Organizer

Jobs With Justice is a national network of local coalitions comprised of labor unions, worker centers, community, faith-based, and student organizations. We work locally and nationally to reduce inequality by expanding opportunities for workers to organize and to bargain collectively. The national staff provides strategic support to nearly30 autonomous local coalitions, builds networks on common issues, shapes public discourse and leads strategic campaigns to build power for working people. Jobs With Justice is committed to winning real change for workers by leading campaigns that combine innovative communications strategies, solid research and policy advocacy, grassroots action, and coalition building.

Location: This is a remote position with strong preference given to candidates in the Washington, D.C., metro area.

Position overview:

The Organizer leads, develops and executes innovative and generative campaigns. In this role, the organizer mobilizes and supports other JWJ staff members, internal inter-disciplinary teams, local coalitions, national partners, and allies to expand worker organizing and bargaining and successfully advance the goals of Jobs with Justice. The Organizer is accountable to and supervised by the Organizing Director. This position can be based anywhere in the United States with easy access to an airport.

This position will support campaigns to:

• Build community support for workplace actions.
• Hold corporate actors accountable by supporting worker democracy and community oversight of large employers.
• Parallel solidarity campaigns to support worker organizing and union recognition.

Primary Responsibilities:

• Leads in innovating, analyzing and testing emerging strategies in campaigns;
• Executes campaign plans to win significant campaign victories that concretely improve workers’ lives;
• Supports JWJ coalitions and partners to grow and develop more strategic approaches for local campaign work;
• Develops the skills& leadership of local organizers in the JWJ network;
• Is a supportive and flexible member of the JWJ national team;
• Supports the JWJ Training Team in conducting nationwide trainings for JWJ coalitions and partners;
• Supports the cultivation of resources/funding for campaign and program work.

Detailed areas of work currently include:

• Active engagement in visioning, planning, and evaluating practices, both within the JWJ Organizing Department, and with coalitions and partners.
• Coordination of a table of key stakeholders to carry out campaign plans.
• Coordination of the network into strategic solidarity opportunities.
• Providing targeted technical assistance to local coalitions and partners moving organizing and bargaining strategies.
• Documenting relevant communications, activities, and outcomes.
• Supporting training and development of local organizers.
• Supporting opportunities to build new JWJ coalitions based on campaign work and related partners.
• Collaborating broadly with JWJ staff to strengthen and win campaigns and strengthen local coalitions.
• Identifying potential financial and in-kind support for current and potential campaigns.

Signs we are on track: A successful organizer

• Contributes to the collective knowledge and disciplined practice of proven and emerging campaign strategies;
• Develops and executes a variety of work to implement national and local campaigns, resulting in some victories, continuous learning and some experimentation and setbacks;
• Develops and strengthens relationships with local coalitions, partners and others that could impact the success of a campaign;
• Communicates about and documents work, outcomes, updates and developments in a timely and strategic way;
• Successfully transfers knowledge and skill in order to builds the capacity of local coalitions and allies and win campaigns;
• Effectively communicates and collaborates within the organizing department, throughout JWJ staff teams, and with local affiliates and partners;
• Is accountable for and follows through on agreed upon work plans and actions;
• Demonstrates the ability to coordinate inter-disciplinary teams and colleagues in a complex environment.

Qualifications:

• Three plus years of organizing experience, with a particular emphasis on worker-related campaigns and projects.
• Experience with creative direct action.
• Ability to coach local leaders on sustaining long-term relationships through campaign work and strategy development.
• Demonstrated commitment to racial justice.
• Ability to work collectively, handle and resolve conflict, and facilitate groups
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills.
• Self-motivated and strong work-planning, including good personal time management skills.
• Understanding of and commitment to a broader working-class perspective.
• Ability to travel as needed, average of 5 days per month with more travel required during peak campaign activity.

The ideal candidate will have:

• Experience with Jobs With Justice, JWJ local coalition affiliates, or JWJ partners.
• Labor movement/worker organizing experience
• Multi-lingual fluency.
• Experience using issue campaigns (policy fights, wage theft, etc.)to drive mobilizations
• Ability to develop and lead trainings

Benefits: Generous benefits package that includes paid vacation, medical, dental, and retirement benefits. This is a union-represented position represented by the Washington-Baltimore News Guild, CWA

Jobs With Justice Education Fund is an affirmative action employer and strongly encourages people of color, women, l/g/b/t/q individuals, those with disabilities, and those with working class backgrounds to apply.