Put America to Work Campaign: August 2012

Monday, August 27, 2012

National Organizations Endorse HR 4277!

Three resolutions featuring HR 4277 and related jobs legislation have been passed by national organizations in the last several months, including AFSCME, the Labor Council for Latin American Advancement, and the National Organization for Women!!

See below for the text of the resolutions.

Help build momentum for HR 4277 and a national jobs program by passing a resolution in your religious, labor, civic or community organization, or passing a local resolution in your city, county or state legislature!

And, please let us know if you do suceed in passing a resolution, so we can keep track of endorsements and list them on this web site.

Much thanks and appreciation to Ed Rosario of LCLAA for his help in advancing the resolutions at AFSCME and LCLAA, and to our good friends at National Organization for Women for speaking out so clearly on the jobs crisis and the benefits of HR 4277.

Recently Passed Resolutions that Feature HR 4277

AFSCME 2012 Convention Amended Jobs Resolution -- passed at 40th International Convention, 6/18-22/12, Los Angeles, CA

Labor Council for Latin American Advancement (LCLAA) Resolution -- passed at National Confereence, 7/26-28/12, Orlando, FL

National Organization For Women (NOW) Resolution -- passed at National Conference, Baltimore, MD 7/1/12
Draft New York City Resolution in Support of HR 870/HR 4277 (pending)

Other resources for passing local jobs resolutions:

Local Jobs Resolution Toolkit, from Cities for Progress

The text of the AFSCME Resolution follows below:

40^th INTERNATIONAL CONVENTION

LOS ANGELES CONVENTION CENTER June 18 – 22, 2012

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA

AFSCME Support for Federal Jobs Acts

1. WHEREAS:

2. There is a jobs crisis in which mass unemployment continues to take its toll. At any given time during the Great Recession and its aftermath in the United States about 14 – 15 million people are officially unemployed (forced to work part-time or want a job but are not looking often because they can’t find one). 16 – 18 million full-time workers earn less than the poverty level. That means about 44 million people and their families are casualties of the jobs crisis; and

3. WHEREAS:

4. Even before the Great Recession, millions were unemployed, underemployed and underpaid; and

5. WHEREAS:

6. America’s roads need repair, our bridges are eroding, our children need more teachers, parents lack affordable childcare, seniors lack elder care, millions lack adequate healthcare, affordable housing is under siege, and we must green our economy; and

7. WHEREAS:

8. All of these needs can and should be met by the federal government; and

9. WHEREAS:

10. This was done during the Great Depression of the 1930’s when Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal put millions of the unemployed to work doing useful jobs that have made a lasting contribution to our nation – roads, bridges, schools, libraries, housing, parks, arts, culture and much more; and

11. WHEREAS:

12. The labor movement and all its affiliates and supporters need to support the passage of legislation that guarantees a living-wage job to all who want one. Steps in that direction are: 1. HR 4277 (Rep. John Conyers, D-MI) The Humphrey-Hawkins 21^st Century Full Employment and Training Act – would create a national jobs program, including 2.6 to 3.9 million jobs over the first two years, in affordable housing, neighborhood rehabilitation, energy conservation and weatherization, infrastructure repair, education, and human services; 2. The Emergency Jobs to Restore the American Dream Act – HR 2914 (Rep. Jan Schakowsky, D-IL) would create, 2.2 million public service jobs in school construction and maintenance, park improvement and restoration, education, child care, law enforcement, health care, energy conservation, and affordable housing; 3. The National Infrastructure Development Bank Act of 2011 HR 402 (Rep. Rosa DeLauro D-Con.) establishes a National Infrastructure Development Bank, an independent body designed to evaluate and finance infrastructure projects of substantial regional and national significance. (A similar bill, S-652, the Senate BUILD Act introduced by Sen. John Kerry would establish an American Infrastructure Financing Authority - AIFA); 4. S. 2252, the Rebuild America Act, introduced by Sen. Tom Harkin in March, a comprehensive bill to invest in roads, bridges and schools, raise the minimum wage, and reform trade policies and the tax code; and

13. WHEREAS:

14. Privatization, deregulation and outsourcing are tools for unionbusting and a major source of job loss; and

15. WHEREAS:

16. Legislation is needed to create jobs and we need to organize and demand for it now!

17. THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED:

18. The AFSMCE 40^th International Convention being held at Los Angeles, CA – June 18 – 22, 2012, endorse, lobby and mobilize for the passage of the Humphrey-Hawkins 21^st Century Full Employment and Training Act, the Emergency Jobs to Restore the American Dream Act and the National Infrastructure Development Bank Act of 2011, the BUILD Act, and the Rebuild America Act; and

19. THEREFORE BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED:

20. AFSCME urge all its affiliates and friends of labor to endorse, lobby and mobilize for the passage of the Humphrey-Hawkins 21^st Century Full Employment and Training Act, the Emergency Jobs to Restore the American Dream Act and the National Infrastructure Development Bank Act of 2011, the BUILD Act, and the Rebuild America Act; and

21. THEREFORE BE IT FINALLY RESOLVED:

22. That AFSCME and all its affiliates mobilize against all schemes that embrace the privatization, deregulation and outsourcing of jobs and in support of legislation that would employ millions of jobless workers here in the United States at decent pay and for the improvement of the quality of life through repair and expansion of our physical and social infrastructure.

