Central Indiana Jobs with Justice educates the community about current social issues and organizes people to TAKE ACTION.  See the opportunities below to get informed and take action:

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August 15, 2011
7:00 p.m.
City Council Meeting
Join 400 other activists at this meeting as we stand in solidarity with hotel workers who earn less than $25,000 per year while the City of Indianapolis gives millions of dollars in tax payer money to downtown hotels and the tourism industry.  The Mayor will be introducing the budget at this meeting.

August 5-7, 2011
Jobs with Justice National Conf.
Join the Indiana Delegation to Washington, DC for the national conference.  Scholarships are available.  Email Allison or call (317) 917-0723 x33

July 26, 2011
9:00 a.m.
Right to Work Committee Hearing
In March of the 2011 Legislative Session, so-called "Right to Work" bill was sent to a summer study committee.  You may have heard "We Won!" or "RTW is Dead!", but it was really just delayed.  We like to call it "Right to Work for Less" because that is exactly what we will all do, union or not.  We will do the same work for less money.  This is an assault on Hoosiers by corporate interests from outside Indiana.  Our legislators need to know this is not what we want, and not good for Indiana.  We need a good jobs bill that creates jobs, NOT reduces wages.  We need our paychecks to grow so we can take care of our families and invest in our communities. 

Who: 

• Chair:    Senator Boots (R)
  

• Senator Walker (R-Columbus)
  

• Senator Yoder (R-Elkhart)
  

• Representative Torr (R-Carmel)
  

• Representative Ellsperman (R-Ferdinand)
  

• Senator Arnold (D-LaPorte)
  

• Senator Tallian (D-Michigan City)
  

• Representative Battles (D-Vincennes)
  

• Representative Niezgodski (D-South Bend)
  

• Notes:  Representative Torr and Senator Yoder have authored RTW legislation.  Senator Walker authored an anti-PLA bill.  Representative Ellsperman voted to move RTW out of the House committee in the 2011 session.

(meeting notice)
(Can't attend?  Watch on-line)

For more information leading up to the hearing, visit the facebook page:  Stand Up for Hoosiers

July 13, 2011
5:00 - 7:00 p.m.
Steering Committee Meeting
Attend this meeting if you are interested in joining the movement as an individual or organization.

June 30, 2011
5:00 - 7:00 p.m.
State House Rally Reunion
On July 1st the legislation attacking women, unions, immigrants, gay marriage, teachers, public education, the minimum wage and much more goes into effect.  We will stand together in opposition to this legislation and show that Hoosiers won't just stand by and let elected officials destroy our families and economy without a fight in 2012.  The people united will never be defeated!
English Flyer
Spanish Flyer

Friday, March 25, 6:00 - 8:00 p.m.
JwJ House Party
Email for more details...


Thursday, February 17, 2011
Community Forum:  Right to Work and the other attacks on Indiana working families.  7:00 p.m.
Marian College, 3200 Cold Spring Rd.
Marian Hall Room #305
Click here for flyer


Wednesday, February 16, 2011
5:30 p.m.
Economic Dev Cmte - TAKE TWO
PUBLIC COMMENT NEEDED: Last Friday after the snow storm, the Econ Dev Cmte set a meeting with very short notice and violated public access laws. SO - the North of South project is back on the table. This is good for the community because there are a lot of unanswered questions.

Unanswered Questions:
1. What will the wages be for the 2400 jobs?
2. Is there a project labor agreement for the construction jobs?
...3. What will the wages be for the hotel jobs created?
4. Will Dolce Hotels outsource the hospitality jobs to HHS or another company that creates low-wage temporary jobs with no benefits?
5. What will be the wages on the light retail jobs created? Will these jobs have benefits?

Find your councilor and contact information here:
http://maps.indy.gov/GovProfile/

Here are the committee members. If your councilor is on the committee, please contact him/her. Also contact Barbara Malone, councilor at-large.

(R) Jeffery Cardwell, Chair
(D) Jose Evans
(R) Barbara Malone
(R) Michael McQuillen
(D) Doris Minton-McNeill
(D) Mary Moriarty Adams
(R) Ryan Vaughn

Wed., Feb. 9, 2011, 6:00 p.m.
Scars of the Industry
Join us as we crash the hospitality industry's own "Stars of the Industry" award banquet where they pat themselves on the back for seeing who can keep the wages the lowest and profits the highest!
Contact Allison at (317) 450-4019 or allison@centralindianajwj.org for details.

Wednesday, February 9, 3:30 p.m.
Committee Hearing on Immigration Bill.  Senate Chambers, Statehouse

Tuesday, February 8, 5:00 p.m.
Rally to Save Public Education



Wednesday, December 15
5:00 p.m.
Scrooge of the Year Announcement
Monument Circle
Come join us as we congratulate Marsh on winning the Scrooge of the Year award.  South side of Monument Circle. 

Friday, December 10, 2010
SCROOGE PARTY
6:00 - 8:00
NALC Branch 39
The JwJ annual fundraiser!  Get more information and Buy tickets online. 


