Click STOP FTAA to register for Miami trip now!

JwJ and the AFL-CIO Organizing Institute will host a community teach-in about the December 10 "Right to Organize" Day of Action!

It is my RIGHT TO ORGANIZE...IN MY COMMMUNITY, AT MY SCHOOL AND ON THE JOB!

Speakers include-

Kathy Black, Master of Ceremonies, Jobs With Justice and the Coalition of Labor Union Women

John Braxton, Master of Ceremonies, Jobs With Justice and Faculty Federation of CCP

Ben Sears, Jobs with Justice and AFT Local 3

The Season of Struggle



The Immigrant Workers' Freedom Ride was a resounding success. Thanks to the work
of several Jobs With Justice activists and dozens of other organizations, workers,
immigrants and students more than 600 Philadelphians traveled to Flushing Meadows
Park, NY and bravely stuck their necks out for immigrant workers. More than 100,000
from all around the country, and if you were there, you should be proud that you
took this stand. 

 

This historic event was the first time this many people took a stand a public stand for immigrants in this country. You can be sure that this event helped put the
legal issues that immigrants face back into the minds of the American people, and on the political table for next years election. BUT, one event is not enough to
change the debate nor is it enough to address the complexity of this important issue.


The hardships faced by immigrant workers, and the resulting hardships passed onto all other low-wage workers, are not limited too legal barriers to citizenship. Immigrants often arrive in this nation fleeing economic hardship or are refugees from political violence. Both of these conditions can be, in part, traced back friction caused by global economic shifts. Though global trade is at an all time high, the worlds' poor have only gotten poorer. In America, for example, we have seen the wages of working people erode to 1970's levels. Despite unprecedented cooperation between multinational corporations the steady support of national governments for the interests of these businesses, violent conflicts around resources like oil are pitting communities and nations against one another. Part of the trouble faced by immigrant and workers is that of corporate globalization.



Workers in this land, native born, naturalized and immigrant alike, are not only
up against legal barriers and the impact of globalization, but also the disacknowledgement
of their very rights as human beings. Workers in the USA have insured a health
and a steady climb in productivity, but politicians, global corporations and moneyed
interests benefit by ignoring the rights of workers. When was the last time that
you heard any politician talk about the erosion of the rights of workers here as
the human rights catastrophe that it is? By ignoring the obvious human rights implications
of the decline in a workers ability to have a voice at work through a democratically
elected union, the rich and the powerful have been able to weaken the rights of
workers of all legal status over the last 70 years.



In summary, the hardships faced by workers and immigrants are not only caused by
the legal issue that were addressed by the recent Immigrant Workers' Freedom Ride,
but also one of corporate globalization and grinding away at human rights protections. Jobs
With Justice is bringing together a series events this fall that will bring these
various elements together and address them as a unifying whole. We call this effort
the SEASON OF STRUGGLE. The beautiful, inspiring and powerful solidarity of the
Immigrant Workers' Freedom Ride was the first step. We plan to reframe the debate
about workers and immigrants with two more mass mobilizations (one of which will
right here in Philadelphia) and we need your help.



On November 19, activists from all across the hemisphere will converge in Miami
to STOP the FREE TRADE AREA of the AMERICAS (FTAA). Jobs With Justice will
be there and with the PA Fair Trade Coalition plans to send several buses full of
determined Philadelphia activists to this protest. Additionally, on December 10
(International Human Rights Day) Philadelphia will be a major host city for a mass
mobilization that we are calling RIGHT TO ORGANIZE DAY OF ACTION. On Right to Organize Day
the AFL-CIO and Jobs With Justice will bring critical attention to the need for
us to demand our human rights, and especially workers' rights, in these troubled
times.