December 2023
CELEBRATING VICTORIES and PLANNING FOR MORE
Movements and organizations supported by the Social Justice and Solidarity Fund are on a roll, and now have opportunities to expand their reach.
The UAW strike was supported by an astonishing 70 percent of the public and boosted support for workers and unions across the country.
The autoworkers’ dramatic strike victory was made possible by the insurgent movement Unite All Workers for Democracy (UAWD), which had the strategic smarts to win the right to “one member-one vote” in 2021, and the tenacity and determination to elect its members to the union’s executive board in 2022-23 – including Shawn Fain as president. UAWD’s key role was detailed in this article by SJS board member Jane Slaughter.
That linkage also runs through TDU, as Fain explained at TDU’s November Convention. Shawn said, “There is no Stand-Up Strike without TDU!” and thanked TDU members for the inspiration, for the organizing help since UAWD’s inception, and for the model strategies of the UPS contract campaign.
TDU has had a big year as well; the TDU annual convention last month was the largest and most diverse ever, with the contract victory at UPS to celebrate and plans to deepen organizing in 2024.
The UAW’s innovative strike strategy and contract victory have spurred a wave of spontaneous organizing at nonunion auto plants, including Toyota, Hyundai, Mercedes, and electric vehicle maker Rivian. Not resting on its laurels, the union is aiming to turn this upsurge into a sustained organizing drive. This work has the ultimate potential to double the number of union auto workers in the U.S.
Our SJS policy of sustained support for promising movements of workers that can score victories is paying off.
Goals for 2024
As a result of these developments, the SJS Board at our December 1 meeting decided to:
Increase our 2024 support for the educational arms of UAWD (UAWD Mutual Aid Fund) and of TDU (the Teamster Rank & File Education and Legal Defense Foundation, or TRF) to at least $50,000 to each organization. TDU and UAWD have both prioritized working in the coming year to build a diverse layer of new leaders at the local level.
Maintain our support for Labor Notes, including for the upcoming April 19-21 conference, which is expected to draw more than 4000 activists, leaders, and hell-raisers. Labor Notes has, of course, been a steadfast fellow-organizer of both TDU and UAWD, as well as a host of other movements and struggles, from Amazon organizing to networking labor activists for a ceasefire in Palestine.
Continue to support promising new movements and to sustain movements such as UCORE, the national network of progressive caucuses and leaders in teachers’ unions.
Set a goal of nearly doubling our total grants this year, to $250,000, while at the same time increasing our investment reserves so that we can continue to expand our range of grants. To meet this goal we need to increase our funding, and we invite all our supporters to consider becoming a sustaining contributor. In just the past few months, we added three new supporters who are each contributing $5000 - $10,000 per year. Our supporters have contributed $399,000 to date in 2023. We need to expand that support in 2024 to meet our ambitious goals.
We invite you to contact any of our board members to discuss our current and potential future projects and to talk about becoming a supporter. We are grateful to our donor-supporters – and even more grateful to see the fruits of our labor. If you have devoted decades to supporting and participating in workers’ movements, we know how gratifying it is to see our efforts winning and growing.
Administrative Notes
SJSF’s administrative approach is in line with our founding principles. We incur extremely minimal admin costs, in order to commit up to 99% of our money to grants. We have no staff: our board and collaborators perform the bookkeeping, keep up communications, maintain records, and receive and research projects for grants.
We use professional services and advice as needed, via the NEO Law Group, our accounting firm, and an experienced investment professional who is a good friend of SJSF.
Our investments (currently $1.2 million) are housed in the Vanguard Group, which has a very minimal fee structure. Our goal is to boost our reserves to $1.5 million in 2024.
The board policy is to sell all donated stock shares upon receipt, with the proceeds swept into an interest-bearing money market account. The bulk of our assets are invested in broad-based mutual funds, with a portion in a money market fund that currently pays 5% interest.
Your feedback is welcome.