1,000 demand “Good Jobs Now” at Progressive Caucus speakout

[Omaha Steve]

http://peoplesworld.org/1-000-demand-good-jobs-now-at-progressive-caucus-speakout/

by: Tim Wheeler
July 23 2011



SEATTLE - People lined up at microphones at a July 23 "speak out" here to demand that Congress stop kowtowing to the corporations and do what voters elected them to do: create good jobs at a living wage.

More than 1,000 people, men and women, young and old, of many races and nationalities, packed the Brockey Center on the campus of South Seattle Community College for the "Speak Out for Good Jobs Now." It is one of a series of hearings across the nation sponsored by the 81-member House Progressive Caucus.

Listening to the often angry testimony was Rep. Jim McDermott, D-Wash., a leading member of the Progressive Caucus who told the crowd, "What is needed is citizen action....You have the power to organize," he said.

Deborah Osborn, wearing her purple SEIU T-shirt told the hearing she has two college degrees and is a certified nursing assistant. Her husband, also a college graduate, has been unemployed for a year. Yet the longstanding "social contract" promises that a college degree is the path to "financial success."

She added, "The wage I am currently receiving is a little more than the minimum wage. Every waking moment we worry about every dollar and every mortgage payment. We kept our part of the contract. Where are the good jobs?"

Jonathan Bernal Garcia, a senior at Chief Sealth High School decried the lack of good jobs for youth when they graduate from high school or college. "Please stand with us by enacting laws that are just, humane, and fair," said Garcia, a member of "One America." The crowd erupted in applause.

FULL story at link.