“It is no secret that unemployment has reached crisis levels across Wisconsin and throughout the country. Working people can’t afford to be silent about it anymore,” says Phil Neuenfeldt, Secretary-Treasurer of the Wisconsin State AFL-CIO. “At local union meetings and Central Labor Council gatherings working families are coming to terms with how we got into this mess, and what it’s going to take to turn things around. These discussions are the start of our grassroots fight for good jobs now.”
As AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka explains in the video above, this crisis didn’t spring up overnight.
The national AFL-CIO Five-point Plan, which has been a central focus of jobs presentations throughout the state, is designed to save or create millions of jobs.
1. Most urgently, we must extend the safety net for families hard hit by the downturn. Unemployment benefits, COBRA health insurance assistance and food aid keep money in people’s pockets. Congress must extend these programs for at least another year. We can’t let Congress nickel and dime our lifeline.
2. Rebuild America with infrastructure improvements. We can put people to work now and strengthen the economy for the future by fixing crumbling schools, roads and bridges, developing 21st century energy and communications systems and investing in green jobs and green technology.
3. Help state and local governments meet pressing needs. State and local governments and school districts are facing huge budget deficits. If Washington does not act fast, this will lead to mass layoffs of vital public sector workers, including police, teachers and firefighters. This would mean more devastating cuts in key public services.4. Put people to work doing work that needs to be done. The private sector is not creating jobs, and America can’t wait. It’s time for the government to step in. The economic crisis has hit the long-term unemployed, people of color, young workers, veterans and people in distressed communities the worst. Let’s create the jobs they need where they live, from cleaning up abandoned property to tutoring school children. These must be good, new jobs with good pay and benefits, not jobs to replace existing public-sector workers.
5. Put TARP money to work for Main Street, not just Wall Street. When small businesses can get credit, they create jobs. The bank bailout was supposed to get credit flowing again, but small businesses are still waiting. We should hire local banks to lend leftover bailout money to small and medium-sized business for job creation.
Mobilization efforts are already underway around parts of the statewide Good Jobs Agenda, which involves creating a Green Economy for working people, supporting and expanding our manufacturing sector, and strengthening the public services that make Wisconsin a great place to live:
http://wisaflcio.typepad.com/wisconsin-state-afl-cio-blog/2010/02/lets-rebuild-wisconsin-with-jobs-we-can-be-proud-of.html
To schedule a Good Jobs Now presentation at your local union meeting, contact your Service Area Organizer: http://wisaflcio.typepad.com/Service%20Area%20Organizer%20Contact%20Info..pdf
(All photos are from recent Good Jobs Now presentations. Top Left Photo: ATU Local 1310. Photo Credit: Laurie Gruber of OPEIU Local 277. Top Middle Photo: The Allied Printing Trades Council of Milwaukee and Madison. Photo Credit: Justin Geiger. Top Right Photo: The Northeast Wisconsin Area Labor Federation. Photo Credit: Greg Hinds. Middle Photo: Service Area Organizer Greg Hinds speaking to the Sheboygan County Labor Council. Photo Credit: Rob Boelk of CWA Local 4622. Bottom Photo: Service Area Organizer Andy Thompson speaking to the Greater West Central Area Labor Council. Photo Credit: Judy Gatlin of AFSCME Local 1914. For more photos from Good Jobs Presentations, visit flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/wisaflcio/collections/72157623211438772/)
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