JOB ANNOUNCEMENT: NATIONAL ORGANIZER FOR CAMPUS WORKER SOLIDARITY CAMPAIGNS

United Students Against Sweatshops (USAS) is currently hiring for a full-time National Organizer. The position will be based out of Washington, DC, requires a two-year commitment, a dedication to social and economic justice, the ability to self-motivate, ability to work in a nonhierarchical staff team and willingness to work flexible hours including nights and weekends.

The position offers a $30,000 salary, a comprehensive health benefits package, and a union contract including flexible vacation time. Applications are due 5 pm EDT October 28. Applicants will be notified the first week in November and the position will start as soon as possible after notification. The incoming organizer will be trained by current national organizers and overseen by a National Coordinating Committee of student organizers.

Job Description:

National staff works closely with students to support ongoing campus organizing; coordinates the activities of local organizations into international actions and campaigns; puts together meetings, trainings, and conferences; maintains communication and coordination with domestic and international allies; and facilitates the infrastructure development of a dynamic movement.

Responsibilities will include:
• Coordinating and supporting national campus worker solidarity campaigns (50% of overall staff time in first year)

o travel and campus visits (minimum 25% of time both years)
o campaign support and guidance
o outreach to new schools
o materials development
o maintaining and developing relationships with ally organizations

• Leadership development, including:

o training and supporting students and youth
o facilitating spaces in which student leaders are able to take on increased responsibilities for national campaign coordination and organizing work
o commitment to collective liberation and leadership development of oppressed communities

• Organizational development, including:

o communications and media work (including traditional press and new media/social networking platforms)
o implementing new national organizing structure (details provided upon request)
o arranging logistics for national and regional conferences and gatherings
o fundraising- grassroots and maintaining and developing relationships with domestic allies

Ideal Qualifications:

• Experience as a student/youth organizer; preferably some experience with USAS and/or the student labor movement
• Knowledge of/experience with the labor movement
• Bookkeeping and database general skills
• Strong commitment to developing leadership of oppressed people
• Ability to work independently and in groups
• Ability to manage and direct one’s own work
• Experience and /or willingness to work in a non-hierarchical staff team using consensus-based decision making
• Financial management skills and fundraising experience a strong plus; additional training will be provided
• Previous office experience is a strong plus
• Experience and skills with new media and web design is a strong plus
• Experience with group facilitation and public speaking a strong plus
• Experience training direct action philosophy and tactics a strong plus
• Spanish and other foreign language skills a strong plus

USAS is an affirmative action/ equal opportunity employer.

Application Instructions:
In addition to answering the questions below, please submit a resume and cover letter. E-mail completed applications in a single PDF file (or a single Word.doc file) to register(at)usas.org with 'Staff Application-[your last name]' in Subject Line by 5 pm EST October 28, 2009. Feel free to include letters of recommendation from employers, people you have worked with, mentors, campus workers, etc. if desired. Direct any further questions to staff@usas.org

Please send us a résumé that includes:

a. Organizing experience
b. Positions of responsibility or leadership that you have held
c. Past internship experiences
d. Volunteer work
e. Relevant academic coursework or research
f. Anything else that you think we should know about you
g. Three references

Please provide SHORT answers to the questions below. Answers to the questions should total no more than five pages.

Organizing and Organizational Development

1. What do you think USAS National's priorities should be in the following areas? Please explain. Alternatively, describe an experience you have had building and sustaining a social justice organization.

a. Campaign strategy (can include sweatfree, campus-community solidarity, and/or other areas)
b. Leadership development (can include outreach, collective liberation, training, support, etc either on local or national level)
c. Organizational development (can include fundraising, national organizing structure, staffing, etc)
2. Describe challenges and opportunities in your organizing. What lessons have you learned that you would like to pass on to future organizers?

Collective Liberation

1. How would you work towards collective liberation within the context of USAS/the student-labor solidarity movement and fight racism, sexism, classism, heterosexism, ableism and other forms of identity-based oppression? Alternatively, describe how such forms of oppression have intersected with your organizing.

Personal Development

1. Describe an experience you had with working with a team. How did you deal with any disagreements that may have arisen?
2. Describe an experience you had with building a coalition and/or working closely with an organization of which you are not a member. Focus specifically on the development of those relationships, and how you dealt with any difficulties that may have arisen.
3. What do you do to avoid burnout? How can you help student leaders to avoid burnout?

