Put America to Work Campaign: January 2016

Sunday, January 10, 2016

by Logan Martinez, Outreach Coordinator, National Jobs for All Coalition

The Town Hall Meetings in Dayton and Columbus featuring Rep. John Conyers went extremely well with good turnouts in both cities. The speeches were informative and the dialogue during questions and answers was positive and highlighted the economic hardship and inequality facing the American people both locally and nationally. The Town Hall meetings succeeded in raising the prominence of the need for jobs, health care, raising the minimum wage, and other key issues.

Rep. Conyers has initiated two pieces of legislation that would go a long way toward reducing these problems: HR 1000, the “Humphrey Hawkins Full Employment and Training Act” and HR 676, The Expanded And Improved Medicare For All Act.
Prof. Philip Harvey spoke at both Town Meetings, explaining how this legislation would work and what it would do for the unemployed and the nation. Two great teams worked independently on the Town Meetings but with shared agendas.

As principal organizer of these events, NJFAC Outreach Coordinator Logan Martinez thanks everyone involved in both Town Hall meetings; the volunteers who put many hours of time in organizing and publicizing, the great co-sponsors in Dayton and Columbus, the financial supporters who made it possible, and the great speakers and panelists. And thanks to Rep. John Conyers for his continuing leadership in the fight for jobs, health care, and a better America. NJFAC looks forward to building an ongoing network for jobs, health care and social justice in Ohio and to mounting comparable Town Meetings around the nation.

For more information, visit the National Jobs for All Coalition web site, www.NJFAC.org or contact Logan Martinez, Outreach Coordinator, loganmartinez2u [at] yahoo.com

Dayton Program

Welcome and Opening Remarks, Rev. Robert E. Jones
Jeff Mims, Dayton City Commissioner
Mayor Nan Whaley and the Dayton City Commission have declared Saturday December 5, 2015 John Conyers Day in Dayton.
Moderator, Debbie Silverstein, SPAN Ohio State Director
Keynote, U.S. Congressman John Conyers Jr.

Panel:

Charles Morton, Executive Secretary, Dayton-Miami Valley AFL-CIO
Phillip Harvey, Professor of Law and Economics, Rutgers School of Law
Morris Brown, MD, Family Practitioner, Single Payer Health Care
Acknowledgements, Derrick Forward, President NAACP
Closing Remarks, John T. Donnellan, President &CEO Community Action Partnership
Adjournment, Rev. Robert E. Jones

Dayton Sponsors: Community Action Partnership of the Greater Dayton Area; Dayton-Miami Valley AFL-CIO; Dr. P. E. Henderson Jr., Corinthian Baptist Church; Greater Dayton Move to Amend; Miami Valley Full Employment Council; Edgemont Neighborhood Association; SPAN Ohio (Single Payer Action Network of Ohio); Rev. Robert E. Jones, United Theological Seminary; Dayton Unit NAACP; Organize!Ohio; Pastor Jerome McCorry; National Jobs for All Coalition

Columbus Program

Moderator, Melissa Cropper, President of the Ohio Federation of Teachers
Keynote, U.S. Congressman John Conyers Jr.

Panel:

Tim Burga, President Ohio AFL-CIO
Debbie Silverstein, State Director SPAN Ohio Kevin Kee, President Local 4501 Communication Workers of America
Phillip Harvey, Professor of Law and Economics Rutgers School of Law
Rubén Castilla Herrera, Central Ohio Worker Center

Columbus Sponsors: SPAN Ohio (Single Payer Action Network of Ohio); Communication Workers of America District 4; Dr. Victor M Davis, Trinity Baptist Church; Columbus Effective Resistance; Elder Dale Snyder, President Columbus Interdenominational Ministerial, Pastor Bethal AME Church; Community Organizing Center; Jobs for Columbus; Central Ohio Worker Center; Democratic Socialists of Central Ohio; Columbus Free Press; Rev. Joel L. King Jr.; Bounce 23 TV; Organize!Ohio; National Jobs for All Coalition

Thanks to Trudy Goldberg, Chair and to the other members of the Board of the National Jobs for All Coalition and to the Jobs for All Network for their support in this effort; and to Erik Sperling, Legislative Assistant to Rep. John Conyers Jr., and Maria D.Reddick, Scheduler for to Rep. John Conyers Jr.

