Hundreds of Union Members Try to ‘Save the Dream’ of Home Ownership
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Even though JPMorgan Chase and Bank of America have declared temporary moratoriums on foreclosures, millions of Americans still face the prospect of losing their homes. And union members are not exempt. Last week, hundreds of union members in danger of foreclosure attended two workshops sponsored by the nonprofit Neighborhood Assistance Corporation of America (NACA) in hopes of being able to continue the American Dream of homeownership.
Counselors and lenders were on hand at the two Save-the-Dream workshops—one in Los Angeles and another in Sacramento, Calif.—to help people who cannot afford their mortgages. At similar events, NACA says it has been able to help some 80 percent of participants, with many households lowering their mortgage interest rates to 2 percent. That success rate, coupled with media coverage, ensured that both events would have overflow crowds.
Bite Back Against Job Stealers
As joblessness worsens, the nation’s unemployed workers are fighting back. A video by UCubed, Ur Union of Unemployed, graphically depicts what has happened to America’s jobless and calls for fighting back against those who are to blame: Senate Republicans who launched a filibuster to block an extension of unemployment benefits.
The video has been downloaded more than 10,000 times since Labor Day, according to Machinists (IAM) spokesman Rick Sloan. UCubed is affiliated with IAM.
With more than 1 million families close to losing their homes through foreclosure, the ad focuses on the ridiculous and insulting idea of Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) who says unemployed workers should be drug tested. The ad lays it on the line:
They stole our jobs, stole our pensions. Our savings—gone. Our homes gone. Now they want to take away our dignity….
Working America Mobilizing Unemployed Voters
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Who better to keep candidates focused on the real issue in this election—jobs—than the very people who are out of work? Working America, the AFL-CIO’s community affiliate, is organizing and mobilizing unemployed workers to go to the polls in November to make sure that candidates who favor outsourcing or don’t support workers join them in the unemployment lines.
Starting with its own unemployed members who are registered voters, Working America is reaching out to everyday voters on the streets. Field organizers in 12 cities are talking with unemployed workers at unemployment offices and job training facilities. Workers at these facilities will have the chance to fill out “Help Wanted” petitions to send to Congress asking them what they’ve done to create jobs and help unemployed workers.
Working America Director Karen Nussbaum says although millions of people are unemployed and underemployed, and millions more are worried about the future:
Some politicians are willing to play politics with the survival of unemployed workers and their families. We’ll make sure that unemployed workers get out and vote, and that they know the records of the candidates on issues like extending unemployment insurance, investing in jobs and preventing outsourcing.
Building and Construction Trade Dept. Reaches Out to Jobless Workers
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.
Share Your Job Crisis Story, Connect with Activists at Our New Good Jobs Now Site
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Good Jobs Now, the AFL-CIO’s new interactive website, gives workers, people who have lost their jobs and activists a chance to take action, share their stories, find resources and, most importantly, be part of a grassroots movement to help the nation climb out of its 10-million jobs hole created by the recession.
Just launched this morning, Good Jobs Now’s first featured action is a petition calling on Whirlpool Corp., to reverse its decision to close its Evansville, Ind., plant and send work to Mexico, eliminating 1,100 good jobs.
As the AFL-CIO’s Good Jobs Now mobilization heats up in the coming weeks, you will be able to find events in your area so you can join the growing movement demanding that lawmakers focus on job creation and hold corporations like Whirlpool and big Wall Street banks accountable for their economic damage.
To help build and connect a community of job activists, the new site gives workers, employed and jobless, the opportunity to share their stories, photos and videos of how the job crisis has affected them, their families and communities, as well as ideas about the best ways to solve the job crisis and help rebuild the middle class. You also can read and comment on the stories.
Jobless? Reach for New Unemployment Lifeline
Most of us know a friend or a family member who has lost his or her job. Many of us fear we will be next. After all, with more than 600,00 jobs a month vanishing, official unemployment now stands at 8.5 percent. And with as much as 15.6 percent of the adult workforce either jobless, underemployed or part of a group that has just plain given up looking for work, that fear is more than justified.
If you were to join the more than 13 million workers without jobs today, do you know where you would turn for help?
The just-launched Unemployment LifeLine, developed by Working America and the AFL-CIO, can guide you to resources and services in your area to help working families cope and survive unemployment.
