by DC Jobs with Justice | Apr 24, 2017 | Projects
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Monday, April 24, 2017 CONTACT Ari Schwartz, DC Jobs With Justice, 202-674-3228 or ari@dcjwj.org DC Government Must Stop Delays and Step Up to Help Student Loan Borrowers Link – http://bit.ly/2oEqcRj As Trump’s Department of Education and loan servicers abandon borrowers, the DC Government must hire its Student Loan Ombudsman to bring much-needed oversight over loan servicers and guidance for District borrowers WASHINGTON, D.C. – Months after the DC Council unanimously passed legislation to create a Student Loan Ombudsman with authority to license loan servicers, the relevant DC government agency has yet to hire the Ombudsman. At a time when the country’s largest student loan servicer, Navient, declares “there is no expectation that the servicer will act in the interest of the consumer,” the Department of Insurance, Securities, and Banking (DISB) should not be dragging its feet. Instead of moving forward with hiring this crucial position, DISB has undermined the law and its own ability to find a qualified applicant by requiring the position also serve a secondary, distinct role as Foreclosure Ombudsman. Elizabeth Falcon, Executive Director of DC Jobs With Justice, issued the following statement: “More than ever, DC residents desperately need support from District Government to fight our student debt crisis. We are the most indebted jurisdiction in the country, as around 140,000 residents owe an average of $40,885, and 1 in 10 DC borrowers are in default. East of the Anacostia, our neighbors face the brunt of predatory loan servicers and are three times more likely to be behind on their payments. “In December, we were heartened to see Councilmember David Grosso and the DC Council...
by DC Jobs with Justice | Dec 2, 2016 | Press, Projects
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Friday, December 2, 2016 CONTACT: Ari Schwartz DC Jobs With Justice; ari@dcjwj.org or 202-674-3228 Community Organizations & Labor Leaders Call on Chairman Mendelson to Renounce “Moratorium” On the eve of a Trump administration and Republican-controlled Congress, D.C. Council Chairman shockingly announces refusal to consider further progressive legislation. Washington, D.C. – Community organizations and labor unions applaud the news that the Universal Paid Leave Act will move to a vote in the D.C. Council on December 6th and look forward to it passing by the end of the year. But in announcing a revised proposal of the legislation on Tuesday, D.C. Council Chairman Phil Mendelson buried a brief and shocking statement at the end of his press release. Seemingly to placate businesses that “may be unhappy that this bill establishes a new tax on them,” the Chairman said he will “support a two-year moratorium on the adoption of similar bills, such as mandating scheduling requirements or nurse staffing ratios in hospitals.” Various community organizations and labor unions that advocate for and represent working people across the District were stunned and deeply concerned to see the Chairman make such an unprecedented statement. Elizabeth Falcon, Executive Director of DC Jobs With Justice, called Chairman Mendelson’s statement “the opposite of the leadership we need in this new era.” She said, “The Council will improve the lives of thousands of District residents when it passes Paid Family Leave. But that alone is not enough to have a good life in the District. Workers already face barriers to enough work, dignified working conditions, and opportunities for real careers. And what new issues...
by DC Jobs with Justice | Jan 15, 2016 | Campaigns
On January 13, members of the coalition for Just Hours testified at a DC city council hearing in favor of the Hours and Scheduling Stability Act, spearheaded by D.C. Jobs With Justice and introduced by Councilmember Vincent Orange. The proposed rules would usher in more predictable schedules and stable employment opportunities for people working in the District’s retail and restaurant chains. While a national trend of minimum wage increases continues, the demand for ending erratic work schedules to ensure more sustainable jobs is growing. According to a recent poll, a wide majority of D.C. residents say they support the measures included in the legislation. Some 86 percent of D.C. residents say they would support a law that would mandate stable hours and predictable work schedules from employers. Additionally, 87 percent of those surveyed say they would support rules that would require two weeks’ advance notice of work schedules, and 88 percent say they would support rules that would require large corporate chain stores and restaurants to first offer additional work hours to their part-time employees before hiring new employees. RasImani Diggs, an employee at a Marshall’s store in Ward 1 in the District, testified about the challenges she faces with inconvenient and ever-changing schedules: “They post a schedule a day or two before the week starts, but it can change at any time. I have to try to call in or take metro from Kenilworth on a day I don’t even work just to check my schedule and see if it’s changed. I can’t plan anything in my life. With a second job and trying to help my family, if...
by DC Jobs with Justice | Mar 4, 2015 | Get Involved, Wage Theft
Reposted from Georgetown Kalmanovitz Initiative Blog My time with the Kalmanovitz Initiative Summer Organizing internship not only let me grow as a person but also use that growth to make deeper connections with DC workers and organizers. I am humbled to have worked with so many passionate people that really care about other people and their struggle. I was placed with DC Jobs with Justice, “a dynamic coalition of labor organizations, community groups, faith-based organizations, and student groups dedicated to protecting the rights of working people and supporting community struggles to build a more just society.” At least that’s how I have learned to describe it to other people, but to me, DC JWJ became a wake up call. I worked on DC JWJ’s anti-wage theft campaign. DC previously passed legislation to increase the minimum wage and extend paid sick days, which were huge victories for DC workers. During my time at DC JWJ, the DC City Council also passed the strongest anti-wage theft law in the country. I sat in the Wilson building for six hours just to hear them pass the bill. Though I have never been so incredibly bored in my entire life, it was a moment of clarity and it is something that I have recently reflected on. I was there to support these workers whom I had started building a relationship with, but I see now that my presence was small. The workers and the organizers had devoted so much of their time, and they had built a unique relationship in solidarity with each other. They had spent hours upon hours not just sitting...
by DC Jobs with Justice | Jul 15, 2014 | Actions & Events, Ban the Box, Campaigns, Wage Theft
On Monday, July 14th, the D.C. Council voted on two key pieces of legislation that will strengthen rights for all workers in DC. The Fair Criminal Records Screening Act (also known as “Ban the Box”) will begin to remove barriers to gainful employment for returning citizens or people with arrest records by prohibiting questions about a person’s criminal record on employment applications. The Wage Theft Prevention Act will overhaul wage and hour enforcement in D.C. by creating formal hearings and increased penalties for employers who do not pay their workers what they promise or what DC law requires. DC workers and community members from the Ban the Box and Wage Theft Coalitions held a brief rally before the vote. Both laws passed unanimously! This is a truly monumental day for ALL workers in DC. Thank you ALL for the support you gave to get these laws passed! And congratulations to all those who fought for this...
