Labor & Employment Law

Lehigh Valley Union Activists to Rep. Dent: Show Us the Jobs!

By admin

Yael Foa, AFL-CIO senior field representative for the Northeast Region, recently rallied with Pennsylvania union members at the Bethlehem offices of Rep. Charlie Dent to protest his lack of action in creating good jobs. The event is one of dozens union activists are holding around the nation to hold lawmakers accountable for Good Jobs Now.

The sweltering heat did not stop more than 50 union members from turning out to rally outside Rep. Charlie Dent’s office in Bethlehem, Pa., during the congressional recess last week. The rally, organized by the Northeastern Pennsylvania Area Labor Federation, the Lehigh Valley Central Labor Council and the Lehigh Valley Building and Construction Trades Council, highlighted Dent’s failure to address the jobs crisis and rising unemployment in his district.

Carrying signs reading, ?Dent to Workers: Tough Luck? and ?We the People Need Jobs,? while chanting, “Unemployment on the rise, Charlie Dent must stop the lies,” were members of Boilermakers Local 13, Bricklayers Local 5, Carpenters Local 600, Electrical Workers locals 375 and 102, Ironworkers Local 36, Operating Engineers Local 542, Sheet Metal Workers Local 19, United Food and Commercial Workers 1776, AFSCME and SEIU, as well as community allies such as Allentown Move On. 

While unemployment has more than doubled in Lehigh Valley since the recession began in December 2007, Dent has repeatedly voted against legislation in Congress that would provide states and municipalities with critical financial assistance to prevent large-scale layoffs in the public sector; provide billions of dollars for much-needed infrastructure projects; and fund summer jobs programs for younger workers. Rather than working to bring real jobs with family-sustaining wages and benefits to his district, Dent sponsored a job fair this past Saturday that will not do anything to address the job crisis his constituents are facing. 

Says John Werkheiser, vice-president of the Lehigh Valley Central Labor Council:

Dent clearly is not paving a highway to creating jobs.

Labor activists in the Lehigh Valley sent that message loud and clear! 

Full post as published by AFL-CIO NOW BLOG on July 15, 2010 (boomark / email).