Register here for our virtual teach-in on October 8 at 1 p.m. CST about how to support good jobs and healthier communities with our public dollars in Chicago.
Now more than ever, we need deeper, more intentional public investment to address the intersecting economic, racial inequality, and climate crises of our time. One way we can harness our public dollars for an equitable pandemic recovery is through our city’s government contracts.
Every year, the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) awards an average $1 billion in contracts to corporations. Jobs to Move America has a plan for harnessing this incredible amount of public money to support good jobs and healthier communities in Illinois and across the country.
Since August 2019, when the CTA board directed the agency to develop a jobs and equity policy for the agency’s public contracts, Jobs to Move America has been working to develop a policy that would do just that. This month, we presented CTA leadership with our proposed policy, and we’re working with a coalition of labor, workforce development, and community organizations in Chicago to support the adoption of our policy by the end of the year.
Our proposed policy would ensure that CTA’s public contracts go to companies that invest in U.S. manufacturing facilities and good jobs for Chicago’s most disenfranchised communities — the very communities that have been most severely impacted by the pandemic. Specifically, our policy would enable CTA to support up to 19,000 good U.S. jobs — just by replacing buses and railcars. By passing this policy, CTA would be the largest transit agency in the country to adopt such a policy, setting a national example for other transit and government agencies to follow.
There is no better time than now to ensure that every public dollar we spend creates as many good jobs as possible for working people in Chicago and across the U.S., especially for those who have faced the most barriers to employment. A good jobs policy at the CTA is critical for both our post-pandemic recovery and for the long-term health of our economy and communities.
Next week, Thursday October 8, 2020 at 1 p.m. CST, we’re holding a virtual teach-in about the policy via Zoom. We invite you to join us to learn more about how to support good jobs and healthier communities with our public dollars. You can register for the event here.
Reach out to JMA Illinois Coalition Organizer Natalie Wahlberg for more information at nwahlberg@jobstomoveamerica.org.
Image: Johannes Krupinski/Unsplash