Official unemployment is 9.1 percent overall and in the double digits in communities of color - driven now by mass layoffs of teachers, first responders and other public and private sector.
This crisis is a man-made disaster, caused by unbridled corporate control of our economic and political system. Power and wealth are concentrated at the top, creating a system that rewards outsourcing, downsizing, and reduction of real compensation for the majority of Americans. The general public does not have enough to spend and stimulate the economy and corporations refuse to invest their mounting profits in job creation.
As part of the overall America Wants to Work campaign, we need to promote a job creation agenda that will:
- Rebuild America's infrastructure.
- Revive U.S. manufacturing and stop exporting good jobs overseas.
- Put people to work doing work that needs to be done.
- Help federal, state and local governments avoid more layoffs and cutbacks of public programs.
- Help fill the massive shortfall of consumer demand by extending unemployment benefits and keeping homeowners in their homes.
- Reform Wall Street so that it helps Main Street create jobs.
There are real solutions to the jobs crisis, but real solutions will take real action. In October, we want to make clear to corporations and our elected officials just how many this crisis hurts in our communities and just how tireless our pursuit of good jobs will be.
Add your local issue campaign to the America Wants to Work Week of Action at:
- Fighting For Collective Bargaining
- IAM's Jobs Now! Campaign
- See the AFL-CIO's six-point plan to put America back to work.
- Take part in America Wants to Work events in your area, beginning with the Oct. 10-16 Week of Action for Jobs.
- Check out Working America's Unemployment Lifeline.
- Visit UnemployedWorkers.org for action alerts and more.
- Join the Machinist's U-Cubed for laid-off Americans.
- On your mobile phone text WORK to 235246 to find out how you can take action.
IAM-represented employees at Boeing in Washington State have always ensured the prosperity of their employer by building the best commercial airliners in the world. However, when Boeing announced that its main reason for moving a substantial amount of 787 Dreamliner assembly to South Carolina was that those employees had exercised rights guaranteed to them under the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA), that was illegal retaliation – a clear violation of federal law. Now, having to face the music, Boeing and its allies are attacking not only working families but also the law that protects them.
