Jobs to Move America

Jobs to Move America
Name	Jobs to Move America
Formation	2010
Type	Nonprofit advocacy group
Headquarters	Chicago, Illinois
Region served	United States
Leader title	Executive Director
Leader name	Nia Evans

Jobs to Move America is a U.S.-based nonprofit advocacy organization founded in 2010 that promotes labor standards, workforce development, and domestic manufacturing through public procurement campaigns and policy engagement. It emerged amid debates involving trade policy, industrial policy, and labor rights, positioning itself at the intersection of municipal purchasing, union organizing, and community workforce development. The organization has worked with municipal officials, labor unions, community groups, and elected leaders to influence contracting for transportation, construction, and manufacturing projects.

History

Jobs to Move America was established during a period of heightened activism linked to debates over the North American Free Trade Agreement, the Great Recession (2007–2009), and shifts in U.S. manufacturing employment. Early organizers had roots in networks associated with the Service Employees International Union, the Amalgamated Transit Union, and the United Steelworkers, drawing on strategies developed in campaigns such as those by the National Employment Law Project and the AFL–CIO. Initial campaigns focused on transit contracts in cities like Chicago, New York City, and Los Angeles, responding to procurement decisions by agencies including the Metra and the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority. The organization expanded its tactics through alliances with municipal leaders such as former Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel and elected officials in the United States House of Representatives and state legislatures.

Early years saw collaboration with labor-focused foundations and community organizations that had been active in the aftermath of the 2008 United States elections and the passage of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. Jobs to Move America leveraged case studies from projects involving manufacturers like Bombardier Transportation and firms supplying to transit agencies, while engaging in public campaigns similar to efforts by Public Citizen and Good Jobs First.

Mission and Objectives

The group's stated mission centers on using public procurement to create quality jobs, increase domestic manufacturing, and ensure equitable hiring practices. Objectives include negotiating labor standard provisions in public contracts, advocating for community hiring agreements modeled on precedents set in cases like the Los Angeles Community Benefits Agreement and the Staples Center (Los Angeles) negotiations. The organization emphasizes workforce training partnerships similar to programs run by the Manufacturing Institute and apprenticeship standards promoted by the United Brotherhood of Carpenters.

Key goals include increasing the share of government purchases sourced from U.S. manufacturers such as firms in the Midwestern United States industrial corridor, strengthening labor standards aligned with collective bargaining frameworks associated with unions like the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, and linking public investments to community benefits seen in initiatives involving the New York City Economic Development Corporation and regional development authorities.

Campaigns and Activities

Jobs to Move America has run campaigns targeting transit procurement, school construction, and military and federal contracting. Major efforts include pressuring transit agencies during procurements for railcars and buses, pursuing contract language to secure prevailing wage provisions and local hire agreements. Campaigns have engaged stakeholders from unions including the Teamsters and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers as well as municipal officials in cities such as Seattle, Boston, and Philadelphia.

Activities encompass research reports, model contract language, public demonstrations, and coalition-building with community groups like ACORN affiliates and worker centers. The organization also coordinates training programs and apprenticeships resembling initiatives by the National Skills Coalition and has participated in procurement policy debates at bodies including the Federal Transit Administration and state departments of transportation such as the California Department of Transportation.

Notable campaigns involved high-profile procurements where firms like Alstom and Siemens competed for contracts; advocacy sought to link bids to domestic content, workforce development, and living wage commitments. The group has issued reports critiquing supply chains used by multinational suppliers and has promoted alternatives championed by progressive municipal coalitions like those around the Green New Deal discourse.

Policy Advocacy and Partnerships

The organization advances policy proposals at municipal, state, and federal levels, advocating for buy-local provisions, strengthened prevailing wage enforcement, and community benefits ordinances. It has worked with policy allies, including Good Jobs First, the Economic Policy Institute, and the Center for American Progress, and engaged legislative champions in the United States Senate and state legislatures to advance procurement reforms.

Partnerships span labor unions, municipal governments, community-based organizations, and workforce training entities such as the National Apprenticeship Act advocates and regional workforce boards. Jobs to Move America has participated in coalition letters, testified at hearings before bodies like the U.S. House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, and collaborated on model ordinances implemented by cities including Cleveland and Minneapolis.

Impact and Criticism

Supporters credit the organization with securing contract language that increased local hiring, apprenticeship opportunities, and domestic sourcing in several municipal procurements, citing outcomes in transit orders where contractors agreed to workforce commitments. Analysts from institutions such as the Brookings Institution and labor scholars at universities including University of California, Berkeley have noted its role in reframing public procurement as a lever for industrial policy.

Critics argue that buy-local and domestic content provisions can increase costs for taxpayers, potentially violate trade commitments related to the World Trade Organization and trade agreements like the United States–Mexico–Canada Agreement, and disadvantage small suppliers outside targeted regions. Some business groups and procurement officials, including associations like the National Association of Manufacturers and local chambers of commerce, have opposed specific measures as protectionist or administratively burdensome.

Overall, the organization has shaped debates on how public spending intersects with labor standards and industrial strategy, prompting legislative and contractual pilots that various cities and agencies have adopted or adapted.

Category:Nonprofit organizations based in Chicago