Demonstrators Press for Action on Jobs Emergency

Thousands of Jobs with Justice activists and community allies hit the streets in more than 100 cities across the nation September 15 to warn of a “Jobs Emergency.” Their warning: “If Congress won’t act to create jobs, then maybe they don’t deserve to have jobs.”

In central Florida, JwJ staged a die-in outside the office of Senator George LeMieux. The action was meant to represent the state of the economy, said Yesenia Garcia of the Student Labor Action Project (SLAP), which is affiliated with JwJ.

And so like our economy, the activists dropped dead in front of LeMieux’s office.

Dead workers (bullhorn in hand) then rose like zombies, and after minor resistance from a staffer in a suit, they were escorted to the senator’s office, where they delivered their message, in the form of several headstones, to his secretary.

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In Philadelphia 100 activists held an energetic rally in front of the Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce.

Activists from Temple SLAP, the NAACP, Philadelphia Unemployment Project, AFSCME District Council 47, Media Mobilization Project, UNITE HERE, the Philadelphia One Nation Organizing Committee, the nurses union PASNAP, Neighborhood Networks, and the Teachers union were out in force to demand protection of public services, an end to tax breaks for big business, and adoption of national pro-worker legislation, especially the Local Jobs for America Act, which aims to save or create 1 million jobs, mostly in the public sector.

“Big business in Philadelphia has been getting gross receipts tax breaks every year since 1996, over the course of two major recessions,” said Philadelphia JwJ director Gwen Snyder. “Meanwhile, unemployment in the city is at 11.9 percent. We need big corporations to pay their fair share and start hiring again.”