Working people are experiencing the results of a decades-long, strategic campaign led by the ultra-wealthy and powerful few. They weaken institutional safety nets like SNAP, Social Security, and Medicare, and funnel our tax dollars into for-profit machines that brutalize our immigrant coworkers, drain our communities of resources, and abandon the most vulnerable amongst us.  

Immediate and temporary assistance is critical but challenging our rigged systems with organized demands for safety, dignity, and prosperity could have generational and long-lasting impacts for all working people. At Jobs with Justice, we believe we can do both. And the time to do it is now. 

In 2020, when tens of millions of workers lost their jobs during the mishandling of the global pandemic, it became clear that the federal government and other institutions would not provide enough financial help for working people, especially undocumented families and workers in struggling industries like gig work, retail, hospitality, farm work, and domestic work. JWJ and our network of coalitions immediately jumped into action, pushing for federal relief that put working people first and created new direct relief and mutual aid funds at the state and local level. Together, we distributed more than $2 million to working families.  

We’re relaunching the Worker Solidarity Fund to help fuel the unyielding force that is working people. Millions of workers across the country are struggling or in immediate need, facing a manufactured crisis enforced by an anti-democratic regime, billionaire-backed politicians, and out-of-control corporate greed. Whether civil servants or farm workers or teachers or baristas–workers are leading on the frontlines. The first to be knocked down and abused, and the first to stand up. 

The Worker Solidarity Fund will be guided and activated by our national network of coalitions. Jobs with Justice will regrant funds to locally based partner organizations building worker power through solidarity, mutual aid, and hardship efforts, especially for workers organizing under active federal occupation, facing mass layoffs, preparing strike solidarity, and more. 

We have a goal to raise $300,000 ASAP to continue moving funds to support:

• Federal workers who have been under attack and suffering mass firings since January 20th. Even as the longest government shutdown in history has ended, this workforce remains under constant threat from the administration and is burdened by weeks of missed wages. The invisible victims of the shutdown–service workers, custodians, and security guards that keep federal workplaces running–are not guaranteed back pay for the weeks of work missed.

• Working families struggling to keep food on the table as institutional safety nets like SNAP are used as bargaining chips. All while their low-wage employers rake in tax breaks and record profits.

• And workers anxiously awaiting the potentially debilitating increase in healthcare costs.

Working people have the most to lose when confronting the corporate greed destroying our communities, jobs, and futures. Workers also have the solutions. Our power is rooted in common sense care for our neighbors, dignity for our coworkers, and strength through community. We must harness it, now more than ever, through how we use our time, money, and solidarity. 

If you or your institution wants to contribute $10,000 or more, please contact Brenden Sloan at brenden@jwj.org.