Procurement

Massive amounts of public monies are transferred directly to private, for-profit firms every year through government procurement, tax subsidies and land-use/natural resources permitting; this amount averages to about $3.5 trillion annually and that figure predates the slew of historic investments ushered in under the package of bills from the Biden-Harris administration. Through struggle, communities and workers can fight to condition public dollars and use a set of “public contracting tools” to win community and worker demands in how companies operate their business. This workshop will examine opportunities to use procurement practices, research, and deep community-labor organizing to negotiate for better worker and community conditions.

Jobs to Move America (JMA) is a labor-affiliated non-profit which uses strategic research, policy advocacy, and coalition organizing to use public money to create good jobs and healthy communities.

Teto (Héctor) Huezo is the California Director at Jobs to Move America. He joined JMA as an organizer in 2016 and, with a coalition of labor, environmental, community, faith and workforce organizations, won commitments from Southern California transit agencies to transition their fleets to 100% zero-emissions by 2030; led the adoption of worker- and community-centered policies in public procurement contracts; and negotiated legally enforceable community benefits agreements with manufacturing companies that prioritized hiring, training and recruitment practices focused on supporting historically underrepresented and marginalized populations.

Prior to JMA, Teto spent a decade directing publically funded employment and training programs across Southern California. The product of two Salvadoran immigrants and a lifelong Angeleno, Teto is the first of his family to earn and undergraduate and graduate degree and has dedicated his career and activism to leveling the playing field for working families to achieve a high quality of life, regardless of the systemic inequities that make that difficult for far too many.

Antara Murshed is a researcher under the national program at Jobs to Move America. Her work covers strategic corporate and sectoral research on emerging green technology sectors and informs decision making in campaigns for community benefit agreements and union drives.

She has a master of Urban and Regional Planning from the University of California Los Angeles, where she focused on the intersection of transportation planning, labor, and sustainability. This experience jumpstarted her interest in just transition work and her commitment to the multi-faceted terrain of struggle that will be required to shape an equitable and sustainable economy in the face of climate change. Prior to attending graduate school and joining JMA, Antara worked as an environmental planner at the California Department of Transportation.