Thursday, November 11, 2010
2:30 p.m.
Security Officers Delegation to Property Owners
The Security Officers are also organizing to form a union in Indianapolis.  Locations all over the city use Securitas and Securitex and they deserve a voice in their workplace.  Contact Allison for details on the meeting locations.


Wednesday, November 10, 2010
Hotel Workers Boycott Picket
4:30 - 5:30
The hotel has stepped up its intimidation tactics, so we will step up our noise outside the Hyatt on Capital Avenue.

Wednesday, November 10th, 2010
2:30 p.m.
Janitors Delegation to Property Owners against
GSF is trying to negotiate BACK the wages and benefits won by the janitors five years ago!  We can't let this happen.  Please join the delegation. Contact Allison for details on meeting
location.

Tuesday, November 9, 2010
2:00 p.m.
Janitors Campaign
Delegation to Property Owners
Contact Allison for details on meeting location.


Monday, October 25
5:30 p.m.
Taking On Ballard's Billionaires
Join us for an action at the City Market right before the City Council meeting. Mayor Ballard has constructed back room deals that give the Simons getting $10 million without input from the community, Metropolitan Development Commission or City County Council.  We will shine a light on the Mayor's office and bring these deals out from the dark, and ask the City Councillors to show us which side they are on... The Side of Ballard and his Billionaires?  Or the Side of the Community and workers.  Get a flyer.

7:00 p.m.
City Council Meeting
to hear the CIB Budget giving $10 million to the Simons and an additional $8 million to market downtown when the libraries continue to cut hours and layoff workers.  Tell your councilor to vote "NO".  It is not too late.

Please contact your Councillors:

You can find your City Councillor email at on the city's website.

Also, there are five At Large City Councillors' to contact: 
Angel Rivera Riveraforcouncil@gmail.com
Ed Coleman Edward.Coleman@gmail.com
Barbara Malone Barbara_Malone@sbcglobal.net
Joanne Sanders
Jmsanders@msn.com


Wednesday, October 13
7:00 p.m.
Unemployment Town Hall
UAW Local 1111
430 S Shortridge Rd

Does the Unemployment Crisis have You in Chains?  Join Jobs with Justice, UAW, and AFL-CIO for a town hall meeting on the Unemployment and Jobs Crisis!  Congressman Carson will be in attendance to discuss the Local Jobs for America Act and ways to take action locally in Indianapolis will also be discussed.  Get the Flyer.

Monday, October 11
5:30 p.m.
Put Communities First Action
Marion County tax payers cannot afford the proposed $8 million gift from the Mayor to the Simons being heard at the Municipal Corporations Committee hearing about the Capital Improvement Board budget.  The hearing will take place at 5:30 in Room 118.  JwJ supporters will meet at the tables outside the City Market at 5:00.

Wednesday, October 6
1:00 p.m.
Put Communities First Action
This is the second action in a line of actions to target the Mayor and elected officials, demanding they Put Communities First.  This action will take place at the Metropolitan Development Commission meeting, where they will be hearing a petition to request $600,000 for a project connecting the Circle Centre Mall Arts Garden to the PNC Center/Hyatt Hotel. 

This is wasteful spending of tax payer dollars when communities are suffering and cuts are being made to the libraries and public transportation.  Supporters should meet at 12:30 at the City Market outside table area to get stickers, signs and talking points for speakers.  For more info, contact Allison at (317) 450-4019 or allison@centralindianajwj.org

Saturday, October 2
One Nation March on Washington
Locally, join JwJ, CWA, UAW, SEIU and the NAACP in a march on Washington because we all deserve a just and fair chance to achieve the American Dream. Our national identity is rooted in the ideal that all people – regardless of race, class, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, heritage or ability – should have the opportunity to fulfill their potential.  More info on the movement. 

Monday, September 27th
5:00 p.m.
Put Communities First Action
City County Building, Rm 260
Jobs with Justice members and allies will take action at the Municipal Corporations Committee hearing and tell elected officials and Mayor Ballard to Put Communities First over the interests of corporations.  The revised Library Budget is up for public discussion and calls for the layoff of 40 library workers.  The Mayor can find money for the Pacers and CIB but not the taxpayers of Indianapolis.  For more information, contact Allison at (317) 917-0723 x 33 or email.

Tuesday, September 7
4:00 p.m.
Marsh Campaign Committee Mtg
Join the community support for Marsh Workers.  The NLRB has scheduled a union election for September 17th, so we have just a few days to rally around the workers.  Join us for a strategy session at the JwJ office.  RSVP to Allison.

Saturday, September 4, 2010
9:00 a.m.
2010 Labor Day Parade
Entertainment and Community Booths start at 9:00.  Parade steps off at 11:00 at the corner of North & Pennsylvania.
Click here to download a flyer.

Thursday, September 2nd
4:30 - 5:30 p.m.
Stand with Hyatt hotel workers in the spirit of labor day.  Hyatt is taking unfair advantage in this economic downtown and trying to keep all workers in a recession.  Click here for a flyer.

