Oregon's Strong Voice for the Middle Class

400+ Unemployed Call on Legislators to Pass Job Creation Legislation

  

February 10, 2010

 

  

Well over 400 workers, most unemployed, came to Salem to ask legislators to use the February Legislative Session to help get Oregonians back to work.

  

 

Coming from Eugene, Corvallis, Gresham, Hillsboro and everywhere in between, their message was clear: too many Oregonians are still out of work, and not enough is being done.  They support a three-pronged approach to rebuilding Oregon's economy: first, Oregon's businesses need to be able to create jobs and workers must be able to be hired; second, businesses must be incentivized to create jobs; and finally, new jobs must be good jobs - jobs that pay a decent wage, and that are here to stay.

  

 

"Wall Street may think the recession is over," said AFL-CIO President Tom Chamberlain, "but here in Oregon it's not.  Legislators need to make sure that the job creation legislation before them this session makes it to the governor's desk.  For the hundreds of thousands of unemployed Oregonians there is no other option."

 

 

Chamberlain added that it was up to everyone in the crowd to make sure their legislators know just how important job-creation legislation is.  And that's just what they did.

 

 

After a rally where the crowd of over 400 heard from a fellow unemployed worker, from Tom Chamberlain, and from legislators who support job creation, 75 participants went inside to meet with their legislators.

 

 

"Too many people are unemployed, upset, and don't know where to turn.  They're ready to take action.  Today they were able to get answers to some of their questions, and bring up some important issues that our representatives don't always hear.  But that's not enough.  We need to know that our elected officials heard us by seeing action: we need to see good jobs legislation passed by the end of the session," said Terry Reigle, an Organizer who works with IBEW 48 union members, after the event.

 

 

One participant added "hopefully soon so many of us will be back at work that we won't be able to have a rally this big."  That sentiment was shared by all.

Bookmark and Share

  • Playing Chicken with Our Economic Recovery

    DECEMBER 20th, 2011 | Congress stands at the crossroads of yet another Federal shutdown, the third this year. If we were waiting for a clear indication that we need to more Representatives in Washington who will put working families and the middle class first, this is it. Partisan bickering keeps the real leaders on both sides of the aisle, who are ready to fight for the 99% of us who work for a living, doing their jobs.

  • Breaking Down Wealth Inequality

    NOVEMBER 30th, 2011 | Occupy Wall Street has rippled across the country leaving a wake of activism and protest in nearly every state and wide-scale demonstrations teeming in over 20 major North American cities. The message is clear: we are the 99%. We work the jobs, we pay the bills and we’re tired of the 1% keeping all of the profits.