Some Real Questions for Chamber’s ‘Jobs Summit’
When the U.S. Chamber of Commerce kicks off its “Jobs for America: Summit 2010” this afternoon in Washington, D.C., the question workers most want participants to answer is: Will the Chamber help create good jobs at home or will it just keep backing corporations who chase the bottom line by sending jobs overseas?
Rather than straight talk about how corporate greed created the jobs crisis, Chamber leaders are expected to raise the same tired blather that too much regulation is strangling business. (Let’s see. There was SO much regulation of the financial industry in recent years that Big Banks didn’t run wild and wreck the economy. Oh, wait….)
Trumka: Time to Raise Our Voices for Good Jobs Now
Working Americans are outraged over the jobs crisis.
Ben from Augusta, Ga., says the economy is not doing as well—and describes feeling hopeless and scared because he doesn’t know what’s going to happen next.
In Washington, D.C., Patricia is shouldering the burden of the poor economy:
“I find that I’m doing more and more for my family with less and less that I have because they have less and less.”
Larry from Las Vegas pinpoints one of the prime culprits behind the economic mess:
It’s unfortunate on how the situation has occurred with these big bankers capitalizing on the U.S. government…wherein, they robbed us.
UAW Members Rally for Good Jobs Now
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On his first day in office, UAW President Bob King sent a clear message that the union movement is ready and able to fight as long as necessary to gain economic and social justice for all.
After delivering his acceptance speech at the UAW convention in Detroit, King joined Teamsters President James Hoffa and Metropolitan Detroit AFL-CIO President Saundra Williams to lead a Good Jobs Now! march and rally in downtown Detroit. Delegates to the convention and other workers joined the march that filled a city block.
The marchers demanded Wall Street pay for its role in creating the recession, which cost 11 million jobs America. They called on Big Bankers to end their opposition to financial reform and to begin to make loans available to homeowners to stop foreclosures, to communities, small businesses and others starved of credit.
Longview, Wash., Workers Rally for Good Jobs Now
The economic recovery is barely creating enough jobs to keep up with growth in the U.S. workforce, much less to make a dent in the 11 million jobs lost during the recession.
In Longview, Wash., more than 120 workers and union supporters marched and rallied last week to demand Good Jobs Now. In Cowlitz County, where Longview is located, the unemployment rate is around 12 percent.
Jeff Johnson, special assistant to Washington State Labor Council President Rick Bender, told the crowd:
This crisis was created by Wall Street bankers and insurance companies. These crooks profited by creating ever more riskier financial tools….This financial industry was run like a casino and you and I ended up on the losing side of the table.
Progressives Set for America’s Future Now Conference, June 7–9
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More than a year into the Obama administration and with November elections just ahead, progressive activists will gather June 7–9 in Washington, D.C., to forge a strategy to build a majority for real change in America.
The America’s Future Now conference, sponsored by the Campaign for America’s Future (CAF), traditionally is the largest gathering of progressives in the country. There’s still time to register for the conference. Register now here or click on the America’s Future Now icon above.
Grassroots activists and policy-wonk analysts have gathered at the campaign’s conferences each year for six years to forge an economic agenda for change—and the organizing strategies for taking that agenda to the country.
More than 8,000 Set for Virtual March on Wall Street—Join Us Today
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This Thursday, April 29, some 10,000 union members, community activists from National People’s Action (NPA) and other groups will march on Wall Street. Our message to the Big Bankers: Americans are angry that their reckless greed made a mess of the economy and destroyed jobs—and it’s time they pay to restore those jobs. If you can’t make it in person, join the more than 8,000 people who have signed up to be taken to the march virtually.
To join the virtual march and demand an end to Wall Street’s reckless practices and insist on real Wall Street reform, click here. We’ll print your name on a sticker that one of the marchers will carry. You can add your personal message to the sign that the marcher will carry in your name. Let the Big Bankers know you’re fed up with their shenanigans and that you want real change. The march and rally, which begin at 4 p.m. EDT, is part of the AFL-CIO’s Good Jobs Now! Make Wall Street Pay mobilization.
In Person or Online, Join the March on Wall Street
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If you’re ready to tell the big Wall Street bankers that you’re mad as hell about the mess they made with the economy and the jobs they destroyed, join the 10,000 union and community activists from National People’s Action (NPA) and other groups marching through the heart of New York’s financial district April 29.
The Thursday march and rally is part of the AFL-CIO’s Good Jobs Now! Make Wall Street Pay mobilization.
If you can’t make it to New York in person, we’ll take you there virtually. All you have to do to make your voice heard, demanding an end to Wall Street’s reckless practices that tanked the economy and for real financial reform, is click here. We’ll print your name on a sticker that one of the marchers will carry.
After shadowy practices involving derivatives, hedge funds, private equity and subprime mortgages brought the economy crashing down and destroying millions of jobs, Wall Street’s Big Banks and financial institutions took hundreds of billions of taxpayer dollars in bailouts.
Now, says AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka:
They’re back to business as usual—paying themselves millions and fighting accountability.
Top-Hatted ‘Bankers’ Peddle for Taxpayer Cash in D.C., and More Good Jobs Actions
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On Monday, in Cleveland, AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Liz Shuler told a crowd of union activists outside a Morgan Stanley office:
“We’re here at Morgan Stanley to make one thing clear. We need good jobs now. And we are going to make Wall Street pay.”
Meanwhile, in another of the AFL-CIO’s 200 “Good Jobs Now, Make Wall Street Pay” actions taking place through the end of this week, top-hatted “bankers” panhandled for even more bonus bonanzas on a sidewalk in front of a Washington, D.C., Bank of America branch.
The rallies and marches are demanding the Big Six Wall Street banks—Bank of America, Citibank, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase, Morgan Stanley and Wachovia-Wells Fargo—take the following actions:
- Pay their fair share to restore the jobs their actions destroyed.
- Stop their multimillion-dollar lobbying blitz to kill financial reform.
- Start lending to communities, small businesses and others starved for credit.
A Thousand Philly Marchers Tell BofA: It’s Time to Pay
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More than 1,000 Pennsylvania union members, laid-off workers and community allies rallied outside a downtown Philadelphia Bank of America office, hundreds streamed through the bank lobby along with a delegation carrying a $145 billion check. Shouting, “No jobs, no future,” they demanded BofA endorse the check and help finance creation of the 11 million jobs Wall Street gambled away.
After all: Wall Street’s Big Six—Bank of America, Citibank, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase, Morgan Stanley and Wachovia-Wells Fargo—received $145 billion taxpayer bailout funds.
Kelle Sallard, an unemployed Verizon worker and member of the Communications Workers of America (CWA) from Verizon, told the crowd she lost her medical benefits but doesn’t qualify for free health care.
While the CEO of Verizon makes $18 million and gets lifetime free health care, I lost my job at Verizon, lost my benefits and make too much on unemployment to qualify for free health care. How is that fair?
JPMorgan Chase Greed Brings ‘Guilty’ Verdict
JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon was found guilty yesterday of conspiracy to wreck the economy, destroy jobs and the immoral use of taxpayer bank bailout money for millions in Wall Street bonuses.
The courtroom was on a Madison Wis., street in front of a JPMorgan Chase bank branch and the jury included dozens of union and community activists. The street theater was part of the AFL-CIO union movement’s two weeks of action across the country to make Wall Street pay to create jobs and fix the economy they ravaged.
Jim Cavanaugh, president of the South Central Federation of Labor, which organized the curbside drama, says:
We bailed out Wall Street. Now, it’s time for Wall Street to bail out Main Street.
