Stand with us in New Jersey to fight for
Expanding Access to Unemployment for NJ Workers
NJ's unemployment system excludes 700,000 workers, especially people of color and low-wage earners, leading to housing instability, health issues, and declining job quality. The Job Bridge Program offers universal benefits and community navigators, boosting NJ's economy by $1.50 per $1 invested. Sign the petition to support here. For more info, contact Meghan Hurley at mhurley@cata-farmworkers.org.
The current unemployment system excludes 700,000 NJ workers. The Job Bridge Program creates universal unemployment insurance benefits for ALL workers to ensure no one is left behind.
New Jersey's current unemployment system disproportionately excludes and is difficult to access for people of color and low-wage workers. It reinforces long-standing socioeconomic and racial inequities. Also, a lack of benefits harms families during unemployment, causing housing instability, foregone healthcare, long-term impacts on children, and pressure to take low-quality jobs.
The Job Bridge Program would also establish unemployment insurance navigators based in community centers and unions to help workers apply for benefits, learn their rights, and obtain good jobs as they reintegrate into the workforce.
When more workers can access unemployment insurance and job training, the resulting stimulus and macroeconomic boost would expand the NJ economy, promote business, and provide stability during downturns. For every $1 invested in the program, an estimated $1.50 would be put back into the economy through the stimulus generated.
The Job Bridge Program creates an important safety net for workers and will help to strengthen our economy to ensure ALL workers have access to good jobs.
Sign onto the petition here to show your support.
For more information on how to support this campaign and if your organization is interested in signing on to support, contact Meghan Hurley, mhurley@cata-farmworkers.org
NJ Workers Protections from Extreme Heat!
Hundreds of workers have died from extreme heat exposure. NJ is acting to protect workers with laws for water breaks, heat training, cooling stations, and shade. Urge the NJ Legislature to pass S-2422/A-3521 for worker protections.
Hundreds of workers have lost their lives across the country in recent years due to extreme heat exposure. While we wait for the federal government to take action, New Jersey is standing up to create protections for workers under the law during extreme heat: water breaks, training on heat exposure, cooling stations, shade and access to breaks are just a few of the protections that new legislation would guarantee for all workers.
We are urging the New Jersey Legislature to pass S-2422/A-3521 to provide New Jersey workers with basic protections from illness, injury and death while working in extreme heat as temperatures continue to soar with the advance of climate change. Send them a message here.
Read CATA Organizer Edgar Aquino Huerta’s op-ed on the need for heat protections here.