TAKE FIVE | August 6, 2025

Hey John,

Inside this issue of the Jobs with Justice Take Five newsletter you'll find:

• The South got something to say! Check in on local work in South Carolina, Tennessee, and Atlanta.
• Learn more about how DC workers are organizing to end the tipped subminimum wage while facing well-funded lobbyists.
• Listen to how FUN is continuing to fight DOGE, read a new report from Labor Lab, find perspective on boycotts that aren't losing steam, and lots more!

News You Can Use 🗞️

🎧 LISTEN: In the Belly of the Beast: How the Federal Unionists Network is Fighting DOGE and Project 2025.

🔍 ZOOM IN: His Former Company Got Caught Employing Undocumented Workers. Now He’s Profiting Off an Immigrant Detention Camp.

👀 BEHIND THE CURTAIN: DC Voted to Raise Wages. The Restaurant Lobby Said No.

📊 REPORT: Widening Divide: Employers and Union-Busters Skirt Reporting Rules While Unions Comply

💸 MONEY TALKS: Why many Black Americans are boycotting big-box retail stores: ‘using my money to resist’

Stop and Smell the Flowers 💐

🌻 Atlanta Jobs with Jobs continues to build power in the South! Led by former Advancing Black Strategists Initiative movement fellow, Anastancia Cuna, Atlanta JwJ has recently been showing up in solidarity with Waffle House workers, hosting worker-centered community events, and deepening relationships in service to Georgia workers. Keep up with their work here.

🌸 As a member of the South Carolina for All coalition, South Carolina Jobs with Justice is turning the pressure up on massive auto manufacturing companies seeking to exploit local workers while benefitting from taxpayer-funded incentive packages. Learn more about this campaign here, and keep up with SCJWJ here.

🌷 The Tennessee state legislature is giving mega corporations over a billion dollars in tax breaks while they continue to impose a grocery tax on working people. Tennessee is one of only ten states that taxes essential items like food. But the Tennessee for All coalition, which includes Jobs with Justice East Tennessee, is fighting back. They're demanding that state legislators close corporate tax loopholes and end the grocery tax. Learn more.

#ICYMI 🤳

• JwJ executive director Erica Smiley joins The Tavis Smiley Podcast on July 9, 2025
• From Nonprofit Quarterly: Can a New Labor Institute Advance Black Workers’ Rights in the South?

We're asking long time partners and new allies to commit to the fight ahead. Sign the Jobs With Justice Solidarity Pledge!

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