Good Jobs First

Web site:   www.goodjobsfirst.org

Mission:

Good Jobs First is a national leader in providing timely, accurate information to the public, the media, public officials and economic development professionals on best practices in state and local job subsidies. GJF works with a broad spectrum of organizations as they seek to ensure that subsidized businesses are held accountable for family-wage jobs and other effective results.

Description:

Good Jobs First frequently testifies before state legislatures, conducts workshops and training, and appears in the press. Unions, community organizations, religious groups, living wage campaigns, public officials,  environmentalists, tax and budget advocates, and economic development practitioners consult with GJF when companies seek development subsidies, restructure, close plants, or become involved in other issues of public concern. GJF tracks corporate accountability innovations in all states to develop "best practices" that can then be employed elsewhere.

Resources to Share:

Good Jobs First offers a large number of publications, available through their website at http://goodjobsfirst.org/gjfpubs.htm.

The following publications are among many other publications available at the site:

Community Benefits Agreements - Making Development Projects Accountable

[press release] [full report (in PDF format)] by Julian Gross, Legal Director of California Partnership for Working Families, Greg LeRoy, and Madeline Janis-Aparicio of LAANE (May 2005)

This is the GJF handbook on Community Benefits Agreements. These agreements include benefits such as living wages, local hiring, affordable housing, environmental improvements and funding for other community needs such as health clinics and youth centers. The report also includes a section on monitoring and enforcement of such agreements, as well as verbatim excerpts of key agreements.

Your Tax Dollars at Work…Offshore: How Foreign Outsourcing Firms are Capturing State Government Contracts

[press release] [executive summary (in PDF format)] [full report (in PDF format)] by Philip Mattera (July 2004)

This report by the Corporate Research Project of Good Jobs First spotlights the growing degree to which state governments are awarding contracts to offshore outsourcing firms. It was produced for the Washington Alliance of Technology Workers (WashTech), a local union of the Communications Workers of America that supports workers in the information technology sector. The report found that 18 offshore outsourcing firms—including several billion-dollar companies from India—are aggressively seeking state government contract work, primarily in information technology, in at least 30 states. The 18 firms have already captured at least $75 million in offshore state contracts and are seeking more, in part by hiring former government officials and by making state electoral campaign contributions. The study also looks at the large number of state food-stamp call centers that are operated offshore.