2013 ANNUAL REPORT COALITION for ECONOMIC JUSTICE CEJ is an affiliate of Jobs with Justice & the New York State Labor-Religion Coalition 237 Main Street, Suite 1200 Buffalo, NY 14202 716-892-5877 (p) 716-852-3200 (f) www.cejbuffalo.org
2013 ANNUAL REPORT
COALITION for
ECONOMIC JUSTICE
CEJ is an affiliate of Jobs with Justice &
the New York State Labor-Religion Coalition
237 Main Street, Suite 1200
Buffalo, NY 14202
716-892-5877 (p) 716-852-3200 (f)
www.cejbuffalo.org
2013 A Year of Tide-Turning
Victories
If the story over the past decade was one of escalating corporate greed and attacks on the working class,
then 2013 was the year the tides turned. From the $15 minimum wage ordinance in Seattle-Tacoma to
low wage worker strikes in New York City, working people not only fought back but won significant
victories that have re-energized the social justice movement.
Here at home, we’ve seen real progress as well. Last year, CEJ saw two long-term campaigns come to
fruition when the Seasonal Sanitation Workers in the City of Buffalo won union representation and the
Erie Canal Harbor Development Corporation adopted many of the demands made by our Canal Side
Community Alliance as guiding principles of high road development for future waterfront projects. With
the Partnership for the Public Good, PUSH Buffalo, VOICE-Buffalo, and other partners, we established
Open Buffalo, which is a great leap toward making Buffalo a more just, open, and democratic place to live
and work.
As we highlighted at our annual meeting, CEJ has an ambitious Livable Communities Agenda for 2014
and beyond that will build on the opportunities of growing momentum of the progressive movement to
reform our broken economic development system, implement participatory budgeting right here in WNY,
fight for dignity at work for low wage workers, and develop the next generation of leaders in the social
justice movement.
Thank you for being part of all the great successes highlighted on the next few pages of this report. We
look forward to working with you all on the exciting new campaigns and programs we have coming up in
the year ahead.
In solidarity,
Jennifer Diagostino
Executive Director
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2013 Year in Review: CEJ’s Top 10 Accomplishments
Won Community Benefits at Canal Side
After years of commitment and hard work by the Canal Side
Community Alliance, a broad coalition of labor, community, faith-based
organizations and activists convened by CEJ reached an agreement
with the Erie Canal Harbor Development Corporation to adopt a set of
community benefit principles that will guide current and future
economic development initiatives for Buffalo’s waterfront.
This high road economic development agreement is truly a historic achievement that will help make sure
that millions of public dollars will equal a public good. The agreement includes provisions that will ensure
the creation of quality jobs for local residents, prioritize local businesses and affordable housing, and
support environmental sustainability on the city’s waterfront.
Open Buffalo
It’s been an incredible and exciting year for the Open Buffalo collaborative led
by CEJ, the Partnership for the Public Good, PUSH Buffalo, VOICE-Buffalo and
many others. After launching the initiative early last year as part of a
competitive Open Society Foundations grant, we learned in April that our
Open Buffalo proposal won in the first phase of the selection process to be
one of eight available planning grants.
The Open Buffalo collaborative worked with hundreds of community leaders to create a winning plan to
address inequality, poverty, and injustice in Buffalo.
Introduced the JOBS Act for Good Jobs, Not Giveaways
CEJ and the Getting Our Money’s Worth Coalition, which we anchor with the Alliance for
a Greater New York and Long Island Jobs with Justice, worked to make sure our elected
leaders in Albany acted on legislation advancing high road economic development
principles. In October 2013, the New York State Assembly introduced the Just and
Open Business Subsidies (JOBS) Act: A8203.
The JOBS Act would, for the first time, make the $7 billion New York spends annually on
public subsidies for economic development more transparent and accountable. If
enacted, the legislation would require recipients of economic development subsidies to
set clear good job and local hiring goals, transparently track subsidies and job creation
on a single public website, and establish a “money back guarantee” to recapture subsidies if recipients
break their promises.
Achieving these reforms will only be possible if legislators and other policymakers hear from organizations
that have had enough of wasteful subsidies that fail to benefit New York’s working communities. To join
in support and endorse the JOBS Act, please contact CEJ at 716-892-5877 or [email protected].
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Continued on page 4...
In 2013, CEJ expanded and hired a new organizer – Saladi. He initially joined us as
our Dignity at Work Organizer for the POWER (Protecting Our Workers from
Exploitation and Retaliation) campaign. In this capacity, Saladi worked to protect
and strengthen workers’ rights for all workers by fighting to make sure that Congress
includes the POWER Act in comprehensive immigration reform legislation.
Early in 2013, CEJ convened a group of our members, and labor, faith, and community leaders to build an
exciting and powerful Subsidy Action Committee to stand up to local Industrial Development Agencies
(IDAs) and demand that our elected officials fix our economic development system in WNY and across the
state. This new committee successfully took action to urge the Erie County and Amherst IDAs to adopt
local labor policies. These policies will guarantee that our tax dollars will help put more local construction
workers to work and keep more money in our economy.
In addition, the Subsidy Action Committee pushed back against wasteful ECIDA tax breaks for Uniland and
Delaware North. Committee members raised the profile of our demands for good jobs, not giveaways,
speaking at public hearings on Uniland and Delaware North tax break deals and working with CEJ
supporters to submit over a 100 letters - a record number - to the ECIDA in opposition to the projects.
These actions garnered press coverage, influenced the public discussion on corporate subsidies, and
forced the ECIDA to hold meetings on the projects in spaces and times more accommodating to the
general public.
Our committee has developed a bold agenda to improve the performance, accountability, and
transparency of IDAs in WNY in 2014. To join them, contact Micaela at [email protected] or
716-892-5877.
CEJ has a long history of working to address the injustice of low-wages and
ensure that workers don’t just have jobs, but have Jobs with Justice that
provide family-sustaining wages. In 2013, we continued this effort by joining a
broad local and statewide coalition that united workers, labor, community, faith
and business allies to raise New York State’s minimum wage from $7.25 to
$9.00 per hour.
Building on our campaign actions to raise the minimum wage in 2012, we took a large delegation of
WNYers to Albany in January 2013 to make sure state legislators heard our voice. We joined with our
statewide partners to deliver 30,000 petition signatures from across the state calling on our elected
leaders in the capital to raise the minimum wage. We kept the pressure on leaders in Albany until our
coalition won a minimum wage increase. Our fight to successfully raise the minimum wage means that
over 1 million of New York’s lowest-paid workers received a desperately needed wage increase.
Page 4
Our collective hard work paved the way for an unprecedented victory when the Open Society Foundations
selected Open Buffalo as one of three initiatives in the U.S. to receive an initial $1.9 million grant to make
our city more open, just, equitable, and democratic.
Open Buffalo continued...
Hired a new organzier – Saladi Shebule
Built New Subsidy Action Committee and Changed the Debate
Raised the Wage
As mentioned above, CEJ worked to ensure all workers’ rights are protected through congressional
passage of the POWER Act and hired a new organizer, Saladi, to lead our campaign in support of it. In
addition to engaging low-wage workers and refugees vulnerable to workplace exploitation, Saladi
mobilized community leaders and spoke on an immigration rights panel discussion in
support of the POWER Act and comprehensive immigration reform.
CEJ Executive Director Jenn Diagostino traveled to Washington D.C. and joined 200
national community, labor, faith, and elected leaders in an act of civil disobedience to
highlight the injustice of our current immigration system and call on Congress to pass
comprehensive immigration reform that includes the POWER Act workers’ rights
protections. Jenn, along with many other leaders, were arrested for taking action to
urge Congress to pass reforms that, if approved, will give over 11 million
undocumented immigrants a path to citizenship and strengthen workplace
protections for all workers.
Organized Black Friday Rally in WNY
CEJ worked with our members, partners, and national Jobs with Justice
leaders to organize a successful Black Friday rally here in WNY to expose
Walmart’s corporate greed and anti-worker, anti-union agenda. Dozens of
community and labor leaders, including representatives from the United
Food and Commercial Workers, the WNY Area Labor Federation, and
many others marched outside a Walmart in WNY on the busiest shopping
day of the year, garnering media attention and raising awareness of the
need to improve worker rights and wages at Walmart.
At our Annual Awards Banquet in May 2013, we proudly introduced David Cay
Johnston as the evening’s keynote speaker. Johnston, a Pulitzer Prize winning
investigative journalist and best-selling author of “Free Lunch: How the Wealthiest
Enrich Themselves at Government Expense (and Stick You with the Bill,” is an expert
on economic development and corporate subsidies. His presentation focused on how
corporations have rigged our economic development system and created tax
loopholes to avoid paying their fair share in taxes. But, he also pointed to progressive
movement building strategies that can counter corporate greed and make sure
government builds a better future for the 99%.
