As Poverty Rate Jumps, Jobs With Justice, PDA Highlight Jobs Emergency in 100 Cities

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from In These Times:




As Poverty Rate Jumps, Jobs With Justice, PDA Highlight Jobs Emergency in 100 Cities

Thursday
September 16
3:51 pm

By Art Levine


The Census Bureau reported today that over 43 million Americans are living in poverty —the most recorded in 50 years and the highest rate since 1994. So that added urgency to the efforts of progressive activists, led by Jobs With Justice (JWJ) and Progressive Democrats of America, in organizing mostly small-scale protests in 100 cities yesterday to prod political leaders to do more to respond to the jobs crisis.

"When Wall Street was in crisis, Congress found hundreds of billions of dollars to bail them out. We need to respond to the jobs crisis with the same urgency," says Sarita Gupta, the director of Jobs With Justice, a group of local labor, faith and activist coalitions involving 1500 organizations in 47 localities (hat tip to Center for Media and Democracy).

There's at least one important jobs bill that realistically could get still get passed in this Congress: the Temporary Assistance to Needy Families emergency fund through which 37 states have provided subsidized jobs for nearly 250,000 otherwise unemployed parents and youth. The bill has passed the House, but it has been, predictably, held up in the Senate despite support from small-businesses, and even state and local Republican officials. "We hope we can make a difference about what some local politicians do about the TANF funds that are about to run out ," observes JWJ communications coordinator Allison Fletcher Acosta.

In Chicago, roughly 300 unemployed people and labor activists rallied outside the GOP headquarters to protest the jobs voting record of the GOP's Senate candidate, Rep. Mark Kirk, in one of the country's tightest races. Led by the Chicago Jobs with Justice's Unemployed Workers Council, the activists united to demand immediate action to create jobs. "We need jobs and until we get them of course we need unemployment benefits. Mark Kirk is voting against both", said Carole Ramsden, an unemployed union electrician and member of the Chicago JwJ Unemployed Workers Council. ...........(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.inthesetimes.com/working/entry/6452/as_poverty_rate_jumps_jobs_with_justice_pda_highlight_jobs_emergency_i/