Illinois

Responding to the continuing massive jobs deficit, Chicago Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky proposed to create 2 million jobs, introducing the "Emergency Jobs to Restore the American Dream Act."  Surrounded by Chicago JwJ coalition leaders and other groups, Schakowsky declared:

“Unlike the long disproven claims that more tax breaks for wealthy corporations will lead to more employment, I have a bill that will actually work.  How can we guarantee this bill will get 2 million people back to work?  By hiring them!”

The proposal, which could be more than paid for by taxing millionaires or financial speculation, establishes:

1)      School Improvement Corps – Creates 400,000 construction and 250,000 maintenance jobs through new funding to public school districts for needed school rehabilitation improvements ($100 billion)

The stakes keep getting higher!

The massive resistance to corporate-funded politicians and their war on the middle class is making a difference.  Polls show that most Americans are on our side, and momentum is shifting our way – if we can keep up the action.

Click here for more info on buses to Indiana!

Illinois has been providing key support to our neighbors in Wisconsin – but our neighbors in Indiana need our help as well!  Indiana’s Dem legislators are also finding safe haven in Illinois, to prevent ‘right to work’ and other anti-worker bills from being jammed through.  But they are feeling pressure to give in.

Thursday, March 10 will be big mobilizations at the Indiana Statehouse.

Click here if you can “Be There” for our brothers and sisters in Indiana.

Gee … if everybody just gives up looking, we could cut the unemployment rate to zero.

The official unemployment rate dropped to 9.4% -- primarily because 260,000 workers gave up looking and are no longer counted.  Many pundits are spinning the jobs report as positive signs of recovery.  Conservatives, of course, will argue against government action to create jobs, reminding us more than a little of Herbert Hoover promising that “prosperity is just around the corner.”

Back in the real world, community, faith-based, student and labor groups continue to push for Full and Fair Employment, recognizing that there is no such thing as a “jobless recovery,” no matter how happy CEOs are about corporate reserve cash, or that bank bonuses are bigger than ever.

On November 18th, a group of students from University of Illinois-Chicago and University of Illinois-Urbana Champaign gathered at the Board of Trustees meeting in Chicago to voice their concern with the rapidly growing cost of tuition.  After being denied a one-on-one meeting, a student stood up at the end of the Board of Trustees meeting and yelled, “Our concerns haven’t been addressed!”  As other students started to chant “Tuition freeze now!” security guards rushed towards the bandanna-covered students to quiet them down.  As the students refused to budge, the security guards got physical—pushing a student outside.

All over the nation, students are being denied an education because they can’t afford tuition costs.  Student debt has surpassed all other forms of debt, but the Pell Grant will be underfunded by $5.5 billion in the coming year—denying hundreds of thousands of students a right to an education.  As Pell Grants are targeted towards students from low-income families, underfunding is another way to discriminate against students.

The dust has settled on the mid-term elections. The Democrats lost the majority in the House and maintained a majority in the Senate by the hair on their chins. Many states faced similar turnovers in leadership in governor’s races and elections for state legislators.

Jobs with Justice coalitions reflect below on the impact of the elections on working people in their communities:

Chicago Jobs with Justice Director Susan Hurley and two members of their unemployed workers council were part of CNBC’s election night coverage.  Said Hurley, "the people who we deal with who are unemployed are, frankly, terrified, because we know that by the end of December 2010, 3.5 million people are going to be thrown off all existing extensions to unemployment benefits.  These are benefits that whenever they've come before the Congress, Republicans have filibustered."

Tomorrow, Chicago Jobs with Justice Unemployed Workers Council members will call for a federal jobs program and unemployment benefits to be extended at an action aimed at “New Hire” Senator Kirk, "He's Going to Work Immediately; Will We?"

From Central Indiana Jobs with Justice: