HERvotes Turns Focus to Top Issues for Women in 2012: Health Care and Economy
Listen to the conventional wisdom, and you’ll hear that women have fared better than men in the recent recession. In reality, women are not only shouldering the burden of being the sole breadwinner in more families than ever before, they also account for the majority of public-sector layoffs. Single mothers and women in communities of color continue to suffer rising unemployment of more than 12 percent.
Against that backdrop, the Coalition of Labor Union Women (CLUW), as part of a coalition of 40 national organizations, is launching HERvotes, a nonpartisan campaign to mobilize women around the pressing issues of health and economic rights.
While it’s true that the initial rounds of layoffs after the housing bubble burst in 2007 and the stock market crash in 2008 hit men harder than women, men have now benefited significantly from the jobs added to the economy in the ensuing years. As CLUW Executive Director Carol Rosenblatt notes in a post on the HERvotes blog:
According to an analysis by the National Women’s Law Center, women lost 46,000 jobs from December 2007 – June 2009 while men gained 1.26 million.
She also notes that women comprise nearly 64 percent of laid-off public-sector Read the rest of this entry »
The New American Economy: Win the Lottery, Get a Job
Stunning, just stunning. Nearly 17,000 people applied for jobs at a Ford plant in Kentucky, according to USA Today. The applications are now going into a lottery and Ford will determine who gets to proceed to be considered for the 1,800 jobs that pay $15.51 an hour. No doubt not everyone who applied is unemployed, to be sure–but it’s likely a good number don’t have jobs.
So is this what it’s come to for America’s unemployed workers–they need to win a lottery to get work to support themselves and their families?
Derek Thompson nails it on the head in the Atlantic:
With every month’s employment survey, economists and journalists have to find new ways to write the headline “Job Report Surprises and Disappoints.” It’s getting difficult because the news is so dependably awful and the Thesaurus is only so thick. But it’s time to at least drop the word “surprises” and understand that the private sector does not work for workers the way it used to.
Two years after the start of the recession, there still are 4.7 workers for every ONE job available. Meanwhile, corporations sit on trillions of dollars. Rather than putting some of that Read the rest of this entry »
Obama Administration Requires Banks to Extend Foreclosure Forbearance for Unemployed Workers
 |
The June jobs numbers, which came out on Friday, show just how dire and desperate the situation is for unemployed workers. As I travel the country, I hear the heart-wrenching stories over and over—including many of those who have been out of work for months and are on the verge of losing their homes. So this week’s White House announcement on helping homeowners with foreclosures is welcome news. Amidst the worsening foreclosure crisis, millions of unemployed homeowners facing imminent foreclosure will finally get some relief through adjustments made by the Obama administration.
Announced on Thursday, the Federal Housing Administration’s (FHA’s) Special Forbearance Program will now require mortgage loan servicers to extend the forbearance period from three months to 12 months and remove obstacles making it easier for unemployed borrowers to qualify for the adjustment.
New Jobs Numbers Send Mixed Message
The nation’s unemployment rate jumped to 9 percent in April, up from March’s 8.8 percent, according to the latest government figures. But the monthly payroll survey shows the economy added 244,000 jobs, the largest monthly gain in five years.
Economists say the more reliable economic health indicator is the payroll survey and today’s number is relatively good news, but still far from what’s needed to put Americans back to work at pre-recession levels. Says AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka:
The monthly job growth is welcome news, but the economic recovery and job market remain fragile.
He adds that proposed deep federal budget cuts and continuing job losses in state and local government:
could jeopardize prospects for sustained job growth, given ongoing weakness in the housing market, high levels of consumer debt, and weak income growth for the middle class.
Corporate Profits Soar 81 Percent but Few Jobs Created
On the eve of tomorrow’s unemployment report for April, we get this news from Fortune:
Profits of the 500 largest U.S. corporations soar by 81 percent ($318 billion), the third largest percentage gain in list history…Wal-Mart holds the number one spot for the second year in a row…Exxon Mobil leads profits with $30 billion, for the eighth year in row.
The stunning leap in profits is so excessive even Fortune writers are writhing in their leather chairs:
We’ve rarely seen such a stark gulf between the fortunes of the 500 and those of ordinary Americans….The profits derived partly from productivity gains, including workforce reductions. And many 500 companies are growing faster overseas than in the U.S.
Here’s the full list of the top moneymakers: http://bit.ly/mnrPsI.
So what are Wall Street CEOs doing?
