Whatcom County Organizing Committee of Jobs with Justice is a group of individual activists and organizational leaders from our coalition of community, student, faith-based groups and unions. Currently, we have 8 membership organizations in Whatcom County:

• Bellingham Unitarian Fellowship Social Concerns
• ILWU 7
• Northwest Washington County Labor Council
• United Food and Commercial Workers 44
• USW 12-590
• Whatcom County Rainbow Coalition
• Whatcom Peace and Justice Center

We have three priority areas:

• Workers Organizing Impacted by the War
• Corporate Accountability for Low-wage workers
• Immigrant Workers Rights

In general Jobs with Justice works on workers' rights and economic justice.

We meet the first Tuesday of every month at 6:00 pm at Bellingham's Union Center, 1700 N. State St. WOC Co-chairs are Betsy Pernotto and Marv Prinsen. To reach the Whatcom Co-Chairs by phone: Betsy (360)647-1752.

Questions during the day please contact Debbie Carlsen at (206) 441-4969/ evening hours contact Betsy Pernotto at (360) 647-1752.

Recent Activities:

• Supporting Health care for all by working with the 'National Health Care Now' organization to pass HR 676, a bill that supports a national single-payer plan.
• Supported and marched in the May 6th Skagit County Farm workers March
• Supported the May 1st Bellingham's Immigrant Rights rally
• Helped to honor Worker's Memorial Day on April 28th (this event is honoring all workers who died on the job before OSHA was passed)

Recent victories for Whatcom Jobs with Justice

Big-box ordinance in Bellingham a relief for residents . . . Ferndale and Whatcom County follow suit

On Monday February 12th, Bellingham residents won a huge victory when the Bellingham City Council voted 4-2 to pass an ordinance banning big-box retail stores of more than 90,000 square feet. Representatives from the Bellis Fair Mall, the Bellingham/Whatcom Chamber of Commerce, Costco and Wal-Mart attended the meeting to show their opposition to the big-box ordinance.

In recent days, the City of Ferndale and Whatcom County have both passed temporary moratoriums on big-box retail stores, similar to what Bellingham passed back in September, in order to give the communities in both municipalities time to consider how best to address the consequences of big-box retailers like damage to local businesses, elimination of living wage jobs, increase in traffic, and urban sprawl.

Jobs with Justice members in Whatcom County have been working on the issue since last September when Wal-Mart announced plans to expand their existing Bellingham store into a super-center. "This fight was not about Wal-Mart -- their announcement was only a wake-up call. The fight was about the kind of community we want to live in" said Don Houtchens, Jobs with Justice member and President of Steelworkers 12-590. "If we don't stop sprawl now, we'll never do it."

Bellingham has grown rapidly in the past 20 years. Many residents are concerned about losing the quality of life they now enjoy because it is potentially endangered by this unrestrained growth. For example, in 1988 community members saw downtown Bellingham destroyed when Bellis Fair Mall was built. After nearly 20 years, the downtown still has many vacant stores including two big-box stores that stand empty. Meanwhile, big-box stores have proliferated on some of the city's arterials.

In June 2006, Bellingham City Council approved a Comprehensive Plan for the City that laid out a vision for Bellingham. The Comprehensive Plan supported residents working, living, and shopping in their own neighborhoods, growth that will be accommodated primarily in urban villages, the ability for residents to rely more on bicycles and walking than on cars, a diversified economy that creates living wage jobs, and land use patterns that promote efficient land use and reduce sprawl. Jobs with Justice members realized that big-box stores are not consistent with the vision of Bellingham articulated in the Comprehensive Plan. So they set to work--talking with Council members, writing letters, attending and speaking out at several public hearings before City Council and the Planning Commission.