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 jenn@cejbuffalo.org.

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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 micaela@cejbuffalo.org 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.

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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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paid directly to CEJ from your Debit Account or Credit Card.

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Thank You! Checks made payable to the Coalition for Economic Justice are tax deductible.

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

Non-Profit Org. US Postage

PAID Buffalo, NY

Permit No. 3010

2013 Annual Report:

See CEJ’s top

achievements from the

past year!

And more!