SUBMITTED BY; Behrouz Fathi, President and Delegate

Frank G. Thomas, Executive Chair and Delegate

AFSMCE Council 37

Local 375, The Civil Service Technical Guild

New York, New York

How Did Congress Vote on Jobs Issues?

In the national media, a lot of attention is being given to the Presidential race between President Obama and Mitt Romney.

But when voters go to the polls, they will also need to assess whether Congress has been doing enough to enact legislation to create jobs. Many members of Congress have staunchly opposed the American Jobs Act proposed by President Obama, and other legislation to create jobs by investing in infrastructure and public services.

How can voters find out how their member of Congress voted on jobs legislation, and other matters that affect labor rights?

Three resources for looking up Congressional Voting Records on Jobs Issues are:

AFL-CIO Scorecard (2012 and prior years)

SEIU.org Key Votes

UFCW Congressional Scorecard

Friday, August 10, 2012

Workers Stand for America -- Mass Mobilization In Philadelphia

From: WorkersStandForAmerica.com

Join Us in Philly!

11 a.m. Saturday, August 11, 2012

Eakins Oval
26th Street and the Benjamin Franklin Parkway
Philadelphia, PA 19130

NEW: LIVE DIGITAL COVERAGE ON AUGUST 11TH... (click for more info)

America's Second Bill of Rights

We the People want to strengthen our nation, as a beacon of equality, economic opportunity and freedom for all. We hold these rights to be essential to our vision of America and believe that the principles contained therein should guide our government, business leaders, organizations and individuals in our common goal of a just and fair society.

The Right to Full Employment and a Living Wage:

All Americans willing and able to work have the right to safe, gainful employment at a fair and livable wage. We call on the public and private sectors to invest in America’s infrastructure and promote industrial development, maintaining job creation as a top policy priority.

The Right to Full Participation in the Electoral Process:

Recent initiatives to disenfranchise citizens seek to reduce the rolls of eligible voters and empower money instead of people. We believe these actions constitute an assault on our nation’s democracy and history of heroic struggle against voting restrictions based upon property ownership, religion, race and gender and call for reinforcing our fundamental right to vote.

The Right to a Voice at Work:

All workers have the right of freedom of association in the workplace, including the right to collectively bargain with their employer to improve wages, benefits and working conditions.

The Right to a Quality Education:

Education is a fundamental bedrock of our democracy, vital to America’s competitive position in the world and the principal means by which citizens empower themselves to participate in our nation's economic and political systems. Quality, affordable education should be universally available from pre-kindergarten to college level, including an expanded use of apprenticeships and specialty skills training to prepare Americans for the workplace.

The Right to a Secure, Healthy Future:

Americans have the right to a baseline level of health care, unemployment insurance and retirement security, all of which have been badly eroded by the disruption of the social compact that served the nation well for decades. We call on government and private industry together to confront the issues of declining access to health care especially for children, weakening of unemployment coverage, and inadequate pension plans that undermine the ability of working men and women to retire in dignity, even as Social Security and Medicare are under strain and threatened with cutbacks.

Endorse the Second Bill of Rights at WorkersStandForAmerica.com

Click to Download the "Bill of Rights"in Printable PDF format

Click to Download the "Sign-up Sheet" in Printable PDF format

Other Priority Federal Job Creation Legislation

In addition to HR 1000, there are several other very important job creation bills pending in Congress. Some of these bills may be reintroduced in the next legislative session. The Put America to Work Campaign thanks the sponsors of these bills for their vision and leadership.

HR 1617 – Emergency Jobs to Restore the American Dream Act

Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) and 19 cosponsors have introduced HR 1617, which would create over 2 million jobs over two years. These jobs would include public service jobs to implement energy audit programs and retrofits, improve public parks, renovate schools and housing, and expand childcare and early education .HR 1617 would cost $227 billion over two years and is fully paid for through separate legislation that creates higher tax brackets for millionaires and billionaires, eliminates subsidies for Big Oil, and closes loopholes for corporations that ship American jobs overseas.

HR 2553 – National Infrastructure Bank Act

Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) has introduced the National Infrastructure Bank Act, with 103 cosponsors. The bill would create and fund a public bank to leverage private and public capital to support infrastructure projects of national and regional significance, including transportation, environment, energy, telecommunications and water projects.The bank would have a major emphasis in fundingenvironmental infrastructure projects such as enhancing clean water; energy and electric infrastructure projects, and is supported by the Blue-Green Alliance, the United Steelworkers and Utility Workers of America.

