Jobs to Move America

The project became an independent organization in 2016 and since has been strongly supported by left-leaning national labor unions. The organization’s board includes representatives from left-leaning labor federation the AFL-CIO, the AFL-CIO Transportation Trades Department, United Steelworkers, and the United Auto Workers. ^{1 2}

Background

Jobs to Move America was founded in 2013 as a project of the Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy (LAANE) to promote government funding of transit projects as a means to provide jobs for underserved communities. Jobs for America piloted the development of what it called its U.S. Employment Plan, a policy platform that promoted funding of certain transit projects and the creation of more labor union-friendly policies. The organization led early campaigns to implement its plan in Los Angeles and Chicago that caused it to spread to other cities across the country. ²

Obama administration Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx praised the organization in 2016 and encouraged transportation and public transit companies to leverage public funds to create more jobs for disadvantaged communities. Also in 2016, Los Angeles Supervisor Sheila Kuehl (D) noted that the federal government’s $300 billion appropriation through the Federal Surface Transportation Act should go to “build cleaner public transit systems while creating a large number of good jobs.” ²

Policy Stances

Jobs to Move America’s flagship work consists of promoting its U.S. Employment Plan, a union-backed public purchasing and bidding process that is customizable to state and local governments. The plan requires that those bidding on government transit contracts not only provide traditional information such as technical specifications and price, but also to attempt to estimate “the number, type, and location of jobs the contract will create and retain, as well as salaries, benefits, training programs, and their plan to recruit and train historically marginalized workers.” ³

The U.S. Employment plan was developed with the left-of-center Brookings Institution, the University of Southern California’s Program for Environmental and Regional Equity, and the University of Massachusetts at Amherst’s Political Economy Research Institute. It was funded by some of the nation’s largest left-leaning funding organizations including the Annie E. Casey Foundation, Ford Foundation, and the Rockefeller Foundation. ³

Other policies promoted by the organization include requiring city bus fleets to transition to electric-powered busses, and the elimination of fossil fuels and carbon emission from public transit systems. Much of the organization’s work has been centered around promoting its policies in New York, New Jersey, Los Angeles, and Chicago. ⁴

Labor Union Associations

In addition to receiving funding from left-leaning foundations such as the Annie E. Casey Foundation, Ford Foundation, and the Rockefeller Foundation, Jobs to Move America is also closely aligned with organized labor in the United States. ³ Members of the organizations board include AFL-CIO president Liz Shuler as well as leaders or representatives of several AFL-CIO affiliated unions and organizations including the AFL-CIO Transportation Trades Department, Transportation Workers Union (TWU), the United Auto Workers, the Amalgamated Transit Union, the Industrial Division-Communications Workers of America (IUE-CWA), the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM), the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW), the International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Workers (SMART), United Steelworkers, and the National Black Worker Center. ¹