Jobs and Occupations

It's been over a month since the first Occupy Wall Street protesters took over Zuccotti Park, and the movement continues to grow. The connection between Wall Street's greed and issues like high unemployment are being seen by more and more people every day. Many people have lost their jobs, but they have found occupations!
 
Renew Unemployment Benefits
Millions of hardworking Americans - nearly 2 million in January alone, and over 6 million in 2012 - will be cut off from the emergency lifeline of federal unemployment insurance, unless Congress acts to renew the program before it expires December 31st. Take action now! Also, check out this People's World article on capitalism and unemployment for more on this. And beware of the newest "free trade" agreements (which can all agree are not "free" nor fair) and the jobs at risk due to them.
 
Noteworthy Jobs Bills
Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. has offered his own $804 billion jobs plan that calls on the federal government to hire the nation’s 15 million unemployed Americans for jobs paying roughly $40,000 each, and bail out all the states and cities facing budget crises. And President Obama's American Jobs Act is gathering support. In Connecticut, an online petition supporting the bill gathered over a thousand signatures the first day, as People's World reporter Art Perlo tells us.
 
Occupy Everywhere
Over the past weekend, "millions protested at more than 950 demonstrations in 80 countries," writes John Wojcik in his latest People's World article. The New York Times reports on where the largest demonstrations in the United States occurred over the past weekend. The Occupy Movement shows no signs of slowing down and could be the catalyst for progressive social change that has been so needed in our country for decades.
 
The 1%
We are the 99% - but who are the 1%? Truthout breaks it down for us here and the AFL-CIO does the math and finds out that the tax breaks the top 5% get cost us $11.6 million every hour of every day. That's a lot of job creating resources going down the drain!
 
Please make sure to visit the People's World online for the best in worker's news!             
 
In solidarity,            
 
Scott Marshall
Labor Chair, CPUSA

Source: E-letter from CPUSA