As a catastrophe unfolds in Arizona, people across the country are preparing to defend their communities against the racist immigrant policies being implemented under the banner of “secured communities” in America.

Arizona has been in the forefront of the most deplorable immigrant enforcement tactics, with Sheriff Joe Arpio’s shameful treatment of undocumented workers,  the signing of the  SB1070 bill by Governor Jan Brewer that will lead to racial profiling and distrust between the police and immigrant communities, and today the passage of a ban on ethnic studies programs.

These despicable actions in Arizona have led to organizing and involvement of all sectors of the community to show their disgust against these policies and remind elected officials, especially Arizona’s governor, that their actions will lead to massive mobilization at the polls.  As one good friend said “Justice delayed, election denied”

Many people across the country are fighting to keep their communities safe from these xenophobic policies and are creating safe communities for all residents, and local Jobs with Justice Coalitions have been supporting these efforts.

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Continue reading Standing Up to Arizona’s Racist Immigration Law

Tomorrow, May 1st, thousands of SEIU members will be joined by leaders from the faith, civil rights and business communities in cities across the country to rally for comprehensive immigration reform. Their message is simple: This is not an im…

Tens of thousands of people were out on the streets this week to demand:  Good Jobs Now! Wall Street Must Pay!

The AFL-CIO, National People’s Action, SEIU, and other groups spearheaded actions this week in a half-dozen cities across the country to demand strong financial reform and job creation.  JwJ coalitions in San Francisco, Kansas City, Denver, Chicago, New York, and Buffalo joined the actions.

“People are angry — and for good reason,” said Jobs with Justice Executive Director Sarita Gupta.  “Corporate greed and recklessness have driven our economy into a crisis, and leaders in Washington, DC have yet to offer any real solutions.  It’s time to hold Wall Street accountable.”

Led by AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka, thousands of union members and activists from National People’s Action (NPA), NAACP, Move On, JwJ activists from New York and Buffalo, and more took over Wall Street in New York City during the afternoon rush hour yesterday.

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Continue reading Bank Showdown! Protests Turn Up the Heat for Bank Reform

By signing SB 1070 into law, Governor Jan Brewer has put the jobs of our members in Tempe, Chandler, Gilbert and Pima County at risk. For the employees represented by SEIU Arizona, this bill could not have come at a worse time.

Public servic…

More than 10,000 union members, community activists and progressives marched on Wall Street on Thursday,

Tim Ryan of the Solidarity Center (center) meets with Thai labor leaders Somsak Koosaisuk, left, and Sawit Kaewvarn.

Tim Ryan of the AFL-CIO Solidarity Center recently visited Thailand and reports on that country’s railway union’s fight against efforts by management and business leaders to break the union.

Sawit Kaewvarn is general secretary of the State Railway Union of Thailand (SRUT) and the general secretary of the State Enterprises Workers’ Relations Confederation (SERC), the biggest and most powerful union confederation in Thailand. So even though he is the pre-eminent trade union leader in the country, he’s being attacked by the railways management and threatened with being fired.

Over the past year, SRUT, along with Thailand’s Supreme Court, have thwarted attacks on the union and stopped attempts to privatize the railways by politically connected business leaders.

A key concern for the workers is safety. Railway management refuses to provide the maintenance and safety devices required to run the trains safely. Not surprisingly, the workers refuse to run the trains without the safety devices. The employees are also being asked to work hours far in excess of what is safe to run the trains.

In most other countries, running the trains without the safety devices is cause for an employee to be disciplined. But in Thailand, it’s just the opposite. If you don’t run the trains without safety devices, management threatens to fire you.

In this environment, accidents are almost inevitable. A train derailment recently killed several people and injured 100 more. The workers were blamed and taken to court, but they remain unwilling to operate unsafe trains even though they are being punished for their stance.

The SRUT sees these actions as an excuse to break the union, which is the strongest force preventing the publicly run railroads from being handed to powerful, politically connected business leaders.

