Main Street

We Are One: Working America across the country

Yesterday, April 4, as many as 1,000 We Are One events were held across the country, and Working America was at many of them.

Cleveland:

Philadelphia, where Working America’s Kim McMurray was interviewed.

Orlando, Florida, where Heather Russell wore an “I am Working America” t-shirt as she told a local news reporter how she gets by while unemployed:

I need the help and there’s working Americans that need the help. I have a small unemployment check, but I’ve learned how to say no really well to my children. I have four girls and I tell them no, I don’t have $20 for you to go to the movies, no I can’t afford your cap and gown for you to graduate.

Union-led rallies protest governor’s budget and honor MLK: MyFoxORLANDO.com

In Columbus, Ohio, the Ohio State University’s student newspaper wrote:

“Martin Luther King, Jr. stood up for the same rights that are under attack today,” said Jihad Seifullah, Working America organizer. “Senate Bill 5 and other legislation takes those rights away from working families in states such as Indiana, Wisconsin, Michigan and Ohio.”

Keith Mullings, a second-year in theater and communication at Columbus State, was one of the protesters standing in the rain.

“We are fighting for the rights of all working families in the state of Ohio,” he said. “It’s a bill that’s pretty much taking away from the middle class. It’s taking away their basic right to survival.”

Social worker Ken Andrews said he is an avid supporter of unions. His daughter is a first-year in nursing at Ohio State and he said he fears for the future under current leadership.

Working America was also well represented at a large rally in St. Paul, Minnesota and gathered petition signatures in Minneapolis.

Tags: unemployment