Special Thanks to the Dayton Team: Mary Sue Gmeiner, Deborah Ferguson, Renee Shephard, Tim Bruce, Rev. Robert E. Jones, and Chuck Morton. And Carla Pitsinger, Carole Grimes, Adbullah Shakir, Tiki Kai-Krismano, Gwen Woodall Given and Michelle Jone, and John Bennett, Director of Communications and Public Relations Community Action Partnership of the Greater Dayton Area.

Special Thanks to the Columbus Team: Marilyn Webster, Connie Hammond, Elicia Finnell, Debbie Silverstein, Rev. Joel King, Rev. Thomas Toney, Ruben Castilla Herrera, Mark Stansberry, Kurt Bateman and Terrence Gilchrist. Thanks to: Dr. Victor M. Davis, Pastor, Trinity Baptist Church, Brian Coston, Media Ministry, Trinity Baptist Church, Stan Cartwright, Facilities Administrator, Trinity Baptist Church, Hostess Ministry, Trinity Baptist Church, Gabrielle P. Moore and Ron McGuire with Representative U.S. Congresswoman Joyce Beatty, Diane Bailey, Communication Workers of America, Bob Fitrakis and Suzanne Patzer of the Columbus Free Press.

Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)

Other Priority Federal Job Creation Legislation

In addition to HR 1000, there are several other very important job creation bills pending in Congress. Some of these bills may be reintroduced in the next legislative session. The Put America to Work Campaign thanks the sponsors of these bills for their vision and leadership.

HR 1617 – Emergency Jobs to Restore the American Dream Act

Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) and 19 cosponsors have introduced HR 1617, which would create over 2 million jobs over two years. These jobs would include public service jobs to implement energy audit programs and retrofits, improve public parks, renovate schools and housing, and expand childcare and early education .HR 1617 would cost $227 billion over two years and is fully paid for through separate legislation that creates higher tax brackets for millionaires and billionaires, eliminates subsidies for Big Oil, and closes loopholes for corporations that ship American jobs overseas.

HR 2553 – National Infrastructure Bank Act

Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) has introduced the National Infrastructure Bank Act, with 103 cosponsors. The bill would create and fund a public bank to leverage private and public capital to support infrastructure projects of national and regional significance, including transportation, environment, energy, telecommunications and water projects.The bank would have a major emphasis in fundingenvironmental infrastructure projects such as enhancing clean water; energy and electric infrastructure projects, and is supported by the Blue-Green Alliance, the United Steelworkers and Utility Workers of America.

HR 188 -- The 21st Century Civilian Conservation Corps Act

Rep. Marcy Kaptur and 2 cosponsors have introduced HR 188, which would establish a Civilian Conservation Corps to employ unemployed or underemployed U.S. citizens in the construction, maintenance, and carrying on of works of a public nature, such as forestation of U.S. and state lands, prevention of forest fires, floods, and soil erosion, and construction and repair of National Park System paths and trails. The bill would be funded at a level of $16 billion a year from fiscal year 2014 through fiscal year 2017.

You can help!! Support these bills and urge others to do so.Pass a resolution supporting these bills in your union, Labor Council, community organization or city council. Visit www.PutAmericaToWork.net for more information about the bills, related federal legislation, and sample resolutions.

HR 1000: The Humphrey-Hawkins 21st Century Full Employment and Training Act

HR 1000, a revised version of HR 870 and HR 4277 introduced in previous sessions of Congress, was reintroduced by Rep. John Conyers (D-MI) on March 6, 2013. This transformative federal legislation would create a national public service jobs program to complement job creation efforts in the private and nonprofit sectors. Most notably, the bill "aims to provide a job to any American that seeks work, and to ultimately, create a full employment society."

