Our Jobs with Justice coalition has managed without a Web site since our founding in 1995. By launching a site now, we hope to accomplish three goals, all in the service of working people.

MOBILIZATION.  Some of our pro-worker activities and events require weeks’ or month’s worth of planning, publicity, and recruitment of participants. That was the case with our recent Medicaid rally in Bloomington. Then again, our community sometimes needs to respond quickly and decisively to a situation that emerges suddenly. That was the case when a school superintendent a couple of summers ago seemed poised to ram through—with minimal consultation—a revised disciplinary policy for school support staffers that would have weakened due process protections significantly. We hope this Web site, complementing our Facebook page, will allow us to organize and act more effectively in a range of situations.

EXCHANGE OF IDEAS.  With few exceptions, the mass media in our region ignore, downplay, or suppress news, commentary, and analysis from a labor perspective. Our coalition’s effectiveness is also often compromised when the schedule for publishing our news or opinions is controlled by the mainstream media. Two examples: (1) a news release announcing the results of our 2012 officer election and priority campaigns for the year was submitted to the Bloomington Herald-Times on February 10 but did not appear until April 26; (2) the guest column on the end-of-year “budget showdown” that you see on this site was submitted to the Herald-Times on November 8 but had not appeared in that publication as of December 21. We hope our events calendar and Blogspot feature will help you and our coalition members share news and ideas about labor issues more expeditiously.

GROWING ORGANIZATIONAL CAPACITY. There is more work needing to be done locally to advocate for working people than we have volunteers to do it. We hope our Web site will widen and deepen awareness of who we are and what we do. And we hope that will result in the growth of our coalition’s membership, so that we can follow through more effectively on campaigns and projects and perhaps even expand the number of the campaigns and projects we pursue.

As you peruse this Web site, please consider sharing your labor-related news and ideas, joining an action or an online conversation, and becoming a member of South-Central Indiana Jobs with Justice.

--John Clower, Facilitator, South-Central Indiana Jobs with Justice