Jobs with Justice Turns 20!

[Omaha Steve]

I want to take this opportunity to introduce myself to you: I'm Sarita Gupta, the new Executive Director of Jobs with Justice. I have been working with Jobs with Justice for over eight years now, most recently serving as the national Field Director. Prior to joining the national staff, I worked as a local coalition director for Chicago Jobs with Justice, where I learned first hand the positive impact Jobs with Justice can have in local communities and the victories that can be won when groups come together with shared vision and values.

Jobs with Justice turns 20 this year, and I'm proud to take on the leadership of such a strong and diverse organization. Since 1987, we've been fighting for workers' rights and economic justice, bringing together workers, students, people of faith, immigrants, and other members of our communities to challenge corporate greed. We have a lot of victories to celebrate from twenty years of organizing, but, as always, we also have a lot of important battles ahead, and we need you to "Be There" for Jobs with Justice. Will you make a contribution today to help us keep fighting?

At a time when working people in this country are struggling to make ends meet and the middle class is disappearing while the rich keep getting richer, it's important to remember that the best opportunity working men and women have to get ahead economically is by uniting with co-workers to bargain with their employers for better wages and benefits. Workers who belong to unions earn 29% more than non-union workers and are 62% more likely to have employer-provided health care and four times more likely to have pensions. Over half of workers in this country say they would join a union right now if they could, but employers routinely harass and intimidate workers to prevent them from exercising their right to organize.

The Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA), which recently passed in the House with bipartisan support, would give workers greater freedom to make their own decisions about joining a union through majority sign-up, meaning that if a majority of the employees sign union authorization cards, a company must recognize the union. It also brings in a neutral third party to settle a contract if one cannot be reached after three months. In addition, this legislation would create stiffer penalties for companies who break labor laws—much-needed reform for working families. In the coming months, EFCA will face an uphill battle in the Senate. We're going to hear a lot of nonsense about unions being "special interests." But you and I both know that working people are not a special interest group. And Jobs with Justice will be there for working families, educating the public about the way current labor laws stack the deck against workers and rallying for real reform.

Over the past twenty years, Jobs with Justice has been on the front lines of a lot of important battles, fighting for fair wages, safe working conditions, and affordable health care for all people. For the past eight years, I've been proud to help build this movement at the local and the national level. Today, Jobs with Justice needs you to be there to help us build a vision of a better future for working people. With your help, we can make working families' voices heard in our neighborhoods, in our cities, and throughout our country. Please give what you can to support this important work today.

In Solidarity,



Sarita Gupta
Executive Director, Jobs with Justice


P.S. Your contribution to Jobs with Justice is completely tax-deductible! Please give today: https://secure.ga6.org/08/donateJwJ_0407


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[saltpoint]

1. Good post, and a happy birthday to Jobs for Justice.

There's the Ken Lays of the corporate circles and then there's quite a few of the rest of us.

Ms. Gupta sounds terrific.