Central Florida Jobs with Justice to host ‘a Night of Justice Among the Stars’ honoring grassroots leaders

Central Florida Jobs With Justice will host an evening art show to cheer on grass-roots leaders around Orlando – and to name this year’s Scrooge of the Year.

The event will celebrate people in Central Florida who are “dedicated to improving the lives of working people,” and this year’s event focuses on “visionary leaders making history and creating futures in our movement.”

Over the years, Jobs With Justice has built a formidable coalition of labor unions, civil rights and social justice organizations, and faith leaders, united to push progressive reforms locally.

The evening will include a silent auction of local and national artists’ works dealing with the social justice issues closest to CFJWJ and their members, including workers rights, justice for immigrants and racial justice, accessible health care, climate justice, gender equality and LGBTQ+ equality.

The proceeds will benefit the group’s 2020 work, but that’s not the only way attendees can participate. The night will feature an election to name the annual Scrooge of the Year, the public figure most responsible for setting back the cause of progressive justice.

Last year, the Scrooge candidates were U.S. Sen. Rick Scott, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, since-departed Orlando airport lawyer Marcos Marchena, and Seminole County Tax Collector Joel Greenberg. Scott won the straw poll as the worst.

This year’s 2019 CFJWJ Scrooge of the Year will again (dis)honor “the worst person for workers’ rights in Central Florida.” The nominees include Universal Studios (“for their proposal to build road using community wealth funds, displacing poor residents, no guarantees of local jobs or affordable housing”), I-4 Ultimate contractors SGL Constructors (for “poor safety standards that have led to worker deaths and injuries”), and state Sen. Joe Gruters (because he “introduced and led the passage of the anti-immigrant bill SB 168”).

Every ticket-buying attendee gets a vote, but “you can buy additional votes at the show to influence the vote, to honor our current electoral system.”

Find out more about “Central Florida’s social justice prom” at the event’s ticket page and on their Facebook event page.

Stay on top of Orlando news and views. Sign up for our weekly Headlines newsletter.

This article appears in Demolition Dynasty.