Jobs
Healthy Jobs for All: What Will It Take?
What is a healthy job? For most people, it is first and foremost, a secure job that pays well. After all, a job is how you pay the bills, stay under a roof, buy groceries, and raise the kids. Without a way to obtain basic material necessities, one can’t possibly remain healthy.
Research in public health supports this common sense notion—employment correlates strongly to good health. This research also shows that unemployment is a cause of stigmatization, stress, and social isolation. Overall, the unemployed live fewer years and have higher rates of cardiovascular disease, hypertension, depression, and suicide than do their more employed counterparts.
Fastest Growing Jobs of '06: Are You Handy with Bedpans and Brooms?
Urgent breaking news for all job-seekers: The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) has released a list of the fastest growing jobs for 2006, and you might want to revise your resume accordingly. I quickly scanned it to see if “dissident freelance blogger” was on the list, but alas, no. Nor were several other job categories that I would like to see on the increase, like primary care physician and particle physicist. I’m sorry, but we’re never going to get out of this nightmarish tangle of string theory and dark matter until we start generating huge cohorts of baby physicists.
The Economic Crisis Ahead
Millions of Americans are deeply worried about their economic futures. The signs of the economic crisis ahead are literally everywhere, if one bothers to look at the statistical evidence. The first, and most important indicator, is the unprecedented concentration of wealth within American society. According to USA Today columnist Yolanda Young, in 1970, the bottom one-third of all United States households (today, about 96 million people) “earned 10 times that of the top one percent” of all households. By 2004, the upper one percent “made as much as the bottom third of Americans.”
The Fight for Quality Jobs: Our Battle Against Neoliberalism
Globalization is not a new phenomenon. The transatlantic slave trade was a manifestation of “globalization.” The carving up of Africa, Asia, and Latin America into colonies of Europe was a manifestation of “globalization.” Twenty-first century globalization shares some features with these previous eras, chief among them, the reality that the costs and benefits of a global economy are distributed unequally and, hence, our true challenge is building organizations and alliances with sufficient power to force a redistribution of these costs and benefits.
SEC Moves From 'Just A Job' To 'JUST Jobs'
In response to constituents’ issues with finding and keeping good jobs, Social Equity Caucus members and allies have been meeting monthly to jumpstart a Quality Jobs Working Group (also known as the Q). Attendees have included Bay Localize, East Bay Alliance for a Sustainable Economy, the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights, Assemblywoman Loni Hancock, LIFETIME, the National Economic Development and Law Center, Unite HERE, Remediation Services Inc., United Way of the Bay Area, Urban Habitat, Women’s Initiative for Self-Employment, and others. Many in the group have discrete campaigns around jobs, and as such the Q is evolving into a support structure for shared research and messaging. The first task underway is the establishment of a common definition and understanding around what exactly is a “Quality Job,” in an effort to move towards joint campaigns, publications, and events that will incorporate the larger SEC body.
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Rain Does Not Deter Supporters of Woodfin Hotel Workers!
Resisting the pouring rain, nearly 200 supporters linked arms and formed a circle around the brave workers of the Woodfin Hotel in Emeryville on November 13 to show their solidarity with the hotel workers whose jobs have been frequently under threat of being lost. Members of Interfaith Committee for Worker Justice asked the workers to look around at the circle of people gathered there to support them. Emeryville City Councilmember John Fricke gave a clear message to the workers, saying that no matter how long this goes on, “We’ll be here!” Many of the workers at the Woodfin Suites have been working there for years, but recently has the hotel threatened to fire them because of alleged problems with their social security numbers. The workers, who are largely immigrant women, have been organizing around the enforcement of Measure C, a living wage law passed in Emeryville a year ago.
Picketing through puddles, the crowd sent a message to the Woodfin Hotel that discrimination against immigrant workers will not be tolerated. Because of continued community support, the Woodfin has not yet fired the workers. On November 30th, a California judge ordered the Woodfin to give the workers two weeks notice of termination, allowing them time to file for an injunction to stop the firings. On December 5th, after hearing from 12 Woodfin workers, the Emeryville City Council agreed to send a letter to the hotel urging them not to fire the workers until a hearing on their complaints to the City can be set up.
Rally for Houston Janitors at Chevron Global Headquarters in San Ramon!