Thursday, August 19th
Shop In at Marsh

contact Allison for more details at allison@centralindianajwj.org

Wednesday, August 18th, 10 a.m.
Unemployed Workers Council
Jobs with Justice is forming an unemployed workers council to build power with the unemployed and fight for the Local Jobs for America Act.  Location TBD.  Click here for a flyer.

Wednesday, August 18th, 4:00 p.m.
Rally for Good Jobs

Hosted by Justice for Janitors, this rally will take place at the corner of Illinois and Market Street.

Tuesday, August 10th, 11:00 a.m. on Monument Circle
Rally against Corruption in Washington & Indianapolis

Tuesday, August 10th, 11:00 a.m. on Monument Circle
Rally against Corruption in Washington & Indianapolis

Tuesday, August 10th, 11:00 a.m. on Monument Circle
Rally against Corruption in Washington & Indianapolis

Join JwJ, MoveOn and Common Cause to rally against corporate greed and corruption.  Ask Congressman Carson and Senators Lugar and Bayh to stand against corporate lobbying.

Tuesday, August 10, 6:00 p.m.
Put Communities First Campaign Meeting.  Stop Subsidizing Corporations and their Billionaire leaders. This group is working to build power in Indiana, so elected officials will put communities first, over the interest of corporations and corporate greed. The current project is educating the public about tax abatements and how tax payer dollars are used to subsidize corporations in exchange for low wages jobs that do not put communities first! We are also educating the community about the property tax referendum on the ballot in November. Vote NO! Come find out why.

Tuesday, June 15, 4:30 p.m.
Janitors Rally - United We Stand
Corner of W Market and Illinois Streets

Tuesday, June 15, 6:00 p.m.
Put Communities First - a campaign to help our elected officials get their priorities in order and put workers and neighborhoods first.
AFSCME Council 62, 1424 N Pennsylvania2/26/2010 - 2:00 p.m.   Evansville Rally to Save Jobs at Whirlpool. 
Meet up at IUE-CWA Local 808 Union Hall 2333 Bergdolt Rd., Evansville.  Click here to download a flyer.

2/22/2010 - 4:00 p.m.
Janitors Rally to Save their Jobs  Pan Am Plaza downtown.  Janitors won a contract in April 3008 and now janitorial companies and building owners are going back on their word.  Stand with the Janitors in Solidarity!

 2/18/2010 - 9:00 a.m.
Protest WellPoint Profits
Hoosiers are demanding answers about the WellPoint insurance premium hikes in Indiana.  Join us on Monument Circle with Congressman Carson.  Click here to download a flyer.   Click here to see the letter Congressman Carson sent to the Indiana Department of Insurance.

 2/10/2010
Lights!  Camera!  Social Action!

Join us for a gorilla theatre style workshop to take your direct action organizing to the next level!  $5 fee to register.  Space is limited so register online here.  5:30 - 7:30 p.m.

 2/9/2010

 Meet & Greet Indy Hotel Workers

at the Lockerbie United Methodist Church, 227 N East Street, 5:30 - 7:30 p.m.

1/16/2010 MLK Day of Action at the Earth House

more details to follow

10/6/09  Well-Point Crime Scene Die In.  Noon at WellPoint on Monument Circle

Click here to download a flyer. 

9/7/09 Application Deadline:  Art 4 Justice project.  Details

9/7/09 Southern Indiana Labor Day Parade, Princeton Indiana

9/5/09 Health Care Rally Kickoff to the Labor Day Parade.  The rally starts at 10:00 a.m. and the parade steps off at 11:00 a.m. from North and Pennsylvania Streets.  

9/3/09 "At the River I stand" Documentary Viewing.  

9/1/09 Picket against WellPoint and CEO Angela Braly speaking at the Indiana Convention Center.  11:00 a.m.

8/25/09 March against the Chamber of Commerce.  8:00 a.m. to 9:00 a.m. starting at the JwJ office (445 N Penn) and marching to the National City Center under the Arts Garden (corner of Illinois and Washington streets).  Dowload a flyer here.

8/1/09 Rally for Health Care reform. on the south lawn of the State House. 9:30 p.m.

7/30/09 Medicare's Birthday Party. 

JwJ and its partners will celebrate Medicare's Birthday on Monument Circle at 11:00 a.m.  Come sign a birthday card, and help deliver cupcakes to Senator Bayh and Senator Lugar.

7/15/09 Rally for Health Care on Monument Circle.  11:00 a.m.

7/25/09 Rally for Health Care on Monument Circle.  11:00 a.m.

6/25/09  JwJ/HCAN-delegation to D.C. to talk with Senator Bayh about the choice of a public health insurance plan.

6/24/09 Janitors Rally at Noon at 36 S Meridian Street.  Another downtown building has cancelled the contract with a union janitorial company and hired a non-union company that downsized the number of employees and is not providing liveable wages and affordable health care. Come show your support!

