New Annual Awards Celebration Announcements!

CEJ is 26 years old, and one month away from our Annual Awards Celebration!

the Cirque de 99%, Annual Awards Celebration is taking place on May 10th, 2012, from 6:00 to 9:00pm at the Buffalo Niagara Convention Center.

We are excited to announce that our keynote speaker this year will be Steve Dubb from the Democracy Collaborative! Steve Dubb is the Research Director of The Democracy Collaborative and has worked for the Collaborative since 2004. Dubb is the principal author of Linking Colleges to Communities: Engaging the University for Community Development (2007) and Building Wealth: The New Asset-Based Approach to Solving Social and Economic Problems, which was published by The Aspen Institute in 2005. Previously, he was Executive Director of the North American Students of Cooperation (NASCO), a U.S. and Canadian nonprofit association that provides education and technical assistance to university and community-based housing and retail cooperatives.

The Democracy Collaborative has led the creation of Evergreen Cooperatives in Cleveland, OH. Steve Dubb will be presenting the forward thinking work of the collaborative on how to empower workers and build community wealth through worker-owned cooperatives. Check out this video on the Evergreen Cooperative to get inspired!

We are also proud to announce that we are giving our Lifetime Achievement Award to Marcella Fugle, Chair of the NYSUT Retirees of WNY Political Action Committee. A long-time CEJ member and labor leader, Marcella exemplifies the commitment to justice that CEJ seeks to uphold. We are honored to give her this outstanding award.

Additionally, we are honoring the following award recipients:

The Norm Harper Labor Award: James Wagner and John Mudie of CWA 1122
The Fight-of-the-Year: OPEIU Local 212 Workers at BlueCross BlueShield
The Future of Justice: John Washington of Occupy Buffalo

We hope to see you on May 10th! As always, you can purchase your tickets online through our secure server here!

Verizon, Don't Drop the Call on Your Workers

Yesterday, on March 20th, CEJ, Citizen Action, the Don’t Bypass Buffalo Coalition, CWA 1122, and other community partners rallied outside Verizon Communications on Elmwood Ave in Buffalo to call on the company to compensate their workers fairly and save 45,000 middle class jobs.

The event was planned in coordination with national actions taking place this week led by Jobs with Justice, CWA and IBEW workers, and thousands of others. Tomorrow, on March 22nd, in cities across the country, these groups will be holding a Verizon Day of Action.

At a time when we need good jobs more than ever, Verizon is seeking to decimate 45,000 middle class jobs even though they are making record profits and tripled Verizon CEO’s Lowell McAdam’s pay to $23.1 million last year.

Check out the video below of the singing telegram (to the tune of "Build Me Up, Buttercup" by the Foundations) we delivered to Verizon CEO Lowell McAdam yesterday.

(If your browser does not support his feature - click here to watch the video on youtube)

Call Lowell McAdam at 888-738-2990 and tell him that you stand with Verizon workers against corporate greed and for a fair contract. Let him know that you expect him to treat the workers right and negotiate a fair contract now.

To learn more and take action, visit StopVerizonGreed.org

Save the Date! Thursday - May 10th, 2012

Thursday, May 10th, 2012
6:00-9:00pm (program starts at 7:00)

CEJ's Annual Awards Celebration

"Cirque de 99%! Laughing off the past - getting serious about our future."
at the Buffalo Niagara Convention Center

The Coalition for Economic Justice (CEJ) would like to take this opportunity to express our appreciation and gratitude for your leadership in Western New York. We are gathering on Thursday, May 10th to celebrate our exciting year and the great achievements of our partners and allies!

Our Annual Awards Ceremony is a unique and special opportunity to appreciate the contributions we all have made in our fights together for jobs with justice in Buffalo and Western New York. The dinner program, held at the Buffalo-Niagara Convention Center, is a night of drinks, dining, and entertainment.

We are excited to announce that this year we will be honoring: James Wagner and John Mudie from CWA 1122, members of OPEIU 212 at BlueCross BlueShield, and John Washington of Occupy Buffalo for their exceptional leadership in 2011.

The theme for this year is "Cirque de 99%" - which means that you should be ready for carnival themed games that poke fun at the 1%, while exposing the tax loopholes and other ways that corporations game the system to their advantage. We'll also be looking forward to getting serious about our future by celebrating the important victories and the leaders who are fighting for jobs with justice in our communities.

To purchase tickets to the event, call Josh at 892-5877 or email josh@buffalojwj.org.

Or, visit this secure donation site and purchase your tickets today!

