by DC Jobs with Justice | Jun 16, 2020 | Projects
DC Jobs With Justice applauds Attorney General Racine and his office for ensuring Matchbox workers are fairly paid. Unfortunately, wage theft is rampant in the restaurant industry, including in well respected establishments like Matchbox. Nationally and within the District, bussers tend to be Latinx immigrants, who face additional barriers to accessing fairness in the workplace. The OAG has demonstrated once again a commitment to strategic enforcement of DC’s labor laws by focusing enforcement action on key industries where wage theft is widespread, expanding individual complaints to company-wide investigations, and pursuing large companies. We are glad that to see that 100 workers have been made whole, and look forward to the day when wage theft is over in Washington,...
by DC Jobs with Justice | Jun 16, 2020 | Actions & Events
In the last two weeks, millions have taken to the street in honor of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Tony McDade, and countless other Black people who have been killed at the hands of vigilantes or law enforcement. The explosion of protest is in response to a pattern of killings, piled onto the deadly impacts of COVID-19 and four years of Trump. The demand is clear: to end police violence and to defund police — and to win a massive shift in resources into healthy, sustainable communities. DC Jobs with Justice is joining the call for the SIX NINETEEN mobilization led by the Movement for Black Lives on Juneteenth weekend, June 19–21, 2020. Click here to join the #SixNineteen weekend of action in front of the White House and across the region. Juneteenth (June 19th) is a day that honors Black freedom and Black resistance, and centers Black people’s unique contribution to the struggle for justice in the U.S. This Juneteenth is a rare moment for our communities to proclaim in one voice that Black Lives Matter, and that we won’t tolerate anything less than justice for all our people. We know the cost of this inaction. It has cost the lives of our neighbors and loved ones. It has torn apart communities. We march in their memories. We say their names. We look forward to marching with you this...
by DC Jobs with Justice | Jun 16, 2020 | Projects
DC Excluded Workers Need $30 Million to Survive the Economic Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic RSVP to the Don’t Exclude Me action June 29th – 9:00 AM – 10:30 AM – Freedom Plaza DC is home to over 30,000 residents we know cannot access federal assistance through unemployment insurance and/or the federal stimulus. The DC FY21 budget must include cash assistance for those excluded by the federal government so that they too can survive the prolonged health and economic crisis through next year. DC is Home to Workers in Dire Need of Support Tens of thousands of DC residents are excluded from federal unemployment insurance (UI) relief efforts. This includes undocumented workers, day laborers, sex workers, street vendors, people doing hair out of their homes, returning citizens, and other informal economy workers. The vast majority of these DC residents are low-income workers who do not have the savings needed to get by without work for many months. Excluded workers are overwhelmingly Black and immigrant residents who have also been among the hardest hit by COVID-19. Cash Assistance is Urgently Needed for Excluded Workers In late March, Congress passed a measure that softened COVID-19’s economic blow to millions of Americans, including one-time direct payments of up to $1,200 for most adults and an additional $500 for each child under age 17. Congress also approved four months of federally-funded Unemployment Insurance (UI) payments of $600 per week that will be in addition to state UI benefits that jobless workers receive. In addition, they established Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA)—a program for people who are ineligible for UI, such as those who have...
by DC Jobs with Justice | Jun 12, 2020 | Actions & Events
We are very excited to announce that DC JWJ will be working on and supporting a few exciting new campaigns. Are you interested in getting plugged into these new campaigns? Make sure you sign up to volunteer with us. And be sure your organization supports as well. We endorsed these campaigns at our Steering Committee meeting on June 4, at which time we weren’t prepared to bring new demands from the Movement for Black Lives, but hope to share more with you soon. Cancel Rent The Council must respond immediately by taking drastic action to help renters struggling to survive amidst the ongoing COVID-19 crisis. You can sign the petition from the DC Tenants Union in calling for the Council to Cancel rent and mortgage payments for the duration of the state of emergency plus one month Impose a two-year freeze on rent increases while the city recovers Guarantee a right to counsel in eviction cases Vastly expand the Emergency Rental Assistance Program with tripled funding, expanded eligibility, and no more annual limits on frequency and amount And enact into law the Reclaim Rent Control platform in its entirety Revenue Raising The pandemic and crushing economic downturn is bringing extreme levels of hardship to DC families. Tens of thousands of workers are jobless and a growing number of small businesses have been shuttered. To ensure we build a just recovery and come out of this crisis stronger than before, it is important for the city’s response to protect and strengthen crucial investments by raising revenue. Sign the petition and join DC JWJ and our allies in JUFJ and Fair Budget Coalition in calling for the...
by DC Jobs with Justice | Jun 3, 2020 | Actions & Events
Statement from Elizabeth Falcon, Executive Director, DC Jobs With Justice on the experience of DC primary voters Yesterday, I watched as voters in my neighborhood precinct, Emory Recreation Center, stood in line for hours. Wait times for residents who arrived after about 5:00 pm were over four hours, confirmed by the fact that the last voters who arrived before 8:00 pm voted after 12:30 am. Hundreds of voters, mostly Black, stood in line to perform their civic duty. The last voters cast ballots up to six hours after DC curfew started and four hours after the public transit stopped running. These dedicated voters maintained social distance and wore masks. They affirmed their neighbors as they waited together to vote for their chosen candidates. Many have responded to the protests calling for the protections of Black lives over the last week with an urge for civic participation at the voting booth. It is a travesty that in a city where the largest group of voters are Black, that the barrier to voting on Election Day was so high. This situation could have been avoided. And it begins with the agency taking responsibility for their failings. Unfortunately, so far leadership has failed to do so. As reported in the Washington Post June 2, 2020: Michael Bennett, the chairman of the D.C. Board of Elections, acknowledged the election did not go smoothly because the agency’s technology was not able to handle the surge of absentee ballot requests, and because voting on Election Day was higher than officials thought it would be. “The good news is I’m really, really glad we had so...