6/23/09 Health Care Roundtable at 1 p.m. at IBEW Local 481, 1828 N. Meridian St., Suite 205, Indianapolis, Indiana 46202

 Come voice your opinion and share your story about the need for health care reform.

6/19/09  Bloomington Rally against the Chamber of Commerce

at 400 W 7th Street, Bloomington, IN  outside the Chamber of Commerce to protest their attacks on the Employee Free Choice Act

6/18/09 Rally against CVS at 12 noon, 5110 E 38th Street, Indianapolis

Join the effort to cure CVS now.  CVS is the nationa's largets retail drugstore chain.  But instead of leading the way in providing quality medicine, goods and services, CVS has a questionable record on custome health and safety.  Join us for a rally and petition signing.  More info...

6/13/09 JwJ walks with the AFL-CIO and Hotel Workers Rising in the Pride parade.  Meet at 9:45 a.m. at the corner of Mass and College.

6/10/09 Student Delegation to Senator Bayh's Indianapolis Office

6/10/09 Student Delegation to Senator Bayh's Indianapolis Office

6/10/09 Student Delegation to Senator Bayh's Indianapolis Office

6/10/09 Student Delegation to Senator Bayh's Indianapolis Office

Any high school or college student interested in talking with Senator Bayh's Regional Director, Andrew Homan, about the Employee Free Choice Act or the public health insurance option is invited to attend.  Contact Allison to get on the attendance list or call (317) 917-0723 x33

6/4/09 Info Picket against the Chamber of Commerce

8:30 a.m. to 4:00 under the Arts Garden at the corner of Illinois and Washington Streets.  The Indiana Chamber of Commerce is holding an anti-Employee Free Choice Act Workshop limited only to business leaders, excluding anyone from a union. In reponse, we will be picketing outside the National City Center and distributing info to the community.  RSVP to Allison or call (317) 917-0723 x33

5/28/09 Prayer Vigils for Employee Free Choice Act

Fort Wayne:  5:00 PM
Union Baptist Church
2200 Smith St.

South Bend:  @ 9:00 AM
Robert A. Grant Federal Building
204 S. Main St.

Indianapolis:  1:00 PM
Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church
414 West Vermont St.

5/21/09 Noon; Tell CVS:  Indianapolis Deserves Better.  105 E Ohio Street

CVS stores in Indianapolis are selling expired products and violating health codes.  Join us for a rally and petition signing. 

Click here for more info.

Click here to see the news coverage from Channel 6.

5/20/09 Rally for Health Care  11:00 a.m. at Monument Circle following the WellPoint Shareholder's Meeting.

5/1/09 May Day Celebration at6:00 p.m. with the Democratic Socialists of America; Rathskellar Restaurant downtown

4/23/09 Health Care Townhall Meeting in Evansville:  Fix the Economy?  Fix Health Care!!! This event will take place at the Teamsters Local #215, 825 E Walnut, Evansville.  Rep. Brad Ellsworth is invited to hear abou the community support for giving Americans the choice of a public health insurance plan.  Free and open to the public.  Map

4/15/09 5:00 p.m. EST Rally for Health Care in Jeffersonville, IN.  Tell Rep. Baron Hill and Senator Bayh to support Health Care Reform NOW! 

3/31/09 Tippecanoe Activist Training & Mobilization Event, 6:00 - 9:00 p.m.

IBEW #668 Hall, 2535 S 30th Street, Lafayette Indiana 47909 Map  This event is free and open to the public.  Come learn about the Employee Free Choice Act, Health Care for America Now, and get the tools needed to take action in your community.

3/21/09 10:00 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. Workers Rights' Board Hearing on privatization and outsourcing of workers.  How this union busting tactic impacts the workplace and living wages. Location:  Promise Land Chrisitan Community Church, 802 Edgemont Ave.  Click here for more info.

3/4/09 First Wednesday Discussion with the ACLU of Indiana.    12:00 noon at  IUPUI Campus Center, Room 305. 

Check back here regularly for information on upcoming actions and ways you can get involved and advocate for social justice.  

We know there is a JOBS CRISIS

and the DATA PROVE IT!

The Institute for Policy Studies had released their annual report on executive compensation, and the details are painful.  This report details the top 50 companies laying off workers and the extraordinary CEO wages and compensation packages.  36 of these companies laid off workers in a time of profit.  Read More.

The Wall Street Journal is also reporting that Corporate America is sitting on records amount of cash, like $8.4 trillion in March.  Read More.

On Thursday, July 22, 2010, Central Indiana Jobs with Justice stood with Indianapolis hospitality workers in civil disobedience action as part of nationwide Hyatt protests
For the first time in Indianapolis’s recent history, 43 participants staged a mass civil disobedience in front of the Hyatt Regency downtown.  Hospitality workers and community supporters of the hotel workers were there to stand up for the Hyatt workers who have been asking management to stay neutral since November of 2008.  Among the 43 were two JwJ staff members, seven steering committee members and many other JwJ pledge signers. 

