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We are mourning the lives of Angela Michelle Carr, Anolt Joseph “AJ” Laguerre Jr., and Jerrald De'Shaun Gallion—three Black people who were murdered while going about their daily lives in Jacksonville, Florida this past Saturday. Racist rhetoric, hate, and attacks on Black people, communities, and even history and education have been a part of our country since its founding, and have laid the groundwork for white domestic terrorism and mass shootings. We are holding the victims, their families, and communities in our hearts, and are in solidarity with the people, groups, and movements who are responding to this tragedy and working to build a world where our future generations will not know this kind of horror or heartbreak.
We are also deeply saddened by the wildfires on Maui, which have claimed the lives of more than one hundred people, displaced residents and families across the island, and destroyed homes, businesses, and important cultural and historical sites like the town of Lahaina. These fires and the devastation they have caused are a direct result of settler colonialism, an exploitative tourism industry, and a worsening climate crisis that is harming people, communities, and ecosystems around the world. We are in solidarity with the people of Hawai’i who are on the frontlines of many overlapping crises—from immediate disaster relief to fending off predatory real estate developers—and the organizations who have quickly mobilized to provide mutual aid and resources to survivors in Maui. [[link removed]]
Dear John,
Last month news broke that the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is readying a landmark antitrust lawsuit against Amazon. This could be huge news — here’s why.
This lawsuit comes at a moment of intense scrutiny for Amazon. Across the country, workers have been sharing stories about dangerous working conditions [[link removed]] , filing complaints with oversight agencies like OSHA [[link removed]] , and even prompting investigations into Amazon’s injury-inducing work quotas and its practice of sending injured employees back into the workplace [[link removed]] . And that’s just within their logistics branch.
What's important to realize is that Amazon has been consolidating power for years across sectors including media and entertainment, e-commerce, grocery and retail, cloud computing, technology and devices, and many more. This translates into abusive, exploitative, and anti-democratic practices that have a real human impact on working people, small businesses, and communities of color. They will pursue profit at the expense of workers, communities, and the planet—by interfering with workers’ right to organize and unionize, marketing facial recognition and surveillance tech to ICE, and lobbying against clean energy and other climate initiatives, just to name a few.
Workers, organizers, and communities have been raising the alarm for years and have gotten us to the moment we’re in now. From New York to Missouri to Southern California, local groups (including several of our own affiliates) have been taking the fight directly to Amazon and demanding safe working conditions, better pay, climate action, and more. Worker-led groups like the ALU and Inland Empire Amazon Workers United, together with national coalitions like Athena [[link removed]] , have brought together a multifaceted, diverse, and united front of people who, through strategic and coordinated action, can do what no single person or group could likely achieve on their own: take on as big a target as Amazon.
Right now, Amazon can withstand hits to their profits—whether workers walk out of a warehouse, or the writers’ strike impacts Amazon Studios, or small business owners choose to sell elsewhere— as long as money flows in from one industry or another [[link removed]] . But if we break up Amazon, then they have less to fall back on, and workers and communities will have more power to hold them accountable and make decisions about our economy and our democracy.
Lauren Jacobs [[link removed]] In solidarity,
Lauren Jacobs
Executive Director
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Taking Arts, Culture, and Community Organizing to the Next Level [[link removed]]
What happens when community organizers, workers, and activists step into the shoes of theater producers, opera singers, and television writers? For three organizations in our network, the results are powerful stories that entertain, delight, and educate audiences, while also moving forward real-life campaigns for housing justice, worker power, and community governance.
Here’s the story of Dot’s Home Live, an interactive play about time travel and housing justice in Detroit; The Workers’ Opera , a musical featuring Amazon warehouse workers in Missouri; and MINE , an animated science fiction series about self-determination, community, and abundance.
Read more here [[link removed]]
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LA tourism workers make their voices heard at City Hall
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As hospitality and hotel workers strike across Los Angeles for better pay and working conditions, LAANE has been mobilizing with the Tourism Workers Rising campaign to raise the wage for tourism workers and ensure that they have access to quality health care. During the L.A. City Council’s summer recess, LAANE and partner organizations gathered 4,000 petition signatures and were ready when the council reconvened, packing the chambers and calling on council members to raise the wage as soon as possible.
Low-wage fast food and Amazon workers across Missouri are demanding better
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Missouri Workers Center (MWC) has been supporting Amazon workers organizing and demanding safer working conditions at the STL8 facility in St. Peters. Earlier this month, they held a virtual press briefing [[link removed]] to announce a new complaint filed with the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration, which exposes details about the company’s grueling work rates, mistreatment by Amazon's in-house medical unit, and a general atmosphere of fear inside the warehouse. And in Kansas City earlier this summer, MWC joined hundreds of fast food and low-wage workers, faith and labor leaders, local elected officials, and partners in the Good Jobs and Affordable Housing for All coalition for a rally focused on the Royals’ proposed $2 billion stadium district. The coalition demands that if the deal is approved, it must provide poor and working Kansas Citians with a secure seat at the table, living wage union jobs, and affordable housing.