Good Jobs, Not Giveaways

CEJ along with members of Metro Justice, the WNY Area Labor Federation and the Rochester and Genesee Valley Area Labor Federation, and Teamsters Joint Council 46 held a rally in Rochester prior to the County of Monroe IDA (COMIDA) board meeting on Tuesday February 21 to request that the board end its tax break agreement with VWR and look into getting back the nearly $1 million VWR has received.

We went to Rochester to follow the money IDAs in Erie and Monroe County have handed to VWR over the course of decades. VWR has collected tax incentives from the ECIDA since 2001. When their last deal ended in 2011, they closed their warehouse in Tonawanda and laid off 41 workers. Meanwhile, VWR got tax break deals from COMIDA in 2001 and 2008 to expand their warehouse in Henrietta and create 7 new jobs.

As Richard Lipsitz, political affairs coordinator for the Teamsters Joint Council 46 and WNY Area Labor Federation president, said at the rally: “VWR has been doing deals with the Erie County IDA to avoid paying their fair share of taxes since the 1970’s. What they’ve promised in return – JOBS. But, just as they’ve done in other parts of the country, the minute the tax break ran dry they shut down the jobs. They’ve likely had this plan for years, because they’ve been racking up tax breaks in Monroe County since 2001, expanding their warehouse there in preparation for the Tonawanda shutdown. It is time for COMIDA to end its agreement with VWR.”

VWR, which recorded $3.6 billion in sales in 2010, is an international distributor of scientific and laboratory supplies and chemicals and is owned by Chicago-based private equity firm Madison Dearborn Partners.

VWR’s pattern of job shifting extends beyond New York. In Brisbane, CA, VWR plans to close its warehouse, putting over 60 long-time employees out of work and plans to build a new warehouse 300 miles away in Visalia, CA, where it is eligible for multiple incentives and tax credits. VWR’s move was subject to a Commission of Inquiry led by Congresswoman Jackie Speier and State Treasurer Bill Lockyer.

CEJ’s executive director Allison Duwe, WNY Area Labor Federation’s president Richard Lipsitz, and Metro Justice’s president Paula Hansen as well as a few Occupy Buffalo folks also spoke during the board meeting’s public comment period, calling on COMIDA to end its tax break deal with VWR.

Once the public comment period was over, however, the board rushed through the meeting to approve several project applications, with hardly any discussion about what the job creation would be or how much these jobs were paying. Representatives from each company were present in order to answer questions but there never seemed to be any areas of concern. Along with the new projects approved, there were several existing projects requesting more funding. These projects alone totaled over 2 million dollars. No questions asked, money granted.

Along with our statewide partners, we will keep the pressure on COMIDA to end its tax break deal with VWR and make sure that we get our money’s worth.

To see press coverage, please visit the links below.

YNN:

http://rochester.ynn.com/content/top_stories/574517/are-ida-tax-breaks-a-good-investment-/

The Democratic & Chronicle:

http://www.democratandchronicle.com/article/20120221/BUSINESS/302200052/COMIDA-approves-6-projects-gets-earful-from-protesters?odyssey=tab%7Cmostpopular%7Ctext%7CBUSINESS

WNED:

http://www.publicbroadcasting.net/wned/news.newsmain/article/0/0/1906746/WNED-AM.970.NEWS/Protesters.Assail.IDA.Role.in.Local.Layoffs

Free Training: Confronting Corporate Power!

Fight for a Fair Economy

CONFRONTING CORPORATE POWER

Five Facts About New York State:
1. New York State isn't broke.
2. New York State gives out corporate handouts that add up to $8 billion a year.
3. These same corporate handouts are supposed to be creating quality jobs in our communities. Guess what? THEY AREN'T
4. It's time to end the free ride for corporations and change our broken economic development system.
5. TOGETHER: we can get New York back on the right track!

FIGHT FOR A FAIR ECONOMY will be holding a training, that will teach individuals and organizations how to help develop, implement and change policies and practices that will result in an economy that will work for everyone! Working together we can bring an end to corporate giveaways and start investing our money in the things that really matter - our schools, healthcare, infrastructure, quality of life services and good jobs.

Who should come? Activists, leaders, and rand-and-file members of labor, community, and faith organizations who want to build their skills and strengthen the growing movement to confront corporate power and build an economy that works for everyone.

WHEN: Saturday, February 18th, 2012. 8:30am-12:00pm
WHERE: 1199 SEIU Office. 2421 Main Street. Buffalo, New York 14214

Light breakfast will be served.
To save your spot in this training, or questions please contact CEJ at 892-5877

(Fight for a Fair Economy is a coalition of people who care about the future of our community. We want to see FAIR policies and FAIR practices from our elected officials and corporation that create an environment where ALL of our community can prosper, not just the rich and powerful!)