On June 16, reports surfaced that the Hyatt had plans to sell the
 Hyatt  Regency in Indianapolis, adding to the uncertainty that Hyatt workers in Indianapolis already face.  Over the past decade, taxpayers in Indianapolis have invested $1 billion into the development of the local hospitality industry.  The hotel and convention industry in Indianapolis is booming yet at the Hyatt Indianapolis, a non-union hotel, subcontracting of jobs is rampant, hours have been reduced in recent months, and workers earn some of the lowest wages of any Hyatt workers in North America.  Housekeepers at the Hyatt Indianapolis, clean up to 30 rooms in an 8-hour shift.

“I’ve worked at the Hyatt for 29 years and if the Hyatt sells our hotel, I’m faced with starting all over again losing benefits that I’ve worked hard for,” said Jackie White. 

Joanne Sanders, minority leader of the City County Council stated; “Every taxpayer in Indianapolis is providing Hyatt management with corporate welfare.  Every time Hyatt cuts a worker's hours, they are expecting taxpayers to provide some form of assistance in order for Hyatt workers to survive.  This is why I’m standing with the workers today.”

Many other JwJ members were among the one hundred bystanders witnessing the civil disobedience.  In addition to educating the public about the hotel workers' struggles, Central Indiana Jobs with Justice has also started a community conversation about the billions of tax dollars invested in downtown Indianapolis in exchange for low paying jobs with no benefits, and continued corporate profit.

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Sign the petition to tell Attorney General Zoeller that we cannot afford a lawsuit against health care reform. 
Click here to sign the petition.

Download a Paper version here. 
Fax back to (317) 917-0752

Evansville Rally to Keep Jobs
MADE IN AMERICA 

The Whirlpool Corp. plans to start closing its refrigeration plant in Evansville, Indiana on March 26. The refrigerators now manufactured at this plant will be produced in Mexico, eliminating 1,100 local jobs. Meanwhile, Whirlpool—the world’s largest home appliance maker—enjoys healthy profits and has received a $19 million economic recovery matching grant that should be creating jobs here in America.

Join AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka for a Demonstration for Jobs in America.  

For more information and parking instructions, contact IUE-CWA Local 808 at 812-424-7596.

Click here to download a flyer.Click here to download a petition to circulate.

A new committee of women leaders in Indianapolis has been established to raise up the plight of hotel housekeepers and they pain they endure every day to provide for their families.  The Indianapolis Hope for Housekeepers Coalition meets monthly to strategize ways to stand up and fight for justice with Indianapolis housekeepers.  For information about the meetings, contact Allison at Allison@CentralIndianaJwJ.org. Get detailed info about the hotel workers' fight for dignity and respect in Indianapolis here. 

  The effects of taxing our health care benefits on Hoosier Families.

See the Indiana specific report here.

What is wrong with the Senate Finance Committee health care bill?  (The Baucus Bill.)

Click here to see what we think is wrong with the bill just released (9-16-09) by the Senate Finance Committee and Chairman Baucus.    

WellPoint could face investigation for their actions with employees regarding health care reform.

Click here to see our press release.

What do I tell my Senator? 

 Click herefor easy talking points about health care reform.  We want the Senate to pass a bill out of the Senate Finance Committee by September 15th.  Review these important parts of health care reform and choose the part most imortant to you. 

Call 1-877-264-HCAN and talk to Senator Bayh and
Senator Lugar today!

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March on the Chamber of Commerce

Tuesday, August 25th
8:00 a.m.
Dowload a flyer.

A proposal being discussed in the Senate would allow for the creation of health care co-ops instead of establishing a new public health insurance plan option. Many important details about this plan are still up in the air. Experience with co-ops suggests they would have no more ability than a good non-profit health plan to enter most local markets, rein in costs, or “compete,” other than through mimicking the behavior of profit-driven plans.

A co-op is not a substitute for a public health insurance plan that is:

• Available to everyone nationwide, with the government bearing risk

• Big enough to compete with insurers

• Powerful enough to get good rates from providers but with fair payment that attracts broad participation

• Innovative enough to change care delivery and put the right incentives in the system

• Transparent and accountable

• Playing on a level playing field with other plans in the exchange

• Able to remedy disparities in access to care for underserved communities

Co-ops Can’t Compete to Lower Costs

• State-based or regional co-ops, run by their members, would be too weak to stand up against the insurance industry conglomerates, unlike a single public health insurance plan, available nationwide.

• Today, 94% of insurance markets in America are “highly concentrated” and controlled by a handful of powerful companies.

• Co-ops would be too small to attract provider participation or to strike bargains with providers, unlike insurers with established networks strengthened by backroom deals with providers.[1] In fact, according to one Wall Street analyst, “providers would have very little reason to deal with them, since the co-ops have no volume or leverage.”[2]

• According to Saint Louis University law professor Thomas Greaney, “it is hard to envision numerous regional co-ops gathering the necessary data, experience and reputation to serve as a benchmark or counterweight to dominant hospitals and provider groups across the country.”