Building momentum for housing justice in Minnesota
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Over the summer, Greater Minnesota ISAIAH organizers and leaders advanced housing justice and affordability. In Central Minnesota, leaders met with city and county officials to discuss housing solutions for their communities. In Southern Minnesota, ISAIAH leaders in Rochester organized a housing forum with elected leaders to unpack wins from the recent legislative session. More than 100 community members attended, shared their stories, and joined a conversation around building collective power to invest in housing.
Pushing for accountability and community needs after a corruption report in Anaheim, CA
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OCCORD has spent the past few months mobilizing Anaheim residents and pushing for the city council to make an internal corruption investigation available to the public. Thanks to their efforts, the groundbreaking report was released this month, which details lax lobbying regulations and how external influence and dollars from big corporations have impacted local elections and decision-making in the city. Now that the report is out, OCCORD is working with coalition partners [[link removed]] to ensure that residents are informed about the findings, involved in the process to hold elected leaders accountable, and have their needs represented by a newly proposed advisory committee for reform.
Taking back power (literally) and transitioning to clean energy in Philadelphia, PA
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In June, POWER Interfaith launched their People’s Energy Plan, which calls on the energy provider PECO to end its dependence on fossil fuels and adopt a renewable energy system that is affordable, provides family sustaining jobs, and ensures clean air for communities across the region. Together with supporters and climate justice advocates, POWER rallied at City Hall [[link removed]] and presented their Plan and vision for winning energy democracy [[link removed]] in Philly.
WIN: Nashville residents and local organizations reject Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway expansion plan
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Since 2021, Stand Up Nashville has researched and amplified the concerns of Nashville residents about the proposed Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway expansion plan. Together with residents and community organizations, they were able to put attention and pressure on elected officials and Bristol Motor Speedway, successfully halting the plan. Although the brakes have been pumped, proponents of the expansion are gearing up for another effort to pass their plan. But Stand Up Nashville, other organizations, and neighborhood associations are prepared to prioritize community needs, input, and engagement, as well as government transparency and accountability with any future plans.
WIN: Renters push landlords to uphold health and safety standards in Commerce City, CO
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After eight months of door knocking, having conversations with renters, meeting with city council members, and sharing testimonies, UNE members celebrated the introduction of Ordinance 2541. This new policy will create a Rental Registry and Inspection Program requiring all landlords to obtain licenses and have their properties inspected by the city, with financial and legal consequences for any inspection violations. Earlier this month the Commerce City Council voted to advance the ordinance to a second reading, which is a huge step towards creating safe, healthy homes for all.
Amazon warehouse workers are raising the alarm about dangerous heat
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As record heat sweeps the country, Amazon workers who do physical labor both inside and outside warehouses are facing the dangerous impacts of excessive heat. Workers at the KSBD air hub in San Bernardino last year took their own thermometers to work and documented extremely high temperatures at the warehouse, revealing grave inconsistencies with Amazon’s own temperature monitors. The workers, known as Inland Empire Amazon Workers United, have been working with the Warehouse Worker Resource Center to raise awareness about the dangers of heat illnesses and have joined the growing call for heat-related worker protections. Together they hosted a press conference [[link removed]] calling on employers and the state to do more to keep workers safe. Shortly after, they filed a formal complaint [[link removed]] with the California Division of Occupational Safety and Health about dangerous heat-related working conditions at KSBD, prompting state inspectors to open a formal on-site investigation.
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Stable Rents, Rooted Communities: A practical guide for building a local rent stabilization policy. We partnered with Local Progress Impact Lab, a network of local elected officials fighting for racial and economic justice, to develop a toolkit that breaks down the key components of a rent stabilization policy so that renters, organizers, and elected leaders can work together to build a policy that truly benefits their community. Check it out here [[link removed]] .
“How Amazon’s In-House First Aid Clinics Push Injured Employees to Keep Working.” Workers have been raising the alarm and filing complaints about unsafe working conditions in Amazon warehouses. Hear from Jennifer Crane with Missouri Workers Center in this WIRED piece [[link removed]] .
“Community Members Step Up To Shape The Future Of Light Rail In Seattle.” As Seattle’s Sound Transit weighs options for a light rail expansion plan, Puget Sound Sage is working to educate communities who will be impacted and ensure that their voices and demands are heard in the process. Learn more from Christina Shimizu, Sage’s executive director, in The Seattle Medium [[link removed]] .
“The ‘Minnesota Miracle’ should serve as a model for Democrats.” A decade of organizing and work by key players, including faith-based organizers with ISAIAH, made this recent legislative session truly historic. Read more in The Washington Post [[link removed]] .
“Pa.’s public school system doesn’t serve low-income communities.” Bishop Dwayne Royster, Executive Director of POWER Interfaith, calls for equitable public school funding that benefits students, teachers, and communities. Read his op-ed in the Pennsylvania Capital Star [[link removed]] .
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