Join Us for National Online Solidarity Day with Jobless Workers
 |
|
Join us Dec. 7 for the AFL-CIO Online Day of Solidarity with jobless workers. Here’s how:
- Update your status on Facebook and Twitter to say you’re “in solidarity with jobless workers.”
- Watch our video of jobless workers and take action.
- Urge Congress to extend emergency unemployment for long-term jobless workers.
- Change your Facebook and Twitter profile picture to show Solidarity with Jobless Workers.
- PLS RT: I’m standing in solidarity with jobless workers today. http://bit.ly/frccBz #extendui #p2
- Spread the word to your family and friends: http://bit.ly/icD4fK
Click here for links and info.
Every day that Republicans in Congress refuse to restore unemployment insurance benefits for workers, 38,710 jobless men and women lose their benefits—more than one every second. Since Nov. 30, more than 1 million workers have lost their unemployment insurance—and that number will climb to 2 million by the end of December.
While the jobless are seeing their holidays shattered, Republicans are holding all legislation hostage until they win an extension of the Bush-era tax cuts for the wealthiest.
Take part in the AFL-CIO Online Day of Solidarity and let jobless workers know you’re on their side.
Join Online Day of Solidarity with the Jobless Dec. 7
|
|
Republican lawmakers continue to hold hostage vital unemployment insurance survival help for millions of jobless workers, vowing to keep the Senate gridlocked until the nation’s wealthy are guaranteed continued tax breaks.
More than 900,000 workers already have lost their unemployment insurance since Republicans pulled the plug Nov. 30. Every day another 38,000 job-seekers lose their unemployment insurance.
So please join us Tuesday, Dec. 7 for an online day of solidarity with the jobless via Facebook and Twitter. It’s simple.
- Update your status on Facebook and Twitter to say you’re “in solidarity with jobless workers.”
- Sign our petition urging Congress to extend emergency unemployment aid here.
- Change your Facebook and Twitter profile pictures with images here.
Click here for complete instructions.
More Jobs Lost in Sept., as Corporations Hoard Cash, Refuse to Hire
Some 95,000 jobs were lost in September, fueled by a loss of government employment, which declined by 159,000 jobs, and minimal hiring in the private sector, which added 64,000 jobs. The new jobs data released by the U.S. Department of Labor today also show the nation’s September unemployment rate remained unchanged from August at 9.6 percent. Public-sector job losses include 83,000 lost at the state and local level, of which 58,000 were in education.
The 64,000 new jobs is about half of what is required to absorb new labor force entrants. To lower the unemployment rate to 6 percent by 2013, the economy needs to add 350,000 jobs a month.
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, worsened to 17.1 percent from 16.7 percent in August. More than 26 million U.S. workers are without jobs or full-time work.
U.S. Poverty, Home Repos Soar, 300 Economists, Policymakers Say Time to Act BIG
 |
|
Two bad economic reports this morning reinforce today’s call by 300 economists and policymakers urging the president and Congress to “redouble efforts to create jobs” through investment in infrastructure, sending aid to the states and creating public service jobs.
First, the bad news.
- U.S. poverty hit its highest rate since 1994, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. In 2009, one in seven people were in poverty, and one in five children were in poverty.
- U.S. home seizures reached a record for the third time in five months in August as lenders completed the foreclosure process for thousands of delinquent owners, according to RealtyTrac Inc. Bank repossessions climbed 25 percent from a year earlier to 95,364. RealtyTrac sees a record 1.2 million repossessions this year, up from just under 1 million last year, with more than 3.2 million homes in some stage of foreclosure.
Such data make all the more relevent the statement by 300 prominent economists, “Don’t Kill Growth and Jobs in the Name of Deficit Reduction.” In short, the statement urges the president and lawmakers:
Working America, Illinois AFL-CIO Connecting with Jobless Workers
 |
|
Illinois AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Tim Drea knows what it’s like to be unemployed—he’s experienced it himself, as a laid-off coal miner. He knows, too, how important it is to keep jobless union members involved in the union movement and the fight for working family-friendly policies. That fact turned out to be the answer to a little mystery that presented itself recently to Working America, the AFL-CIO community affiliate.
Working America staff was mystified when a stack of membership registrations arrived in the mail from the Illinois AFL-CIO. Although Working America had sent membership cards to many state federations and central labor councils around the country in 2009 as part of our effort to organize jobless workers through the Unemployment Lifeline, these registrations did not use those cards. Working America was not engaged in an active organizing drive on the ground in Illinois. How did the state federation there sign up so many people?
