CPUSA: Kill Bill: The GOP vs. Workers

Last week we focused on how the GOP has been doing everything they can to keep President Obama from having a second term - including stifling the economy and job creation.  This week, we'll give you a few ways to fight back, as well as inform you to what's new in the struggle for the unemployed.

Pass the Highway Bill!

Take Action to pass the highway bill and invest in our nation’s crumbling roads and bridges. We can’t wait any longer! The current law runs out on June 30. The country needs a long-term solution before the deadline. Unemployment in construction requires the passage of the bill, which employs hundreds of thousands of workers in the construction sector.

The Human Face of Unemployment

The Great Recession is the first in modern history where the public sector has shrunk, which has prolonged the recovery as well as kept unemployment figures high. States all around the country are laying off public workers at a very high rate, which continues this vicious cycle. Last year, writer and documentary filmmaker D.W. Gibson spent months journeying across the U.S. to talk to people who have lost their jobs. The result is the new book Not Working, published by OR Books, which finally gives the unemployed a chance to speak out.

Action for Jobs

From the People's World: A spirited march of 150 youth and adult supporters stopped New Haven, CT, traffic to honks of support on Saturday as they made their way from a closed youth center to City Hall. They called for jobs and an end to violence. Speaking of jobs - have you signed our petition for the Rebuild America Act? How about helping the momentum and posting it to your Facebook wall, too? Every person signing brings us a bit closer to passing this needed jobs bill.

In solidarity,            

Scott Marshall

Labor Chair, CPUSA

Source: CPUSA

CPUSA: Is the GOP Sabotaging Recovery?

The elephant in the room - is it the bad economy, or the party of elephants who are trying to keep it that way? There is a lot of evidence that the GOP is doing all it can to undermine job creation and economic recovery to make Obama a one-term president. In this week's newsletter we'll show you how they're doing it and some ways to help turn things around.

Problems & Solutions

There is a lot of bad news for working people these days: only 69,000 jobs were added in May, while the unemployment rate inched higher to 8.2%; US median net worth is down by nearly 40 percent; the number of long-term unemployed swelled last month from 5.1 million to 5.4 million... the list goes on and on.

Why is the Great Recession lasting longer than any other crisis since the Great Depression? Many are starting to believe the Republicans deliberately crashed the US economy - a poll by Public Policy Polling shows 49% believe Republicans are deliberately hamstringing efforts to resuscitate the economy in order to bolster their chances of defeating President Barack Obama. And starting last year in Wisconsin, and continuing last week with Romney, Republicans are attacking public workers and rejecting the economic answer to the recession - public sector jobs.

So, where do we go from here? Obviously, we need to create jobs here and stop offshoring them. Another measure that would help is to raise the minimum wage, and stop preventing workers from getting unemployment benefits. Take action to help on all of these fronts:

Raise the Minimum Wage, Create Jobs, Stop Offshoring, and Protect Unemployment

·         Raise the minimum wage with H.R. 5901, which would raise the Federal minimum wage to $10/hour and index future increases to such wage to increases in the consumer price index. ( More info.)

·         Sign our petition for the Rebuild American Act to create jobs and fund retraining.

·         Tell Congress to support the US Call Center Worker and Consumer Protection Bill.

·         Stop the removal of unemployment benefits for contracted school workers across Georgia.

Working together, we can make win these fights!

More News of Interest for Working People

·         Native Americans left out of economic recovery, as always - from the People's World

·         HS Graduates Employment Status 'Bleak' - In a rough economy, what happens to the youth?

·         DOL app contest to improve employment for people with disabilities - $10,000 in cash prizes to help build innovative tools to improve employment opportunities and outcomes for people with disabilities.

In solidarity,             

Scott Marshall

Labor Chair, CPUSA

Source: e-letter from CPUSA

GOV. GARY JOHNSON ON MAY JOBLESS NUMBERS: GOVERNMENT KILLING JOBS

Note: Gary Johnson holding a Money Bomb to commemorate his climbing Mt. Everest.  He will also be interviewed on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.

Santa Fe, NM – Saying the May jobless numbers released Friday are “no surprise, given Washington’s refusal to cut spending and get out of the way of growth,” Libertarian presidential nominee and former New Mexico Governor Gary Johnson today called on Congress and President Obama to “take a break from the campaigning and deal with the fact that the federal government’s bankruptcy is killing American jobs.”

