Labor & Employment Law

Building and Construction Trade Dept. Reaches Out to Jobless Workers

By James Parks

The AFL-CIO Building and Construction Trades Department (BCTD) launched a ?Back on the Job“ campaign in recent days to help unemployed workers make their voices heard. The Machinists (IAM) and Working America also have made reaching jobless workers a priority, with IAM’s U-Cubed site organizing workers online and Working America’s Unemployment Lifeline offering information and support. 

With unemployment in the construction industry at 20 percent nationwide, the BCTD campaign is a national education and lobbying effort to capture the attention of elected officials of all political parties and spur them into action.

 The campaign features a new website http://BackOnTheJob.org where unemployed building and construction workers can tell their stories of how being without a job has put their lives on the brink of collapse and ask elected officials to take immediate action to create real jobs (see video).

 The website will also provide facts, figures, and reports that support the need for robust measures to create jobs. To learn more and to tell your story, click here.

If you lost your job and need help, check out the Unemployment LifeLine. Sponsored by Working America, the AFL-CIO?s community affiliate, it’s a one-stop guide that links workers to the resources in their area, from unemployment offices to veterans’ services to child care. It also offers the opportunity to talk to others and share support and lessons learned.Visit the Unemployment LifeLine here.

To join with other unemployed workers to organize and build political and economic power, there?s Ur Union of Unemployed ? nicknamed UCubed. A project of the Machinists (IAM), UCubed connects the unemployed in a specific Zip code into small groups and links them to larger neighborhood groups and then into power blocks that politicians cannot ignore. Learn more about UCubed here.

Full post as published by AFL-CIO NOW BLOG on August 16, 2010 (boomark / email).