• WA State JwJ Annual Fund Drive
• Take the JwJ Sustainer Challenge . . .
• Students stand up to University and help Immigrant Workers at University of Washington
• WA State Leaders Move Congress to Block Union Busting Personnel System for Federal Workers

WA State JwJ Annual Fund Drive Passes Halfway Mark!
Make your 2006 donation today to help us meet our budget. Over the past months you may have received a call asking for a contribution to continue JwJ's critical organizing. If you have already sent in your contribution, thank you! If you did not receive a call, or have not fulfilled your pledge, please do so today. Call the Seattle office at (206) 441-4969 to receive an envelope or to contribute via credit card. You can also make a tax-deductible donation online through National JwJ.
(Back to the top)

Monthly Giving Means More Organizing and Less Fundraising
Since kicking off our annual fund drive in April, our monthly donor program has grown by over a dozen new sustainers and $300 of monthly contributions. Our goal for 2006 is to finish the year with 150 monthly donors, giving a total of $2,000 per month. Help us reach this goal by becoming a sustainer today! Please contact the Seattle office for more information. Or, if you prefer your donation to be tax-deductible, simply sign up with a credit card online through National JwJ.
(Back to the top)

Students & JwJ SLAP University Administrator and Help Abatement Workers Unionize
When the University of Washington decided to tear down the nuclear reactor training building on UW's Seattle campus, a building contaminated with radioactive materials, PCB's, mercury, lead, and asbestos, they turned to the anti-immigrant contractor LVI to do the work.

UW did this despite LVI's abusive treatment of Gulf Coast hurricane clean-up workers, which has been the subject of multiple exposes in the national media. Also, LVI had been cited for violating workplace safety regulations over 120 times in last 10 years, including 2 workplace fatalities in the last 5 years. University officials told students they weren't all that concerned about LVI's safety record, and that even if they were state law tied their hands.

After months of educational events and meetings with campus administrators, members of the Student Labor Action Project and JwJ turned up the heat on campus administrators with the first ever hazmat suit fashion show. In an action that gained wide coverage in the press, students and JwJ supporters dressed up in hazmat suits and strutted their stuff down the makeshift runway on the student union building's lawn to show off what would become the newest fashion on campus if a company with LVI's safety record were allowed to operate on campus, especially if their workers weren't covered by a union contract.

Students and JwJ supporters then marched around campus with chants of, "Enviro-Health, Workers' Rights, LVI's not qualified!" and finished the day with dozens of students sidewalk chalking messages outside of the administration building. Community supporters also dropped a banner out of the student union building sending a clear message to university administrators about their feelings towards LVI.

After this and other actions, UW Administrators cried 'uncle' and pressured LVI to sign a union contract with the Laborers Local 242. Under this contract, workers will receive $26 dollars an hour, health care, pension, and protection from arbitrary discipline which is critical to the workers' ability to report unsafe or hazardous practices without fearing that they'll be penalized by LVI.
(Back to the top)

Union Busting Federal Worker Personnel System Defunded by Congress
In yet another blow to the Bush Administration's attempt to destroy the right to organize for over 800,000 federal workers at the Dept of Defense, Congress blocked spending on the National Security Personnel System (NSPS). Congress has been feeling the heat from 16 local joint federal worker & JwJ strategic actions since NSPS was proposed. These local actions have modeled effective fight back for federal workers and their allies around the country. WA State US Rep. Jay Inslee proposed this cut to the Defense budget and the Republican Congress caved in to public pressure and voted by voice vote on June 20th to block the same union busting personnel systems it had refused to stop only two years before.

Although this is another step towards maintaining the right to a union for federal workers, the fight isn't over yet. It's now up to the Senate and budget leaders in both Houses. We need to keep the heat on because this amendment could still be stripped from the final version of the bill, and the Dept of Defense is appealing an earlier Federal Court victory for federal workers. JwJ has partnered with the State Labor Council and local federal unions including AFGE, Operating Engineers, IFPTE, and Firefighters to lead this campaign. For background about the NSPS and the campaign to stop it, read JwJ's May 2006 Victory News .
(Back to the top)

While we celebrate these victories, we have much organizing before they are secure. We need our combined volunteer activism and funding to continue to build a better world. Please support WA State JwJ!