Co-ops Won’t be Ready for Prime Time

• Forming 50 state co-ops would take an enormous investment of time and federal capital: filing to become a co-op, applying for and winning federal seed money, establishing boards of directors, recruiting enrollees, forming provider networks, designing plans that comply with 50 state and new federal laws, setting up all plan administration – and so on.

• In an environment where one person goes bankrupt due to medical costs every 30 seconds, even if all barriers to their success could be overcome, we cannot afford to wait for co-ops to spring up in every state across the country. We need a solution that’s available everywhere on day one.

• What happens when a co-op fizzles? New market entrants face a host of obstacles, according to Greaney, and even established plans can find it impossible to break into a new market. For instance, in Pennsylvania, the dominance of two non-profit insurers in distinct parts of the state has thwarted the entry of other regional and national competitors for years.[3]

• Co-ops have been tried and failed before. Rural health cooperatives started after the Great Depression “crumbled in the face of physician resistance (including boycotts), the lack of financial wherewithal of the cooperatives themselves, and the eventual withdrawal of government support.”[4]

Co-ops Can’t Change Care Delivery

• Democrats and Republicans have agreed that delivery system reform is key to the success of health care reform and the sustainability of our American health care system. A weak co-op structure won’t have the weight or the know-how to accomplish these goals.

• As Jacob Hacker noted: “Cooperatives might be able to provide some backup in some parts of the nation, but they are not going to have the ability to be a cost-control backstop, much less a benchmark for private plans, because they are not going to have the reach or authority to implement innovative delivery and payment reforms.”[5]

• Private health plans, both for-profit and non-profit, consider the data necessary to understand plan coverage, innovations and provider incentives to be business trade secrets – making it impossible to understand or improve quality overall.

Co-ops are a Gift to the Insurance Industry

• Because co-ops would start entirely from scratch, they would likely need to outsource most core operations. That means 50 state co-ops handing over their federal seed money in big contracts with insurance companies.

• A co-op model is a handout to the industry in two ways: it deprives Americans a true competitor – a strong public health insurance option – and allows lucrative new third-party administrator contracts to operate without government oversight.

Non-Profits Have Failed to Act in the Public Good

• Co-ops would be indistinguishable from today’s non-profit plans, which generally are compelled to act in ways that do not serve the public’s interest in order to “compete” with for-profit plans. Today, nearly half of privately insured people are enrolled in non-profit health plans and yet costs have sky-rocketed.

• The Blue Cross Blue Shield health plans were originally started as co-ops. Those that retain their non-profit status have done no better than their for-profit counterparts in controlling costs. For instance, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Alabama controls 83 percent of the insurance market but allowed costs to increase 79 percent between 2000 and 2007, with premiums increasing nearly 5 times faster than wages in the state.[6]

• Non-profit status doesn’t guarantee good behavior. According to Senator Barbara Mikulski, Maryland’s Blue Cross Blue Shield plan went from “non-profit to profiteering.”[7] According to a report in Health Affairs, “Blue Cross Blue Shield of Maryland and its sister plan in the District of Columbia were poster children of nonprofit corruption and incompetence, squandering their assets on ego-building but money-losing diversification initiatives and on lavish executive lifestyles that devoted more days per year to jetting around the globe than to paying insurance claims back home.”[8]

• Held to the same level of scrutiny, non-profit insurers would exhibit the same greed and lack of public accountability Senator Charles Grassley has found in repeated investigations of non-profit hospitals.

Why We Need Health Care Reform
A State By State Report

Indiana

Other States

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Central Indiana Jobs with Justice calls for public apology from State Representative Jerry Torr. 

Click here to read the letter. 

  Why Small Businesses need
Health Care Reform Now.

Download a fact sheet.

Send a letter to your Member of Commerce.

Are you a small business owner?  Send a Letter to the Editor.  Use this sample to get started.

 Will Congress fix health care or save money for Millionaires? 

Call Congress and demand reform. 

Call 1-877-264-4226.  Here's what to say:

"HR 3200 -- America's Affordable Health Choices Act -- will save taxpayers an average of $2,200 per year and will impact only the highest income earners.

Passing health care reform will save us all money. Not passing it will save millionaires money.

Small business owners all across our country support this bill. You should, too.

Fixing America's health care crisis will fix our economy and get our country back on track. The time is now.

I urge you to vote for HR 3200, America's Affordable Health Care Choices Act."

How will H.R. 3200 affect your community?

Click here to see a district by district report.

Erasing Health Disparities Report  

Click here to download the full report

Click here to download a short summary

Click here to download the national report 

The Truth about Health Care Reform

Check out our blog, and dispel the myths about health care reform.  

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24hr Surge for Health Care Reform 

Starting at 12:00 a.m. on Wedneday, July 8th, health care reform partners and activists will be canvassing for 24 hours - encouraging their co-workers, neighbors and fellow citizens to contact their elected officials for health care reform. 