Skills and Misc

1. What languages do you speak? Are you fair, proficient, or fluent in speaking, listening, reading, and writing?
2. What computer/web skills to you possess?
3. Do you identify as a woman, person of color, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or queer person, working class, differently abled or other oppressed identity? [OPTIONAL]
4. When are you available to start working for USAS?

USAS Organizational Background

Mission and Vision
Formed in 1997, United Students Against Sweatshops (USAS) is a national grassroots organization run entirely by youth and students on high school, college and university campuses across the United States. USAS develops youth leadership and runs strategic student-labor solidarity campaigns with the goal of building sustainable power for working people. We define "sweatshop" broadly and consider all struggles against the daily abuses of the global economic system to be a struggle against sweatshops. We envision a world in which society and human relationships are organized cooperatively, not competitively. We struggle towards a world in which all people live in freedom from oppression, in which people are valued as whole human beings rather than exploited in a quest for productivity and profits.

Current Campaigns
Our chapters run exciting grassroots campaigns focused on issues of worker rights and social and economic justice. Our two cornerstone campaigns are in solidarity with garment workers who make collegiate apparel and campus-community workers who ensure that our colleges and universities run. Recently, USAS organized a 100+-university boycott of a major corporation that violated the right to organize in their apparel factories in Honduras, and participated in dozens of successful contract, unionization, and living wage fights with campus workers across the country.

Organizing Philosophy

1. solidarity
We believe that all of our struggles for a just world are intimately connected and that we should act in solidarity to avoid isolation and to build greater collective power. Charity does not challenge power relations, while a solidarity framework unites allies who are fighting on different grounds towards the same goal. We have chosen the labor movement as a strategic site of struggle because a powerful and dynamic labor movement can ensure greater justice for all people. As former, current, and future workers we recognize the need for a vibrant youth and student movement that actively engages in struggles for just working conditions. We draw upon the historical role of student movements as catalysts for broader social change and strategically leverage the unique roles of students as consumers, workers, and members of the campus community. We recognize that our role as students in the labor movement is complex and we are committed to critically engaging with that role. In our larger society, we are privileged because the majority of people are denied access to higher education. In our schools, we are marginalized because we are denied a voice in making decisions that affect our entire campus community. We believe we have an important role to play as organizers in developing the leadership capacity of people in our communities and we believe those most impacted should lead their own struggles.

2. collective liberation
We are committed to collective liberation of all people. In the words of Lilla Watson: “If you have come here to help me, you are wasting your time. But if you have come because your liberation is bound up with mine, then let us work together.” We believe that oppression does not allow anyone to be a full human being whether they materially benefit or suffer under oppressive systems. We struggle against racism, sexism, heterosexism, classism, ableism, and other forms of oppression within our society, within our organizations, and within ourselves. We strive to build relationships with other grassroots movements because we believe the student-labor solidarity movement is part of a larger struggle for global justice.

3. grassroots democracy
We support the self-organization of working people to fight for better working and living conditions in the form of grassroots organizations such as unions, worker centers, collectives, and other democratic organizations. We believe these organizations, as part of a broader global justice movement, will pave the way for long-term economic, social and political empowerment for working people worldwide. We strive to act democratically. We see participatory political education and horizontal communication as necessary for an effective democratic organization. We encourage a culture of constructive critique and strive to empower one another through trust, patience, and an open spirit.

4. diversity of tactics
We seek to use a diversity of tactics, especially nonviolent direct action and civil disobedience, which fundamentally challenge the oppressive power structures that exploit the majority of the world's population. We believe that substantive change is created through movements of oppressed people organizing to develop and use their own power. Through taking action we find the courage to develop our individual and collective capacities for leadership and action.

5. pluralism
We are a non-dogmatic organization and believe in building a broad-based movement. We believe that a pluralist approach to ideological positions and practices strengthens our movement. We encourage a rigorous internal political dialogue, which strengthens our strategic analysis and effectiveness. We aim to support one another in a spirit of respect for difference, shared purpose
and hope.

WHEN APPLYING: Be sure to indicate that you saw this information online at UNIONJOBS.COM. Do not just say the Internet.