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Saladi’s role has continued to grow since we brought him on. Through our partnership with the WNY
Worker Center, Saladi has canvassed low-income neighborhoods to survey and engage workers who have
been exploited in the workplace and facilitated two “Know Your Rights at Work” trainings to provide
community members with valuable information to protect them from exploitation in the workplace.
Additionally, Saladi will be leading our efforts to bring Participatory Budgeting to Buffalo with our
partnering organizations.
Fought for the POWER Act
Brought Pulitzer Prize winning journalist and author David
Cay Johnston to Buffalo
Held Inaugural Labor History and Labor Law Trivia Night
We introduced the newest, most exciting trivia event in town – our Labor
Trivia Night held in November 2013. Dozens of CEJ members and friends
joined us for a fun evening of trivia on the history of the labor movement at
this new event to find out who is WNY’s labor champion. Special guest
judges, Richard Lipsitz Jr, President of the WNY Area Labor Federation, and
Alex Blair, Buffalo State College Professor, asked challenging and thrilling
questions. Before the night was over, everyone agreed they couldn’t wait for
this event in 2014.
Financial Highlights & Acknowledgements: This was another exciting year for fundraising here at CEJ, and we are grateful to our individual and
institutional supporters, and foundation partners. We successfully raised the important and necessary
funds to support our organizational objectives and bring on a new organizer—Saladi Shebule.
We received grant support for our ongoing programs from the Presbyterian Hunger Program, Unitarian
Universalist Veatch Program at Shelter Rock, the Ford Foundation, the Open Society Foundations, Jobs
with Justice Education Fund, and the Ben and Jerry's Foundation. In addition, the WNY Foundation and
Oishei Foundation provided support for a grassroots fundraising training for CEJ staff and partners.
Thank you to everyone who helped make our fundraising events successful—our Annual Banquet, Strike
for Justice, Labor Trivia Night, CLC annual holiday auction, and our new member recruitment house party
hosted by CEJ board members.
Thanks also go out to our dedicated Board of Directors for their service to CEJ during 2013 and all of our
individual and institutional members. Without your involvement and your financial support none of our
achievements would have been possible.
We would also like to thank our members who contributed through the United Way and State Employees
Federated Appeals and our monthly sustainers who keep us going. Thanks as well to our interns Dan
Powers and Azadeh Shahryarinejad for their contributions. Special mention also goes out to JwJ
Northeast Field Coordinator Mackenzie Barris and Dara Silverman for their support over the past year.
Finally, we would like to thank the staff at Cornell University’s School of Labor and Industrial Relations in
Buffalo for providing in-kind support as well as a CEJ summer intern through the ILR’s Highroad Fellows
Program and of course, for putting up with CEJ staff each and every day.
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“Best Costume” winners at Strike for
Justice 2013
Jim Crampton accepting the Lifetime
Achievement Award at our Annual Banquet
2013 Board of Directors Anna Falicov, Esq. Board Chair Anna Geronimo, Board Vice Chair
Creighton, Pearce, Johnsen & Giroux Sara Gordon
NYS United Teachers
Creighton Randall, Board Treasurer Cayden Mak, Board recording Secretary
Buffalo CarShare 18 Million Rising
Maurice Brown Abraham McKinney
1199 SEIU Sanitation Worker
Cheryl Bird Dr. Ruth Meyerowitz
Daemen College SUNY Buffalo
Patty DeVinney Rabbi Alex Lazarus-Klein
WNY Area Labor Federation Congregation Shir-Shalom
Betty Martin Jon Fuzak
Transportation Aides of Buffalo Laborers Local 210
I WANT TO JOIN THE COALITION FOR ECONOMIC JUSTICE/
JOBS WITH JUSTICE
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Full financial information is available from CEJ or the Office of the Attorney General, Charities Bureau
120 Broadway, New York, NY 10271
Page 7
The Coalition for
Economic Justice
Annual Awards
Banquet
Thursday, May 8th, 2014 Buffalo Niagara Convention Center
6:00 Social Hour 7:00 Program Begins
Honoring: The Clean Air Coalition of WNY, the WNY Worker Center, and Buffalo Common Council Member Michael LoCurto
Don’t wait! Call CEJ to reserve your tickets today! (716.892.5877)
Coalition for Economic Justice
237 Main Street, Ste 1200 Buffalo, NY 14203
Phone (716) 892.5877
Fax (716) 852.3802
www.cejbuffalo.org
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2013 Annual Report:
See CEJ’s top
achievements from the
past year!
And more!