In a statement, Johnson said, “How many more Americans need to lose jobs, give up on finding jobs, or accept being under-employed for Washington to stop wringing their hands and do what obviously needs to be done: Cut government spending in a truly meaningful way, get the feds out of the way of growth, and fix a tax code that does all the wrong things?

“May’s reported 8.2% unemployment rate, while a disturbing number, does not reflect the real job crisis. Outside the Beltway, everyone knows the real jobless rate is much higher, with hundreds of thousands of Americans either giving up their job searches or having to settle for less than they need to support themselves and their families. We have been stimulated to death, with some in Washington calling for even more stimulus. Last year’s budget ‘deal’ that was supposed to cut spending has turned into a massive charade, and we have a level of federal debt that is rapidly heading to Greece-like levels.

“This crisis can be fixed. Imagine an economy where the government is not sucking more than a trillion dollars per year out of the private economy with its reckless deficit spending. Imagine a tax system in which employers and individuals alike pay zero taxes on income. And imagine an environment in which government regulators don’t wake up every day with new ways to kill jobs with unnecessary intrusions into the marketplace.

“With the right leadership and the courage to truly get government and its debt off the back of our real job creators – the private sector – we could see tens of millions of jobs created virtually overnight. Yet, Washington refuses to take the only steps government can take that will actually let America get back to work.”

During Gary Johnson’s two terms as governor of New Mexico, the state added more than 20,000 new private sector jobs, state government payroll was reduced by 1,200 workers, and taxes were reduced 14 times.

The Rebuild America Act

The first thing we need you to do is sign this petition. It's for the Rebuild America Act that we initiated last week. There are 4,500 people who receive this weekly email, and even if just 10% of you sign that will bring us to 450 voices for these jobs bills (Harkin in the Senate, DeLauro in the House). Please help out - and tell your friends!

GOP Job Solutions Mean More Poverty, Fewer Jobs

Republicans across the country are pushing to cut unemployment benefits. As a result, we see more anxiety amongst workers who are unemployed for longer and longer periods of time - especially amongst older workers. But what would happen to the poverty rates and smalls businesses if the GOP get their way and unemployment benefits are cut?  Read this article to find out.

Latest News on Jobs from the People's World

To start off, how reforming Wall Street is a job for the American people; in Massachusetts: job creation up, unemployment down; and from Latina moms in Chicago: "Young people dying all around us because there are no jobs, because of poverty, injustice, foreclosures, lack of immigrant rights - but I'm done crying about it."

Remember to take action on our jobs bill petition!

In solidarity,            

Scott Marshall

Labor Chair, CPUSA

Source: CPUSA e-letter

CPUSA: The Why's, What's and Who's of Long-Term Unemployment

This week we look at the several aspects of long-term unemployment - contributing factors, who it effects and how. Also, some analysis of the election results in France and Greece as they pertain to austerity. And, some hope for job creation in Connecticut and from the labor movement.

All About Long-Term Unemployment

We know the Great Recession has been going on far too long already, and some of its casualties are people who have been unemployed for a year or even a few years. Ezra Klein writes about the psychological scars of unemployment in a recent blog post, which links to a helpful article detailing who the long-term unemployed are.

The GOP Response to Long-Term Unemployment

In short, the answer to those who want work is the trite and offensive, "get a job." That's what Republican Gov. Paul LePage of Maine said on Sunday. The GOP thinks that austerity is the way to go, but as the above chart (from this episode of The Rachel Maddow Show) illustrates, negative growth of the public sector is not helping workers recover from the Great Recession. France and Greece have learned this lesson, as pointed out by John Wojcik in the People's World and Paul Krugman in the New York Times.

Labor and the People's Fightback

In a recent People's World article, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka reminds us that Bush lost U.S. jobs during a good economy. Obama has created jobs during the disastrous economy he inherited - in spite of the fact that the Republicans in Congress have blocked nearly all efforts to create jobs. Meanwhile, in Connecticut, 2,000 marched in New Haven for jobs. And finally, something penned by yours truly on the Labor fightback during the Great Recession.

In solidarity,             

Scott Marshall

Labor Chair, CPUSA

Source: e-letter from CPUSA