Our Mission

Philadelphia Area Jobs with Justice is a coalition of labor unions and student, community, and faith groups. Together, we fight for the fair treatment of workers, organizing in local communities and workplaces. We believe in long-term multi-issue coalition building, grassroots base-building, organizing, and strategic militant action as the foundation for building a workers' movement, and we believe that by engaging a broad community of allies, we can win bigger victories.
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Our History

Philadelphia JwJ was founded in 1999 in order to link unaffiliated activists with labor unions and social justice organizations in solidarity to win victories through the media, on the ground, in picket lines, and at protests. Since then, we have engaged in and won local and national campaigns demanding the fair treatment of workers from some of the country's most notoriously anti-worker corporations--including Verizon, Comcast, Walmart, and Sunoco. We have also worked on national, state, and city levels as members of the National Jobs with Justice network to fight for immigrants' rights, single-payer healthcare, workers' rights to organize, and more.

For four years, Philadelphia JwJ waged a sustained campaign called Philadelphia Officers and Workers Rising (POWR), defending the workplace rights of security guards in the City of Philadelphia. In the first two years, the POWR campaign won major victories including wage raises and paid sick days for guards at the Penn and Temple campuses, and at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. In 2008, Philadelphia JwJ began to work closely with officers at the museum as they organized to demand independent union recognition. In a historic election, the Allied Barton guards at the museum overwhelmingly voted to unionize under the Philadelphia Security Officers' Union (PSOU). Philadelphia JwJ continues to stand in solidarity with the PSOU as the guards fight for a fair contract.

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Continuing Our Work

Philadelphia JwJ continues to organize activists and social justice groups to support the efforts of workers in our communities. In April, we rallied alongside the nurses of PASNAP during their four-week strike at Temple Hospital, marching with the workers at rallies and pickets, sponsoring a fundraiser for the nurses and their families, and organizing three solidarity rallies and an educational "die-in" through the Temple chapter of our Student Labor Action Project. We remain dedicated to providing solidarity and support for labor and workers in the City of Philadelphia, connecting labor and community activists in a strong network rooted in a shared commitment to the ideal of reciprocity.

Since late 2009, we have also served on the Executive Board of the Coalition for Essential Services (CES), a network of 90 community, labor, and social justice organizations fighting against tax breaks for big business as way of finding the money necessary to fund essential city services like domestic violence shelters, libraries, and afterschool programs for children. CES fights in City Hall, in the media, and on the streets for budget justice. Over the coming year we plan to continue to make our work with CES a major component of our core programs, understanding that funding for city services is necessary for keeping our city liveable--for both our neighborhoods and our dedicated city workers.
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