HR 1000 creates a national "Full Employment and Training Trust Fund," funded by a small Financial Transactions Tax on stock, bond and derivatives transactions. This would create a major new national funding source large enough to create 2.5 to 4 million jobs in the first two years of the program. The bill would also provide much additional funding to support innovative job training programs, such as one-stop career centers, YouthBuild and Job Corps, among others.

Click here for more info

Pass a Local Resolution in Support of HR 1000!

Help build momentum for a national jobs program by passing a local resolution in your city, county or state legislature!

See here for a sample resolution:

Draft New York City Resolution in Support of HR 870/HR 4277 (previous version of HR 1000 -pending)

Recently Passed Resolutions

AFSCME 2012 Convention Amended Jobs Resolution -- passed at 40th International Convention, 6/18-22/12, Los Angeles, CA

Labor Council for Latin American Advancement (LCLAA) Resolution -- passed at National Confereence, 7/26-28/12, Orlando, FL

National Organization For Women (NOW) Resolution -- passed at National Conference, Baltimore, MD 7/1/12

Other resources for passing local jobs resolutions:

Local Jobs Resolution Toolkit, from Cities for Progress

Put America to Work!!

The Put America to Work Campaign seeks to organize a strong national social movement to guarantee a right to a living wage job for every person who wants one.

As part of our work, we strongly support the Humphrey Hawkins 21st Century Full Employment and Training Act (HR 870), which aims to create millions of jobs for unemployed workers and move the US towards a full employment society.

The bill establishes a National Full Employment Trust Fund to fund an innovative direct job creation program. The Trust Fund will pay for new jobs on Main Street by raising new revenue through a small, targeted tax on Wall Street stock, options, futures, swaps and credit default swap transactions.

This campaign is a project of the National Jobs For All Coalition, which is working to build a new movement for full employment at liveable wages. For more info, visit: www.NJFAC.org

About the Campaign

The Put America to Work Campaign is a national grassroots citizens' campaign to pass comprehensive federal job creation legislation, achieve full employment and secure the right to a living wage job for every person in the U.S. who wants one.

Our current strategic focus to build national support for HR 1000, the Humphrey Hawkins 21st Century Full Employment and Training Act, introduced by Rep. John Conyers (D-MI). To mobilize support for the bill, we will be conducting a national program of community forums and teach-ins to educate policymakers and citizens about the jobs crisis and the need for massive public investment to improve our infrastructure, human services and social safety net.

We seek to put a human face on unemployment, underemployment, financial insecurity and economic distress. Our goal is to build a powerful national social movement that harnesses the voices of ordinary Americans and community organizations to permanently improve the economic rights for people who live in this country, including the right to a job, the right to a decent education, the right to health care and the right to income and retirement security.

In taking on this challenge, we want to create a more compassionate and solidaristic economy, where the public interest and the common welfare are valued, and people from all walks of life join together to reduce and eliminate poverty and chronic unemployment. Whether we have a good job or we are unemployed, we have a huge stake in each other's well-being. The problems of unemployment, poor wages and poverty are not just the problems of the unemployed and the poor -- they are the problems of all of us. We have all seen corporations abruptly eliminate and shed jobs of highly-paid workers when it suits them to do so. The economic security of workers-at-large will be greatly improved by ensuring that everyone who wants to work has the right and opportunity to do so.

To that end, we seek to inspire a much high level of public awareness and civic engagement about solving the serious, long-standing and chronic problems of unemployment, underemployment and poverty in the U.S. Even in relatively good times, tens of millions of Americans have continued to suffer with inadequate job opportunities and low wages. The fight for full employment and economic justice must go to the top of the national agenda, and stay there until all Americans have the economic right to a decent job and livelihood.

The Put America to Work Campaign is a project of the National Jobs for All Coalition, a national organization based in New York that advocates for full employment and living wage jobs for all. Contributions to NJFAC are tax-deductible and we welcome financial and volunteer contributions in support of the campaign. To join the campaign and endorse HR 1000, or request more information, please fill out our contact form.

Sunday, January 10, 2016

National Jobs for All Coalition sponsors Ohio Town Hall Meetings on Jobs and Economic Inequality