Jobs with Justice Rally September 15, 2010

The Chicago chapter of Jobs with Justice will hold a huge Rally September 15, 2010.

The mission of Chicago Jobs With Justice is to improve working people’s standards of living, fight for job security, and stand up for workers’ right to organize. JWJ’s core belief is that in order to be successful, workers’ rights struggles have to be part of a larger campaign for economic and social justice. To that end, JWJ has formed a local coalition of labor, community, faith-based, and student organizations to work together on workplace and community social justice campaigns.

Jobs with Justice engages workers and allies in campaigns to win justice in workplaces and in communities nationally, where working families live. JwJ was founded in 1987 with the vision of lifting up workers’ rights struggles as part of a larger campaign for economic and social justice. JWJ believes in long-term multi-issue coalition building , grassroots base-building and organizing and strategic militant action as the foundation for building a grassroots movement, and believe that by engaging a broad community of allies, they can win bigger victories. JWJ reaches working people through the organizations that represent them—unions, congregations, community organizations—and directly as JwJ activists. Nearly 100,000 people have signed the Jobs with Justice pledge to Be There at least five times a year for someone else’s struggle as well as their own.

The Emergency Campaign for Jobs!
Chicago Jobs with Justice is organizing the Emergency Campaign for Jobs in conjunction with our national JwJ network and the AFL-CIO. Here's what they are demanding:

1. Immediate extension and expansion of access to jobless benefits for the duration of this unemployment crisis (including COBRA or Medicaid and food assistance.)
2. Immediate federal financial assistance to states like Illinois to prevent further layoffs and service cuts, precisely when the need is the greatest in our communities.
3. Federal spending on direct job creation for improving and enhancing our public infrastructure: mass transit, schools, roads and more.
4. Federal investment in green technology, manufacturing and energy conservation.
5. Paying for it all by taxing the individuals and practices on Wall Street that created this recession so we can begin to balance the books, place the tax burden where it belongs and discourage reckless and excessive speculation.

Over the next few months, they will be promoting actions that highlight the need for massive job creation as quickly as possible. What's next? They need your help to organize our brothers and sisters who are unemployed!

Sound interesting? Give them a call at (312) 738-6161 or send an email to susanh@jwj.org! Or visit their contact page to get in touch! http://www.chicagojwj.org/contact

Here is information on the Chicago event taking place September 15, 2010:

Rally in Chicago - JwJ Unemployed Workers Council: Join JWJ for the next in their series of actions for a federal jobs program. The double-dip seems headed our way unless Congress takes immediate action to put America to work doing the work America needs done. That's the only way to turn our economy around before the suffering worsens!

JWJ Rally Wednesday September 15th
Meeting up for a press conference and rally at GOP HQ at Randolph and Wells at 4 pm to call the GOP out on their votes and misleading and mean-spirited comments about the unemployed!

Our demands are the same
Jobs for the Nation!
Federal Jobs Program
Local Jobs Act HR 4812/S3500
Extension of the TANF Jobs Program that expires on Sept 30 and will result in 350,000 people out of work, 30,000 in Illinois

Benefits for the Duration
Extend Tier V benefits immediately to all states with unemployment higher than 5%
State aid
Food aid and health insurance subsidies
Unemployment benefits until unemployment reaches 5%

Tax Wall Street Speculation
Make Wall Street Pay with tax on financial speculation