Huge Victory for Bus Riders!

good logo OFFICIAL
Late this evening, the Suffolk County Legislature unanimously passed the Sunday bus service bill! This is a huge victory for bus riders and will not only create more service for people who rely on public transportation, but will also be a boost to our local economy. For those of you who have union members who ride buses, or for our brothers and sisters at TWU Local 252 who drive the buses, this is a huge victory for our labor movement. The passage of the bill is the result of the work of many organizations, but we specifically need to acknowledge the hard work of our partner, Tri-State Transportation Campaign for their smart advocacy on this issue, and Legislator Jay Schneiderman for relentlessly advocating for Sunday bus service for years.
Not only did the bill pass through the legislature, but it passed unanimously. Suffolk County legislators understand the need to support working people on Long Island, and we couldn’t be more happy. We will continue our advocacy work in Suffolk County for serviceexpansions and increased state funding, but we want to take a moment and celebrate this important victory.

Working But Still Poor Conference a Huge Success

good logo OFFICIAL

Friday’s conference last week was a huge success, with over 200 faith, labor, and community allies attending our Working But Still Poor Conference. Our keynote speaker, Sister Simone Campbell, Executive Director of NETWORK and the woman behind the Nuns on the Bus tour, was fabulous and announced her upcoming tour on immigration reform! Congressman Tim Bishop spoke about the challenges ahead with moving immigration reform through Congress, and Rev. Charles Coverdale of the First Baptist Church of Riverhead got us started with a motivational opening sermon! Take a look at Bart Jones’ Newsday article about our conference online here, complete with video coverage of the event!

WBSP-SIMONE CAMPBELL-JPEG

Thank you so much for your support in attending our event, spreading the word prior, and/or becoming a sponsor!

Jobs with Justice Calls for Sandy Transparency Bill for Nassau’s Sandy Funds

good logo OFFICIAL

Mineola, NY–Today, Long Island Jobs with Justice called for a transparency bill to be introduced by the Nassau County legislature as funds continue to come in from Superstorm Sandy. Executive Director Charlene Obernauer spoke at a meeting of the Nassau County Legislature, saying that more transparency is needed to ensure that funds are being spent appropriately, and that workers’ rights and OSHA regulations are being followed.

“There are a lot of investigations going on right now. We don’t know yet if anything has even been done wrong, but we do know, moving forward, that more standards need to be put in place,” said Obernauer to the Legislature on Monday afternoon.

Long Island Jobs with Justice has been watchdogging the Sandy rebuilding process since the storm, recently unveiling massive wage theft in a $10.1 million dollar Sandy contract on Fire Island. They believe that a bill would prevent these kinds of abuses from happening in the future.

“We don’t want this bill to be a bi-partisan effort, we want it to be non-partisan. Superstorm Sandy recovery and rebuilding is a concern for all of us,” Obernauer concluded, urging the legislators to work together to create a better process for public funding in the future.

Watch Charlene Obernauer’s testimony at the legislature online here.

Vigil to End the Deportations of Innocent Immigrants

good logo OFFICIAL

Long Island Jobs with Justice is partnering with St. John of God to organize a vigil to end the annual deportation of 400,000 undocumented immigrants in the United States. We have already noted that our immigration system is broken, but we continue to deport innocent people and tear new American families apart. Join us for our April 9th vigil at St. John of God in Central Islip.

Vigil-April 9th-St John of God

Working But Still Poor Conference Program Posted

good logo OFFICIAL

Working But Still Poor Conference on Friday, May 3rd, 2013! 8:30am-2:30pm at Touro Law Center in Central Islip.

Our upcoming “Working But Still Poor Conference” program is now online here:

WBSP 2013 conference outline

View full descriptions and register for your workshop today before time runs out! Remember that early bird registration is just $25, which includes breakfast, lunch, and both workshop sessions.

Also, feel free to distribute our flyer, which is online here, and has a manual registration for people who like to mail in their registration (and support the U.S. postal service)!

WBSP 2013 Flyer

Jobs with Justice Protests Workers’ Rights Abuses on Superstorm Sandy Fire Island Job Site, DOL Investigates

good logo OFFICIAL

Fire Island, NY—Long Island Jobs with Justice joined Assemblyman Phil Ramos, Parish Outreach Center at St. Anne’s Roman Catholic Church in Brentwood, and community members from Make the Road New York, in supporting workers from Superstorm Sandy who have experienced a wide array of workers’ rights abuses on their job site. Workers were tasked with cleaning up 9,000 tons of debris on Fire Island in preparation for warmer weather.

The contractor, Environmental Chemical Corporation was awarded $10.1 million dollars by FEMA, and they hired two subcontractors: DS3 and the Coastal Environmental Group.

The main contractor, the Environmental Chemical Corporation out of California has been doing environmental cleanup for 20 years, but they have had a number of lawsuits against them, culminating in their company being investigated by the F.B.I. and other federal agencies for its billing practices during Hurricane Katrina.[1] Workers on Long Island have had similar problems, being underpaid for hours worked, or being paid with checks that bounced, or being forced to sign an employment agreement without a specified wage amount.

Long Island Jobs with Justice organized a press conference outside of the Coastal Environmental Group in Central Islip (covered by News 12 and Newsday) on Tuesday, and on Wednesday the Department of Labor began a full investigation of the job site. We will continue to monitor the situation on this job site and ensure that workers are being paid for the hours they work, but this points to a much bigger problem: the exploitation of disaster recovery workers.

Sandy-Group Photo

Long Island Jobs with Justice is a member of the Downstate Alliance for a Just Rebuilding, which brings together labor unions, workers centers and community, faith-based, environmental justice and policy organizations to address immediate relief and long-term rebuilding issues in the wake of Hurricane Sandy. View our goals and mission statement online here:

Alliance for a Just Rebuilding-Long Island

[1] Mattera, Phillip. “Profiles of 12 Companies That Have Received Large Contracts… Related to Hurricane Katrina.” Wagetheft.org. N.p., Mar. 2006. http://www.wagetheft.org/moreinfo/archive/profiles12.pdf

Register Today for our Working But Still Poor Conference

good logo OFFICIAL

We finalized our speakers and details for our upcoming Working But Still Poor Conference, which will be held on Friday, May 3rd at Touro Law Center in Islip. Please register today for the conference, and take a look at our online brochure.

Keynote speaker will be Sister Simone Campbell, of the Nuns on the Bus, who was also a speaker at the Democratic National Convention. Our opening speaker will be Sister Margaret Smyth of the North Fork Spanish Apostolate.

Brochure online here.

WBSP 2013 conference outline-final draft