Sawit has reached out to the International Transport Workers Federation (ITF) and the AFL-CIO for assistance. The ITF has contacted the Thai government and plans to send a delegation to Thailand in January to raise these issues and demonstrate solidarity with the workers. 

The AFL-CIO and the Solidarity Center also have voiced their support for the railway workers. We believe that while this looks like a technical matter of safety and privatization in the railways, it is, in effect, really an attack on the leadership of the Thai labor movement.

The Long Island Jobs with Justice Workers’ Rights Board, in collaboration with and the student group the Social Justice Alliance and the Research Assistants Union at Stony Brook University, organized a Hearing yesterday to  investigate the negotiating strategies of the Stony Brook Research Foundation, the employer of 740 Research Assistants at Stony Brook University who are members of CWA Local 1104. Initially, the Workers’ Rights Board extended an invitation to the Research Foundation to present their case, but the RF declined, stating that they would rather not negotiate in public.

A day before the Hearing was scheduled to take place, Stony Brook Administration informed the student group that their Room Request, which was approved a month earlier, was revoked. Outraged, one of the students, along with members of the union, met with Associate Dean Dr. Susan DiMonda to demand that they have access to the space. Armed with fallacious excuses and weak rationale, Dr. DiMonda claimed that it was clear that this was a “labor event” and it had to be approved through Human Resources, not student activities.

“As a social justice student group, this Hearing is obviously a concern to us, and we have proof that we are co-sponsoring event. Not

Continue reading Research Assistants at Stony Brook Speak Up Despite Repression

Nurses at Cypress Fairbanks Medical Center in Houston reaffirmed their 2008 vote to join a union.

In a dramatic expression of solidarity and support for a stronger voice to speak out for patients and themselves, nearly 300 registered nurses at Cypress Fairbanks Medical Center Hospital in Houston voted to remain members of National Nurses Organizing Committee-Texas, the state’s affiliate of National Nurses United (NNU).

The vote defeated a proposal to withdraw the union at the facility, the first private-sector hospital in the state to unionize. The nurses first voted in March 2008 to join the union.

Says Erica Ramhatal, an RN at the medical center:

We stand together to make a better workplace for our patients and for ourselves.  We are so proud to be part of NNU.

Last year a Cypress Fairbanks employee filed a petition with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) seeking the union’s decertification. Last June the NLRB conducted a decertification election among the same employees. The ballot count was delayed until this week, after several unfair labor practice charges were filed.

Click here and here to learn more.

Back in January, as the fight over health care reform was in high gear, the National Journal pinned down what most of us suspected all the time: The nation’s biggest health insurers had been funneling money—about $20 million—quietly to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce to air lie-filled, scare-mongering ads about health care reform.

That revelation flew in the face of the insurance industry’s claim that it really supported health care reform, but they were just dickering over the details. While the facts about the secret funds were on the record and not disputed, the big insurers didn’t address the issue.

That is, until Wednesday, when representatives from Health Care for America Now (HCAN) at CIGNA’s annual shareholder meeting in Philadelphia got a confession out of CIGNA CEO David Cordani. The HCAN members were admitted to the meeting in an arrangement with several shareholders and so could question Cordani.

Marc Stier, Pennsylvania state director of HCAN, said Cordani confirmed the company contributed secret funds over the past year to the industry trade group, America’s Health Insurance Plans (AHIP), and to the Chamber to wage a duplicitous anti-reform campaign while industry lobbyists were professing to support reform. But Cordani would not say how much CIGNA slipped to the Chamber for the propaganda blitz. Said Stier after the meeting:

Today, for the first time, CIGNA admitted to making secret payments to the Chamber. They won’t tell even their own stockholders how much money they sent through the Chamber, but there is now no question they did so.

Who knows why he “fessed up,” but they say confession is good for the soul. Maybe he was trying to salvage a little bit of CIGNA’s rep for dumping customers who file expensive claims, a practice known as “purging.” According to HCAN, Cordani told shareholders CIGNA will continue the practice.

Salvation may be a ways away.

A Strong Voice for Florida’s Working Families