Labor & Employment Law

Working America Tells Boehner: Stop Stringing Us Along on UI Extension

By James Parks

The first priority of Congress must be jobs, jobs, jobs, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka has said.  Earlier this week, members of  Working America, the federation?s community affiliate, delivered thousands of job applications and signatures on jobs petitions?tied with long pieces of string?to incoming House Speaker John Boehner’s (R-Ohio) district office in Troy, urging him to extend crucial jobless benefits for millions during November?s lame duck session.

The strings serve as reminders of the distance between what politicians like Boehner have promised and what they actually propose?job-destroying measures like tax cuts for the rich that drain money from local communities and put it in the pockets of wealthy.

Working America members in Minnesota also delivered thousands of petitions to Rep. Erik Paulsen?s (R-Minn.) district office in Eden Prairie, Minn.

?We need politicians like Rep. Boehner to stop stringing us along,? said Working America member Marvin Bohn from Ohio:

Unemployment benefits paid for the gas I needed to look for work when I was laid off, and they put money into our communities that supports businesses and creates jobs. On the other hand, if that money goes to Boehner?s wealthy donors, it will simply go into buying even more political attack ads in two years, not creating jobs.

Some 2 million people will be denied unemployment insurance if Congress does not act this month to extend benefits?800,000 will be cut off immediately in the first four days of December. That?s 2 million people who will find it even harder to feed their families, pay rent or stay in their homes during the holiday season.

Last week?s national jobs report showed the unemployment rate stagnant at 9.6 percent. The number of workers who are underemployed, which includes those who are too discouraged to look for work or are working part-time out of economic necessity, remained nearly the same at 17 percent in October. Overall, nearly 27 million U.S. workers who want to work cannot find a job or full-time work.

Long-term joblessness continues to be a crisis, with 6.2 million workers jobless for six months or more. Nearly 42 percent of unemployed workers have been jobless for 27 weeks or more.

Working America Regional Director David Wehde told protestors in Eden Prairie:

The greed of Wall Street, big corporations and their government allies has brought our economy to the brink of disaster. These petitions are a sobering reminder of the human cost of the jobs crisis, the need to extend jobless benefits and the need for job creation now.

Jobless benefits keep millions out of poverty and pump billions of dollars back into the economy to create jobs. They provide security for people who are unemployed through no fault of their own.

Full post as published by AFL-CIO NOW BLOG on November 12, 2010 (boomark / email).