John Wojcik, labor editor of peoplesworld.org, is a winner. Originally from Brooklyn, the Chicago resident and former United Food and Commercial Worker shop steward easily wins over anybody with his friendly banter, passion for justice and story-telling ability.
He is also a winner of a 2010 Labor Media Award from the International Labor Communications Association, AFL-CIO.
The recent announcement of the award came as People’s World and Mundo Popular were preparing for a fall push to raise money for the two websites. What a great reason to give!
Peoplesworld.org and mundopopular.org need to raise $150,000. Already in hand is $40,000. Just $10 can help us reach our goal.
You already know how unique these websites are. But did you know that there are only a handful of labor reporters and editors employed by corporate-owned media? It used to be – back in the day – that labor reporters were at nearly every daily newspaper in the country. But news about working people and union members were among the first casualties of the corporate takeover of the media.
That’s why these websites and organizations like the International Labor Communications Association are so important.
ILCA helps sustain itself with membership dues. Peoplesworld.org and mundopopular.org must rely on you. People’s World and Mundo Popular are not littered with distracting ads. You – not corporate cash – are these websites’ only source of income.
When you hear $10 makes a difference – it really does.
Among peoplesworld.org and mundopopular.org other notable achievements are:
• the first and only labor coverage of the BP Gulf of Mexico oil rig disaster;
• illuminating articles on the Nov. 2, 2010, midterm elections;
• campaigns for jobs, equality, human rights and the One Nation Oct. 2 march
• hard hitting exposes on the corporate interests behind the tea party;
• consistent voice for multi-racial and broad unity/action against racism, against immigrant-bashing and Muslim-bashing, homophobia, gender inequality and other forms of bigotry and discrimination;
• thousands of fans on social media sites like Facebook and Twitter .
You know it takes money to run two daily news websites, no matter how much frugality we employ (and we are frugal!). Staff, travel, technology and advertising – regardless of the modest budget – still takes money.
You can give big, bigger or biggest — $10, $100, $1,000 or more – and make a difference. By giving you are sending a message: “These websites are important to me.”
It’s good to be acknowledged for your work. Peoplesworld.org and John Wojcik got acknowledged by ILCA. For his winning feature story, “”Steeler Nation fights its way back,” the judges wrote:
“John Wojcik uses sports fandom as a poignant window into the long-term costs of blue-collar layoffs in the country’s heartland. On a Steelers’ game night in September, Wojcik spoke with out-of-town fans who had made the trek from California to Pittsburgh for the game; it turns out, like many Steelers fans across the country, the family’s patriarch had worked at the Homestead Mill until it was shuttered in 1989. Wojcik captures the pride these former steel workers felt in the work they did, the devastation of the mass layoffs, and their struggles since, working fast-food jobs for minimum wage. Wojcik’s essay makes an eloquent argument for an industrial policy in America.”
That’s a wonderful acknowledgement.
You can make one too. Donate today.
Photo: John Wojcik with his dog, Yuri, on Lake Michigan beach. (Blake Deppe/PW)
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