Dear Friend,

With the general election just a week away, we at Jobs With Justice are taking a moment to reflect on the past eight months and gear up for the fights that lie ahead. The COVID-19 economic crisis has left more Americans unemployed than any other time since the Great Depression, forcing millions to answer impossible questions about how they will pay rent or put food on the table.

If it wasn’t clear before, it is now: the causes of this crisis won’t be cured by a vaccine, especially for Black Americans and other communities of color who have long suffered from deliberate systems of corporate exploitation and white supremacy.

Despite how hard this moment is for so many, we also recognize this crisis in capitalism as an opportunity to rebuild our economic infrastructure and create new mechanisms where working people have a seat at the table and direct decision-making power over their lives.

That’s why this year we stepped up and together with our partners launched the Always Essential campaign with the National Domestic Workers Alliance, United for Respect, Bargaining for the Common Good, and others—a new effort to transform what’s possible and create new long-term standards for workers in low-wage sectors by positioning them in places to govern. We also launched the Advancing Black Strategists Initiative with Morehouse College and the Black Worker Initiative of the Institute for Policy Studies to create a cohort of Black economic justice strategists committed to leading campaigns that directly impact working people’s lives. And together with Jobs With Justice San Francisco, we’re conducting critical work to inform new protections for gig workers and rideshare drivers who have long been misclassified and exploited.

More than ever, we know who we are up against. Corporate lobbyists are pouring unprecedented amounts of money into the election. The old forces of white supremacy and corporate greed are hoping to demonize communities of color and crush worker’s rights in the name of power and profit.

It’s vital that we’re prepared for whatever the election brings, and that our movement has the resources it needs after the election to win big for our communities. Will you help ensure that Jobs With Justice is prepared to meet the challenges ahead by donating today? Your donation will give us the resources we need to continue waging and winning critical campaigns for working people.

Regardless of what may come, we will remain steadfast in our commitment to confront all forms of injustice and continue boldly demanding corporations play by the rules so that all of us can earn a fair return on our work. We will come together, pledge our solidarity, and resolve to forge ahead with hope and courage.

In solidarity,

Erica Smiley

Executive Director

Jobs With Justice