Welcome to Philadelphia Jobs with Justice

Get ready--our annual Solidarity Awards Reception is coming up!

Philly Jobs with Justice's Solidarity Awards
May 30th, 2013, 5:30 pm
1319 Locust Street

As usual, we've got an amazing slate of awardees:

Individual Honorees

• Barbara Rahke, Executive Director, PhilaPOSH, for her tireless advocacy for workplace safety;
• Kahim Boles, AFSCME DC 47, for his long support of our organization;
• Daniel Denvir, journalist, for his remarkable coverage of social justice work and issues in the Philadelphia area and beyond;

Organizational Honorees

• Phladelphia Coalition Advocating for Public Schools (PCAPS), for their efforts to save our public school system from closure and charterization;
• IATSE Local 8, for their bold Martin Luther King, Jr. Day strike and victory;
• CWA Locals 13000 & 13500, for their sustained contract fight and win against Verizon.

We're thrilled to invite you to join us and these wonderful organizers and activists on the evening of May 30th, for an awards ceremony, light fare, and an open bar.

We suggest a donation of $50 per individual ticket (sliding scale $10-30 for low-income, fixed income, student, and unemployed).

Buy your ticket in advance and you will be entered into a raffle to win a JwJ t-shirt!

Tickets can be purchased online by clicking here, or by mailing a check to Philly JwJ, 1315 Spruce Street, Suite 331, Philadelphia, PA 19107.

Yesterday, we blogged our emergency action alert asking you to call State House Representative John Taylor and demand that he vote no on HB 790, which would privatize state liquor stores.

Well, HB 790 is moving quickly--we're hearing from Representatives that vote will probably happen tomorrow. And unfortunately, John Taylor is still leaning towards a yes vote on privatization.

We still need folks to call Representative Taylor--

Call (717)-787-3179

Tell him to vote NO on HB 790 and liquor privatization!

We also sent out yesterday's message via Twitter, Facebook, and our e-mail blast list, and want to share answers to some of the questions we got from folks about liquor privatization.. Yesterday's message generated some of the most passionate conversations and responses we've ever seen grow out of an action alert. We're lucky to have such an engaged base, and love that these blasts often generate such interesting discussions, both by e-mail and on our Facebook page and Twitter account.

Conservatives are railroading this bill through the state legislature, and there's still a lot of confusion over the facts behind our opposition to liquor privatization. We've had great conversations with many of our supporters on and offline about the topic, and we want to make sure we get the most important questions and answers out to everyone. So let's get to it! 

You asked: When JwJ says that privatization will increase drunk driving and underage drinking, is it accurate, and is it coming from a reliable source?

Answer: This is for real.

The Community Preventative Services Task Force-- a nonpartisan subsidiary of the CDC-- conducted a meta-study on privatization of alcohol retail sales and their impact on alcohol-related heath issues, using data collected in states and countries that underwent privatization. The CDC found that liquor privatization strongly correlates with increases in underage drinking, excessive consumption, and drunk driving. Based on the results of this study, Mothers Against Drunk Driving also strongly opposes privatization of liquor sales.

We've seen multiple pro-privatization websites cite a study showing that the rates of drunk driving in Pennsylvania are similar to those in states with privatized liquor. The thing is, the issue here isn't about how many Pennsylvania drivers drive drunk right now in comparison to elsewhere. The real question we need to ask is whether privatization would INCREASE the rate of drunk driving in the state--and the data says it almost certainly will.

You asked: Jobs with Justice is about labor stuff, right? Why talk about drunk driving and underage drinking? Is this just cynical fearmongering? 

Answer: Jobs with Justice fights for economic justice in workplaces and communities--and this bill negatively affects both.

We're a coalition full of active faith and community group membership in addition to our sisters and brothers in organized labor. During our work on the the last liquor privatization fight, constituent faith leaders from churches in lower income communities told us that while they sympathized with the plight of UFCW workers, they also wanted to see Jobs with Justice talk about the effect liquor privatization would have on the safety and health of the neighborhoods they served. We listened, and this time around we're talking about both workplace issues and public health issues.

You asked: what gives with using that picture of a teenager behind the wheel downing a forty in the email yesterday? Seriously, it looks like a still from an especially cheesy 1980's drivers ed video.

Answer: Yeah, you're right. That was picture was kind of ridiculous. Sorry.

Thanks to all the folks we've been talking to for helping us make sure that we're giving you the information you need.

So one more time, with feeling: don't forget to call State Representative Taylor if you haven't already--and maybe even if you already have!

Friends, thank you for your overwhelming support last week as we pushed to save our city's schools. Along with Randi Weingarten, seven Jobs with Justice members and eleven other allies made national headlines protesting the SRC's efforts to dismantle public education.

But our communities and our public services are still under attack. Tomorrow is crucial for both public sector and low income workers. Tomorrow, Mayor Nutter delivers his budget address, and City Council votes on paid sick days.

We need you there to show your support for AFSCME workers and Paid Sick Days. Join us at City Hall tomorrow at 8:30 am to pack Council. Let's make sure our elected officials know that Philadelphia believes in paid sick days for working families and fair contracts for public sector workers.

In the meantime, we desperately need your help on paid sick days. Several councilpeople are still on the fence, and we need your help to convince them to do the right thing.

Here is what you can do:

• Call City Council (9 to 5, +Monday through +Friday) to show your support. We even give you a sample message when you call using 888-376-5807.

• Sign our petition in favor of earned sick days in Philadelphia athttp://www.surveymonkey.com/s/2013PhillyESD

• Tweet your support! Here are some sample tweets:
  -Everyone gets sick - but not everyone can afford to get better. (Councilmember), please vote for #paidsickdays via @EarnedSickTime
  -Workers need #paidsickdays. (Councilmember), let's make it happen+Thursday! via @EarnedSickTime
  -send these tweets to @BobbyHenon, @JimFKenney, @CouncilwomanBRB, @cmcbass, @CouncilOBrien

How do we strengthen our fight against corporate greed and privatization?

How do we forge stronger community-labor alliances?

We are excited to announce that Sarita Gupta, National Director of Jobs with Justice, will join us as the keynote speaker for our Annual Labor Law Reception to speak on “Our Movement: New Millennium, New Challenges” and share with us insights and lessons learned from a national perspective.

 
Save the date:
Philadelphia Jobs with Justice Labor Law Reception
Tuesday, February 12,  5:30 p.m.

 Galfand Berger LLP
1835 Market St. Suite 2710 

Sarita Gupta is the Executive Director of Jobs with Justice (JwJ), which has recently merged with American Rights at Work.  JwJ has a national presence in over 45 communities in 25 states.  Sarita formerly served as the national field director from 2004-2007, overseeing the national field program and leading on strategic programs such as health care justice, organizing and collective bargaining rights campaigns, and immigrant workers’ rights. Prior to joining the national JwJ staff in 2002 as a regional field organizer, Sarita served as the Executive Director of Chicago Jobs with Justice (JwJ) for four years, where she helped build the coalition to over 70 member organizations and unions.

 We hope that you will join us and Sarita Gupta as we celebrate a strong and exciting year of workers’ rights advocacy.

Suggested donation $75 per person ($30 students, low income, unemployed, and seniors).

Please mail payments to Philadelphia Jobs with Justice, 1315 Spruce Street, Philadelphia, PA 19107, or RSVP to director @phillyjwj.org and pay at door.