YES! We need strong, effective action to solve the unemployment crisis and create living wage, environmentally sustainable jobs for all . We want to participate as early supporters of this Call to Action for a National Conference to Create Living Wage Jobs.

__ CONVENOR LEVEL ORGANIZATION OR INDIVIDUAL ($5,000 or more)

__ CO-SPONSORING ORGANIZATION OR INDIVIDUAL ($2,500 or more)

__ SUPPORTING ORGANIZATION or INDIVIDUAL ($1,000 or more)

__ CONTRIBUTING ORGANIZATION or INDIVIDUAL ($200 or more)

__ ENDORSER OF THE CALL TO ACTION


NAME OF ORGANIZATION or INDIVIDUAL:

____________________________________________

ADDRESS:____________________________________

CITY/STATE/ZIP:______________________________

CONTACT:____________________________________

TITLE:_______________________________________

PHONE:______________________________________

E-MAIL:______________________________________


MAIL TO:

National Jobs for All Coalition,
c/o Council on International & Public Affairs [CIPA]
777 United Nations Plaza, Suite 3C,
New York, NY 10017
Phone: 212-972-9877
Fax: 212-972-9878

Web: http://www.jobsconference.org/
NJFAC Primary Site: http://www.njfac.org/
NJFAC Blog: http://www.drivefordecentwork.org/
Email: JobsConference@njfac.org

Fund the Conference!! We also invite foundations and major donors to contribute funds to help pay for core conference expenses, and for a travel scholarship fund to support participation of low-income activists and organizers from around the U.S.

Please let us know if your foundation or charitable fund can help to support this unique effort to convene a broad range of organizations to develop a common agenda to reinvigorate organizing and advocacy for full employment and good jobs for all.

Conference Agenda & Publicity Materials

Download the Conference Program:

Conference Brochure with agenda (PDF)

Conference Agenda (Word)

Download Conference Flyers:

Conference Booklet with partial speaker list, endorsers & Call to Action (PDF)

Contact the Conference Organizers




Our conference organizing committee is in formation and includes a broad range of community, religious and labor groups, and groups that work to meet infrastructure and public service needs. (See list of initial endorsers in conference description.)

We welcome other groups to support the conference as co-convenors or supporting organizations.

The National Jobs for All Coalition, the conference's initial convenor and sponsor, is committed to building a new movement for full employment at livable wages. This goal unites a diverse group of otherwise divided, single-issue constituencies. The Coalition includes individuals and organizations with a wide range of interests--workers', women's, children's and seniors' rights, civil rights, and economic justice. Others work on health care, the environment, economic conversion, are academics, social workers and lawyers, artists or simply concerned individuals. The goals of all of us would be easier to reach if there were jobs for all at decent wages.

Contact:

National Jobs for All Coalition,
c/o Council on International & Public Affairs [CIPA]
777 United Nations Plaza, Suite 3C
New York, NY 10017
Phone: 212-972-9879
Fax: 212-972-9878

Web: http://www.jobsconference.org/
NJFAC Primary Site: http://www.njfac.org/
NJFAC Blog: http://www.drivefordecentwork.org/
Email: JobsConference@njfac.org

Hotels and Accomodations

Hotels and overnight accomodations in Manhattan and the New York metro area can be very expensive, and they fill up fast. If possible, you may want to consider staying with friends and/or splitting a room with a friend.

We've posted list of nearby hotels here:>> http://decentwork.googlegroups.com/web/Accomodations.pdf?gsc=SXqeJgsAAACWKiwL5tCOc6dXtpCFDOgf

In addition, to the hotels on this list, budget-minded travellers may also want to consider the
New York International AYH-Hostel, 891 Amsterdam Avenue @ 104th Street, (212) 932-2300.

* * * * * * * * * *
If you can OFFER housing to out-of-town visitors for 1-2 nights, or know of other good affordable hotels or accomodations in NYC, please let us know. Send an email to JobsConference@njfac.org or call 914 830 0639.

Contact Us!