From Florida to California, March 4th marked an exceptional moment for the student and worker movement in recent U.S. history. People took to the streets to demonstrate their frustration with the government’s failure to pass legislation that would benefit young people such as Student Aid Reform and the DREAM Act. The mainstream media seemed taken by surprise of all these coordinated actions across the country – How could students and workers come together on one specific day? Was this an organized effort? Were people demanding change from the government and legislators?
I got the opportunity to march along with students, staff, and faculty at U-Mass Amherst. Being there reminded me about the power of organizing and strategic escalation. Students at this school provided a deadline for their administrators to accept their demands around fees, budget cuts, treating staff & faculty fairly, and improving the school’s climate. We will be watching their administrations’ response and actions to come. Check out video from the great actions at the University of Central Florida and the University of California system. You can also go to www.defendeducation.org
Continue reading Students and Workers Organizing for Justice
Jobs with Justice coalitions and our partners are continuing to build grassroots pressure for bold federal action in this economic crisis. We need to immediately save and create millions of good jobs as a first step towards Full and Fair Employment and a New Economy that Works for Everyone.
Last week you helped Jobs with Justice, in coordination with the Jobs for America Now Coalition, hold actions in cities nationwide and make phone calls that pushed Congress to extend emergency federal Unemployment and COBRA benefits — but only for one month. Obviously, officials in Washington still don’t get it. They need a wake-up call that unemployment is at emergency levels.This campaign is just beginning. And you can help build the momentum!
1) Take the pledge to continue the fight for jobs with justice. Ask your friends and co-workers to take the Pledge.
2) Get involved in some of the actions coming up:
Continue reading Growing Demand for Jobs. Get Involved!
The fight for keeping and creating jobs grew stronger in Florida this past week. Central Florida Jobs with Justice mobilized for a rally, organized by the Space Coast AFL-CIO and Florida state AFL-CIO, that brought over 2,000 people from across the state to say “Save Our Space”! Workers and their families traveled to the space coast from Miami, Pensacola, Jacksonville and all points in between to join business and community leaders to rally in support of continued federal funding of this vital economic driver for Florida’s future. The rally featured National AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka and other leaders from the American labor movement who used this dire situation as a backdrop to launch a national jobs campaign that would create 10 million American jobs.
Recent budget proposals working their way through Congress all but eliminate funding for NASA’s human spaceflight operations in Florida. Space operations have long been one of Florida’s most important economic sectors, supporting tens of thousands of good jobs and providing the economic cornerstone for many communities across the state. The loss of funding would eliminate tens of thousands of jobs, decimate many communities, and send shock waves across the state this at a time when Florida is
Continue reading Central Florida JwJ is Building the Movement to Keep and Create Good Jobs
"If Vermont Leads, The Rest of the Nation Will Follow"
A short film about the Healthcare Is A Human Right Campaign released March 2010.
On Monday, March 15th, 2010, the Board of Supervisors Land Use Committee will hold a hearing on the Municipal Transportation Agency (MTA) and the Department of Public Health's (DPH) efforts to create health protective truck routes in southeast SF. In the Excelsior, almost half (44%) of households live nearby high volume roadways. They breathe in polluted air that causes coughing, wheezing, and shortness of breath, aggravates asthma and heart disease, and can lead to lung cancer and even premature death. PODER and the Chinese Progressive Association led a community campaign to urge the City to take action on this ticking time bomb, which led to the city passing a resolution in November 2008 and forming an inter-agency working group to address the concerns. All three southeast supervisors, including John Avalos (D11), Sophie Maxwell (D10), and David Campos (D9) have joined forces to oversee DPH and MTA's efforts. "These are life and death decisions made by our MTA every day. Because of the community's efforts, city agencies have stepped up to reduce the impact of concentrated traffic pollution on local neighborhoods," said Charlie Sciammas, community organizer with PODER.