Call Your Senators and Member of Congress at 1-888-436-8427.  Here's what to say:

I'm calling to ask my Member of Congress to support health care reform that includes a public health insurance option.  Hoosiers and Americans deserve the choice of a quality, affordable health insurance option that will be there no matter what, to compete with the private insurance companies. 

Volunteer to encourage others to call.  Email Allison or call (317) 450-4019 to sign up for a shift anytime from Midnight to Midnight!

12 am - 5 am:  Outside Wishard Hospital Emergency Room, 1001 W 10th St, Indianapolis 

6 am:  UAW 933, 2320 South Tibbs Avenue, Indianapolis

8 am - 12 pm:  Farmers Market at the City Market, 222 East Market Street, Indianapolis

11am – 2 pm:  CWA Local 4900 at AT&T
(union members only)

2 pm:  Press Conference, outside 10 West market Street, Indianapolis.  Deliver letters and signatures, as well as a report to Senators Evan Bayh and Richard Lugar on how to pay for health care reform. 

3 pm – 9 pm:  Phone Bank, Jobs with Justice office, 445 N. Pennsylvania, 3^rd Floor

9 pm – 11:59 pm: Outside Wishard Hospital Emergency Room, 1001 W 10th St, Indianapolis 

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Declaration of Independence

On June 25th, HCAN and their partners mobilized thousands of people in our Capitol to demand quality, affordable health care for all.  We told our Senators and Representatives that we can't wait any longer for reform that will lower health care costs, offer the choice of a public health insurance option, and keep the insurance industry honest.  See video from the Rally here!

The American public is now declaring its independence from the insurance industry, and we are signing up people across the country to tell Congress that we need an American solution to meet our health care needs.  It's time to have a choice when it comes to our health insurance. 

We hold these truths to be self-evident;  we need health care reform that will provide:

·      Coverage we can afford;

·      Comprehensive benefits we can count on;

·      Choice of a private or public health insurance plan;

·      Equal access to quality care

Sign the Petition Here

When President Barack Obama spoke at the Westin last month, the downtown hotel's former doorman, William Selm, received a special invitation to attend. The irony wasn't lost on Selm: He'd been invited to hear the president speak about labor unions at a hotel where he'd been fired after discussing forming a labor union. more

JwJ Asks AG To Investigate Indiana Health Insurance Market

Request Follows Report Detailing Lack of Competition, Soaring Prices

Click here to see the letter

Click here to see the media advisory

Click here to see the full report

JwJ Asks Indiana Chamber of Commerce President, Kevin Brinegar, to stop the lies and declare neutrality on the Employee Free Choice Act.

Click here to see the letter.

JwJ passes Resolution in support of CWA workers bargaining with AT&T

Click here to see Resolution.

Since April 4, 2009, when the collective bargaining agreements covering union workers at AT&T expired, 125,000 CWA members have been working without a contract.  The CWA members have voted to strike when and if CWA’s leaders deem it necessary to call a strike. 

AT&T is one of America’s largest corporations – fourth behind Exxon, Wal-Mart and Microsoft – with a market capitalization of nearly $150 billion dollars (4/15/2009).  In 2008, the company earned $12.9 billion on revenues of $124 billion. 

Send a letter to the AT&T CEO, Randall Stephenson, CEO, encouraging AT&T to play a leadership role in helping to preserve middle class jobs and to promote the need for national health care reform that will help its workers, and the nation. Be sure to email us a copy of your letter.

Report Details Need for Competition in the Indiana Health Insurance Market

Media Advisory

Final Report

Press Release

President Obama and Indiana Democratic Party leaders support Hotel Workers

For more than two years, hotel workers have been requesting a fair process to form a union at their hotel.  Westin GM, Dale McCarty has given them anythign but a fair process.  Click here to see the letter sent to Westin GM, Dale McCarty by the Keep Indiana Blue Committee, signed by Andre Carson, Baron Hill, Brad Ellsworth, and Joe Donnelly.  You should contact Dale McCarty, too.  Click here to send him an email.

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NO HOLDS BARRED - The Intensification of Employer Opposition to Organizing. 

Released May 20, 2009 by the Economic Policy Institute and American Rights At Work.  Click here for the fact sheet.

Watch the new TV  ad airing in Indiana for a public health
insurance option!

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Will you "Be There"?

Sign the Jobs with Justice Pledge to "Be There" five times over the next year for someone else's cause.  Click here.  Help us achieve our goal of 2010 pledge signers by the year 2010!!

Jobs with Justice is the
AFL-CIO Ally of the Week 

Jobs with Justice of Indiana are making invaluable contributions to the Employee Free Choice Act campaign.  Today two Indiana representatives will be headed to Washington DC ... Read More and Watch the Video

Tell Senator Bayh,
Health Care Reform Can't Wait!

Please contact Senator Bayh right away, to demand support for President Obama’s budget because it includes a down payment on fixing health care.  Senator Bayh has suggested health care reform might have to wait. 

Call for free 1-888-436-8427, just ask for Senator Bayh’s office.  Ask Senator Bayh to support the President's budget and tell him Health Care Reform cannot wait!  We need health care reform in 2009!

