Welcome, welcome! The WCAT will host it’s second ‘Good Jobs for All‘ Conference at the University of Michigan on Wednesday April 9th from 6:00-8:00 p.m. Here is the link to the Facebook event. Here is the Flyer.

Below you will find a thorough description of the event:

I. Summary: The Good Jobs For All conference brings together four organizations dedicated to improving the lives of the working people. The purpose of this interactive conference is to unify the efforts of these four organizations, provide participants with quality information about working struggles/movements, educate them on how to get involved, and encourage both the faculty and student body to become leaders within their community. At a bare minimum, we will all walk away from this conference with an advanced understanding of organizational structures, dynamics, and strategy. If you ever wanted to learn how to run an organization, what it takes to be a leader, and/or further your understanding of the economic/political complexities of the working people, this is the conference for you.

II. Brief Agenda:

1. Walk in, grab some grub, get comfy.

2. Next, participants will listen to a very short presentation from each organization. Based on these presentations, participants will pick which organization they would like to learn more about.

3. We will break up into discussion groups based on the organization of your choosing (i.e. if you chose the WCAT, you will go with the WCAT group). Here participants will get to share stories, experiences, or information about the organizations they are currently apart of and learn more about the organization they chose to learn about. Here is where participants will get to further their understanding of the organization’s current campaign as well as other organizational nuances (such as effective recruiting and tactics, maintaining membership, building leadership, and just about anything else you want to learn about).

4. Wrap-up, survey, and a T-SHIRT GIVEAWAY!

We hope this conference fulfills your desire to learn, engage, and act.

III. Conference Subjects/Topics:

Raise The (Minimum) Wage: Launched by Michigan United, this ballot initiative strives to gradually raise the minimum wage in the state of Michigan from $7.40/hr to $10.10/hr by 2017. This will also raise the minimum rate for tipped employees 85 cents per year until it reaches parity with the regular minimum wage. The current minimum rate for tipped employees is $2.65/hr. If successful, this initiative could potentially increase the wage of over 1,000,000 people and pull over 350,000 people out of poverty. The WCAT is partnering with Michigan United on this campaign.

D15: Good Jobs Now is also working towards raising the minimum wage within the corporate, fast food sector to $15/hr. The idea is that these fat-cat corporations have the money to pay their workers a living wage, and they ought to. If done right, it’s possible to raise the wage without all of the negative repercussions traditional economists theorize. Good Jobs Now has focused most of their work in Detroit, though they are looking to expand their efforts out to Washtenaw County. Their main focus is D15 right now, though they have done a ton of other work as well and will gladly share all of this at the conference on Wednesday.

AAATA Millage Increase: With the slogan “More Buses, More Places, More Often,” WeROC recently jump-started their own ballot initiative to increase the millage for the Ann Arbor Transit Authority (public transportation). This means that, with a slight tax increase, the AAATA will reach more areas in Ypsilanti, Ypsilanti Township, and Ann Arbor more often. WeROC will come ready with a diagram that shows all of the additions to be made. Not only will this increase the number of jobs in these areas, but it will also get people to their jobs faster and more efficiently. It is for this very reason we included them in this conference; this is definitely a working interest.

Ban the Box: WeROC will also discuss issues surrounding the Ban the Box Campaign. Ban the Box is an initiative to remove the criminal history question from the application-stage to give returning citizens a fair chance at employment. Many other organizations have been tackling this issue, but at this conference you will get to hear WeROC’s unique experience in this field.

Working America: Working America is a national labor organization that aims to educate, assist, and mobilize working Americans to improve their working conditions, job security, and health care. The WCAT is a local hub for Working America where people can come every two weeks to talk about their working challenges – or challenges they’ve heard – and possible responses to take. The goal is to run a number of campaigns, like the Raise the Wage Campaign, that consistently fight for the integrity, equality, and protection of the working people.

We hope to see everyone there. Bring a friend! The more the merrier, there’s a lot to talk about.

Good Jobs For All Conference (University of Michigan)