"Vermont's Own"
Friday March 5, 2010
http://www.benningtonbanner.com/opinion/ci_14522731
Vermont supporters of meaningful health care reform have been floating a well-tested format that deserves more than a cursory review this year. Regardless of what happens -- or doesn't happen -- in Washington, they say,
the state would fare better with its own single-payer health care option.
The reason is that Vermonters and Vermont businesses both would benefit from a public system, which would provide security for low- to middle-income residents that they will have at least basic care, while providing relief
for businesses, particularly small companies.
Of course, this would require higher, broad-based taxes to cover the cost, but more than likely those costs would be balanced through an influx of new and imported business ventures and through immigration -- rather than
emigration -- into Vermont.
In other words, if we offer a single-payer public option on health care, they will come.
To drive home one of the advantages, supporters of this idea asked officials at town meetings how much the community potentially might save if the state had a universal health coverage plan in place. The answer in Bennington was
$1.2 million, when Mary Gerisch of the Health Care is a Human Right campaign asked the question, and roughly $140,000 in Shaftsbury, when she later asked the question at that town's floor meeting.
Obviously, businesses that now pay rapidly rising insurance premiums for employees, or can't afford to offer coverage, would benefit if the state directly funded a single-payer system. Large firms as well could benefit by
offering only expanded coverage policies to supplement a basic state plan, thereby paying less for private insurance.
There is the distinct possibility that a federal health care bill, if one ever does pass, will lack a public option. And it probably won't take effect for a few years regardless. In other words, it will only marginally improve
health care options for most Americans and may not do much to control runaway costs for insurance and medical care.
Yet a single-payer system for the state, if kept at a basic care level, might accomplish both those goals, improve the overall health of residents and be a boost to the business sector. It might be the best deal we've seen
since milk in a bottle.
Although single-payer proposals, such as Senate bill S.88 and House bill H.100, are considered a longshot by most -- and might require waivers from the federal government before they could be implemented -- the inaction in
Washington has spurred a ton of enthusiasm for effective, straight-forward reform. This just might be the year to go for it.
These bills and other universal health care plans deserve to be fully debated in the Legislature and around the state. There is no reason to wait any longer for real reform.
Any healthcare worker can tell you the truth about mandatory overtime: it is unsafe for their patients, and unsafe for themselves. We need to ensure that our health care workers are able to do their job to the best of their ability, which means keeping them healthy, and not forcing them to work grueling, extended shifts above the hard work they do every day.
The House Appropriations Committee is currently considering H.268, Ban on Mandatory Overtime. H.268 bans mandatory overtime, except in emergency situations, and recognizes the growing danger to patient safety posed by forced overtime practices. The State Hospital administration is making exaggerated claims that this bill will end up costing them money, despite much evidence to the contrary. Contact your representative on the Appropriations Committee and ask them to please take up and pass H.268. You can also contact Reps. Shap Smith, Floyd Neese and Lucy Lerich, who make up the House Leadership, and ask them to bring H.268 to floor for a full House vote. Click here to go to our Legislative Guide for contact information.
Tell the legislature: Mandatory overtime is unsafe for patients, as it could increase the likelihood of medical errors that could result in patient injury. It also jeopardizes the health and safety of health care workers and can put their licenses on the line.
CLICK HERE TO SEND A MESSAGE: http://www.unionvoice.org/campaign/banonmandatoryovertime
Today, March 4th, students and workers wake up to prepare for rallies, walkouts, call in days and many more activities during the National Day to Defend Education and the Jobs with Justice national week of action to save and create jobs .
Students and workers are tired of having the federal and state budgets balanced on their backs and are standing up to these atrocities. Today, we will stand up to demand full funding of higher education, a stop to the corporatization of education, proportionate representation on university decision -making bodies, and good union jobs in our schools. We will demonstrate that students and workers will not stand on the sidelines as education become a privilege available only to the few and while jobs are lost because of state budget cuts and the inaction in the federal government to pass student aid reform.
We are fighting these cuts now, but we also know that we need to look at the root problem and seek ways to fund the public sector through revenue reform and change
Continue reading Today: Take Action to Defend Education
