A Working People’s Jobs Summit
As President Obama held a jobs summit to produce ideas on how to deal with high unemployment, Working America held some jobs summits of our own, to give working people a chance to talk about what they’ve seen and experienced in this economy.
The Star-Tribune reported:
In Minnesota, representatives of Working America sought to keep the spotlight on workers. “This roundtable discussion is another way to remind people that the back of this country is the working class and to make sure their voices are heard and that elected officials are working for them,” said Lynne Bolton, a director Working America Twin Cities.
Liz Freeberg, an unemployed Circle Pines yarn saleswoman, said she applied for 45 jobs over six months but snagged only one interview. She didn’t get that job. Her mother is helping to support her and three special-needs kids while her husband finishes nursing school. Freeberg wants more tax credits for local green building projects and insists that the government’s focus has to shift from corporate bailouts to small businesses. “That’s how you stimulate the economy,” she said.
Ekstrand and Freeberg are among the 110,000 Minnesotans who lost jobs since October 2008, bringing the state’s jobless rate to 7. 6 percent. The national unemployment rate hit 10.2 percent in October.
We need policies that extend and expand support for unemployed workers; put people to work rebuilding schools, roads and energy systems; increase aid to state and local governments to maintain vital services like education; put people to work doing work that needs to be done; and put TARP funds to work for Main Street.
And we need to remember working people as the policies get made. This is about people, about their lives and their families, and it’s about how this country values working people and the work they do. It’s not about a series of abstract numbers or about profits for Wall Street.
Tags: jobs, Jobs Summit, unemployment
I watched the Jobs Summit’s opening and closing sessions and the energy panel session. Nothing discussed in that session would assure employment for person over 50. I did not hear any discussion about more forceful laws and enforcement to protect job applicants from age discrimination or to provide older workers with substantial opportunities commensurate with their education and qualifications. The relationship of the Public Option of the health care bill to the employment of older workers did not occur. If insurance companies are disallowed from cherrypicking subscribers, the employers will do the cherrypicking and that is happening now. Unless there is a strong public option will enrollment open to all individuals, or unless the Medicare age is reduced to 50, older workers will face even more difficulty getting a job.
You must sign in or register to post a comment. Registration is free.
I don’t suppose there is anything new about this, but the ruling class, in and out of Congress, is not about to give an equal standard of living to working people. Crumbs off the table is all we can expect. They see us as their servants on the plantation, the slave building the White House, the indentured servant, the person in the background that allows them to shine and show what a great country this is. When they proudly proclaim “freedom” they mean freedom to exploit us. You notice they never say “equality”.
You must sign in or register to post a comment. Registration is free.