November 2010

After Thanksgiving, 1.2 million Americans will be cut off from their existing unemployment benefits. These benefits have helped keep more than 3.3 million jobless workers and their families out of poverty.  Moreover, before hitting the campaign trail Congress failed to extend the TANF (Temporary Assistance for Needy Families) emergency fund, leaving even more working people out in the cold.  Never before have federal jobless benefits been cut when unemployment levels were so high (9.6%) for so long.

Meanwhile, corporations are raking in record profits, but they still won’t create jobs.

Republicans claim that extending such unemployment benefits and TANF would increase the nation’s deficit, which is ironic given their push to extend the Bush tax cuts for the rich.  But solving the deficit requires taxing the corporations that got us into this mess, not cutting jobs and services for working people.

There are 5 job-seekers for every available opening.  If every single available job in the country were filled tomorrow, there would STILL be 10 million people looking for work.

The unemployment rate hasn’t changed – so why do conservative members of Congress want to change the rules for who can receive unemployment benefits?

Last Thursday, the House of Representatives voted down a measure which would have reauthorized extended unemployment insurance.   If Congress does not act by November 30th, 800,000 people will immediately lose this crucial lifeline.  2 million people will lose their unemployment insurance by the end of the year, and another 1 million in January 2011.

Please take action TODAY to tell Congress: We need help for the unemployed, not tax cuts for the rich!

The long-term unemployed, people who’ve been out of work for more than 26 weeks (about 6.5 months) make up 42% of all jobless workers.  They need this crucial lifeline to help keep a roof over their heads and food on the table.

"Wage theft is a crime" was the theme of a rally and press event on Thursday, Nov. 18th that brought together workers, faith leaders, and community supporters. Held in front of the DC Metropolitan Police Dept. Headquarters, the rally gave workers a chance to speak out about the silent crime of wage theft and to call on the police and DC government to do more to protect workers.

The Union de Trabajadores, with DC Jobs with Justice, Interfaith Worker Justice of Greater Washington, the DC Employment Justice Center, the Washington Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights and other allies have been working for several years to improve the options open to workers to recover wages.  While the DC Wage and Hour office has implemented many of the recommendations from workers, the office still lacks the staff and resources necessary and doesn't have the authority to levy fines or penalties against employers who refuse to pay.

This holiday season, over 2 million Americans will be cut off from their existing unemployment benefits. The TANF Emergency Fund, which subsidized 240,000 jobs for low-income families and youth, has yet to be renewed by Congress.  With the unemployment rate continuing to hover at 9.6%, 5 job-seekers for every available opening, and the number of long-term unemployed continuing to climb, now is not the time to cut programs that help people get by.

But Congress hasn't even scheduled a vote on extending jobless benefits, and conservative leaders have vowed to put their energy for the few remaining weeks of this Congressional session into extending the Bush tax cuts to the wealthy.  The same lawmakers who say our country cannot afford to maintain benefits for the jobless want to extend tax cuts for the rich that will cost the nation more than $700 billion.  There is something seriously wrong with this logic!

CALL NOW AT 1-877-662-2889

For more than two years, the Vermont Workers’ Center/Jobs with Justice, a community-based workers’ rights organization, has been leading a statewide campaign to implement a universal and equitable healthcare system in the state of Vermont, the Healthcare Is a Human Right Campaign.  This campaign won legislation in the 2010 legislative session which commits the state to implementing a new healthcare system which meets the human rights principles of universality, equity, accountability, transparency and participation. Dr. William Hsiao, who designed Taiwan’s single-payer system, is designing three options for the state, one of which will be a single-payer system and all of which must meet the human rights principles.  While there are many struggles ahead to make sure that the state chooses and implements a new plan that actually meets human rights principles, Vermont is certainly headed in the right direction.