Thanks!

Check out the Hotel Workers Video!

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JwJ to Host Workers' Rights Board Hearing on the effects of Privatization in the workplace.

more info  

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Bring Bill Back!  Sign the Petition

A few weeks ago, the Westin Hotel in downtown Indianapolis threw out the Employee of the Year!  What did he do, you ask?  He voiced his concern for his co-workers who were outsourced in the restaurant.  His department had been outsourced a few months before, so he has some experince in this area.  Click to learn  more and Sign the petition to Bring Bill Back.

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Share your justice tidbits on our Blog!!

Central Indiana JwJ has launched a blog!  Check it out at www.centralindianajwj.org/blog.  Here you will find social justice tid-bits, and more current information about the going-ons in our local movement.  Share your ideas, concerns, fustrations and successes with the rest of us!!  

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Double your Donation

Through a generous donation from the JwJ national network, new donations will be matched dollar for dollar through May 31, 2009.  Double your impact today by making a tax deductible donation.  Click here.

Employee Free Choice Act

Have you signed on to support the Employee Free Choice Act?

Some struggles of the hotel workers and janitors could be eleviated by the passage of The Employee Free Choice Act would basically do three things:

• Establish stronger penalties for violation of employee rights when workers seek to form a union and during first-contract negotiations - like writing up workers for wearing a union button, or passing out information at break time.
• Provide mediation and arbitration for first-contract disputes - This means that management will have to negotiate with the union; they cannot simply ignore the workers' request.
• Allow employees to form unions by signing cards authorizing union representation - the secret ballot procedure that currently exists can still be used, but it is not secret and provides management the opportunity to intimidate, harass and violate workers' rights.

Every day, corporations deny employees the freedom to decide for themselves whether to form unions to bargain for a better life.  They routinely intimidate, harass, coerce and even fire people who try to organize unions, and the current penalties for breaking labor laws are so insignificant that many companies threat them as just another cost of doing business. 

The system has to be changed to give all working people the freedom to make their own choice about whether to have a union and bargain for better wages and benefits.  Currently, employers are under no obligation to recognize and bargain with the union, even if 100% of workers have signed authorization.  People call the current NLRB election system a secret ballot election - but in fat it's not like any democratic election held anywhere else in our sosciety.  Management controls when the election happens.  While management is allowed to bombard employees with anti-union messages anywhere, anytime in the workplace, workers can only talk about the union while they're on breaks in the break room or before or after work.  Union organizers have no right to set foot in the workplace.  No employee has free choice after being browbeaten by a supervisor to oppose the union or being told they may lose their job and livelihood if workers vote for the union.

Central Indiana JwJ is organizing Indiana as part of the Health Care for America Now! campaign.  

Click here to learn about HCAN in Indiana.

Health Care reform in Indiana should be a top priority.  The time is now for an American solution that will secure our families' health and a healthy economy.

The first order of business for the new President and Congress in 2009 should be to pass health care legislation that guarantees quality, affordable health care for all.

We're asking you to tell us which side are you on?

In just five years, insurance companies’ profits rose more than 1,000%.

Learn more about HCAN Indiana.    Workers' Rights Board Hearing

Workers share stories about the effects of outsourcing and privatization on their workplace, and being forced to re-apply for their jobs at lower wages.

When:  Saturday, March 21, 2009, from 10:00 a.m. to 11:30 a.m.

Where:  Promise Land Chrisitian Community Church, 803 Edgemont (one block west of Dr. Martin Luther King Street, between 24th and 25th streets).  Map

Indianapolis – Workers from the Westin Hotel will join workers from other industries on Saturday, March 21, 2009, to provide testimony to an independent panel of community leaders about the effects of outsourcing on their workplace.  Frequently viewed as a union-busting tactic, the Westin Hotel has most recently outsourced Shula’s restaurant.  Many other central Indiana workers have fallen victim to corporate greed in the name of the “bottom line”, and will be present on Saturday to support their colleagues.

This event follows the swell of community support for hotel worker, William Selm.  Selm is a former Westin employee who was part of the bell department outsourced to Towne Park, the national leader of hospitality contract services and parking systems.  He was then forced by Westin Management to transfer to another hotel after sharing his concerns about his co-workers being outsourced at Shula’s.

The Workers’ Rights Board (WRB) is a project of Central Indiana Jobs with Justice with the mission of forming a community voice on workers' rights issues.  This Board is composed of concerned local leaders who are drawn from a broad spectrum of the community, including representatives from different ethnic and social groups, community organizations, faith-based groups, people with specialized knowledge about the issues confronting workers, and local elected officials. 

At Saturday’s hearing, WRB panel members include State Representative John Bartlett, IUPUI Professor Tom Marvin and IUPUI Masarachia Scholar Anne Weiss.  The hearing will be facilitated by Laura McPhee, News Editor at NUVO.

About the Westin Hotel and Outsourcing in Indianapolis

About William Selm.

Click here to RSVP via email.  Click here to RSVP via FACEBOOK.