HR 188 -- The 21st Century Civilian Conservation Corps Act

Rep. Marcy Kaptur and 2 cosponsors have introduced HR 188, which would establish a Civilian Conservation Corps to employ unemployed or underemployed U.S. citizens in the construction, maintenance, and carrying on of works of a public nature, such as forestation of U.S. and state lands, prevention of forest fires, floods, and soil erosion, and construction and repair of National Park System paths and trails. The bill would be funded at a level of $16 billion a year from fiscal year 2014 through fiscal year 2017.

You can help!! Support these bills and urge others to do so.Pass a resolution supporting these bills in your union, Labor Council, community organization or city council. Visit www.PutAmericaToWork.net for more information about the bills, related federal legislation, and sample resolutions.

HR 1000: The Humphrey-Hawkins 21st Century Full Employment and Training Act

HR 1000, a revised version of HR 870 and HR 4277 introduced in previous sessions of Congress, was reintroduced by Rep. John Conyers (D-MI) on March 6, 2013. This transformative federal legislation would create a national public service jobs program to complement job creation efforts in the private and nonprofit sectors. Most notably, the bill "aims to provide a job to any American that seeks work, and to ultimately, create a full employment society."

HR 1000 creates a national "Full Employment and Training Trust Fund," funded by a small Financial Transactions Tax on stock, bond and derivatives transactions. This would create a major new national funding source large enough to create 2.5 to 4 million jobs in the first two years of the program. The bill would also provide much additional funding to support innovative job training programs, such as one-stop career centers, YouthBuild and Job Corps, among others.

Click here for more info

Pass a Local Resolution in Support of HR 1000!

Help build momentum for a national jobs program by passing a local resolution in your city, county or state legislature!

See here for a sample resolution:

Draft New York City Resolution in Support of HR 870/HR 4277 (previous version of HR 1000 -pending)

Recently Passed Resolutions

AFSCME 2012 Convention Amended Jobs Resolution -- passed at 40th International Convention, 6/18-22/12, Los Angeles, CA

Labor Council for Latin American Advancement (LCLAA) Resolution -- passed at National Confereence, 7/26-28/12, Orlando, FL

National Organization For Women (NOW) Resolution -- passed at National Conference, Baltimore, MD 7/1/12

Other resources for passing local jobs resolutions:

Local Jobs Resolution Toolkit, from Cities for Progress

Put America to Work!!

The Put America to Work Campaign seeks to organize a strong national social movement to guarantee a right to a living wage job for every person who wants one.

As part of our work, we strongly support the Humphrey Hawkins 21st Century Full Employment and Training Act (HR 870), which aims to create millions of jobs for unemployed workers and move the US towards a full employment society.

The bill establishes a National Full Employment Trust Fund to fund an innovative direct job creation program. The Trust Fund will pay for new jobs on Main Street by raising new revenue through a small, targeted tax on Wall Street stock, options, futures, swaps and credit default swap transactions.

This campaign is a project of the National Jobs For All Coalition, which is working to build a new movement for full employment at liveable wages. For more info, visit: www.NJFAC.org

About the Campaign

The Put America to Work Campaign is a national grassroots citizens' campaign to pass comprehensive federal job creation legislation, achieve full employment and secure the right to a living wage job for every person in the U.S. who wants one.

Our current strategic focus to build national support for HR 1000, the Humphrey Hawkins 21st Century Full Employment and Training Act, introduced by Rep. John Conyers (D-MI). To mobilize support for the bill, we will be conducting a national program of community forums and teach-ins to educate policymakers and citizens about the jobs crisis and the need for massive public investment to improve our infrastructure, human services and social safety net.

We seek to put a human face on unemployment, underemployment, financial insecurity and economic distress. Our goal is to build a powerful national social movement that harnesses the voices of ordinary Americans and community organizations to permanently improve the economic rights for people who live in this country, including the right to a job, the right to a decent education, the right to health care and the right to income and retirement security.

In taking on this challenge, we want to create a more compassionate and solidaristic economy, where the public interest and the common welfare are valued, and people from all walks of life join together to reduce and eliminate poverty and chronic unemployment. Whether we have a good job or we are unemployed, we have a huge stake in each other's well-being. The problems of unemployment, poor wages and poverty are not just the problems of the unemployed and the poor -- they are the problems of all of us. We have all seen corporations abruptly eliminate and shed jobs of highly-paid workers when it suits them to do so. The economic security of workers-at-large will be greatly improved by ensuring that everyone who wants to work has the right and opportunity to do so.

To that end, we seek to inspire a much high level of public awareness and civic engagement about solving the serious, long-standing and chronic problems of unemployment, underemployment and poverty in the U.S. Even in relatively good times, tens of millions of Americans have continued to suffer with inadequate job opportunities and low wages. The fight for full employment and economic justice must go to the top of the national agenda, and stay there until all Americans have the economic right to a decent job and livelihood.

The Put America to Work Campaign is a project of the National Jobs for All Coalition, a national organization based in New York that advocates for full employment and living wage jobs for all. Contributions to NJFAC are tax-deductible and we welcome financial and volunteer contributions in support of the campaign. To join the campaign and endorse HR 1000, or request more information, please fill out our contact form.