Missouri Activists Rally for Jobless

Cathy Sherwin, AFL-CIO Field Communications staffer  in Missouri, sends us this report from St. Louis on yesterday’s Online Day of Solidarity action for jobless workers.

Jobless workers, union members and community activists stood in the freezing cold on Tuesday in St. Louis, joining activists nationwide for a Dec. 7 Day of Action in solidarity with the unemployed.

They urged Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) and the Senate to immediately restore unemployment insurance (UI) for a year for the more than 1 million jobless workers currently without any aid since Senate Republicans blocked action to maintain UI benefits for long-term jobless workers.

Right before leaving for the Thanksgiving holiday, a bill to maintain the unemployment insurance for the long-term jobless was defeated in the House. Missouri Republicans Todd Akin, Roy Blunt, Jo Ann Emerson, Sam Graves and Blaine Luetkemeyer voted to deny this critical lifeline to jobless Missourians.

Yesterday, the White House and congressional Republicans announced a deal to extend all the Bush-era tax cuts, including those for the wealthy, along with a 13-month extension of the UI program for the long-term jobless. But its fate is uncertain. Click here to read AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka’s statement.

Lloyd Schultz, jobless Painters and Allied Trades (IUPAT) member from St. Louis, said:

I can’t wait to go back to work.  Unemployment insurance is the only thing keeping many of us with a roof over our heads and food on the table this winter.

The demonstrators also formed a soup line down along the sidewalk. The Depression-era image of people standing on the streets, in the cold, waiting for a free meal was more than symbolic. If immediate action isn’t taken, millions of jobless workers and their families will literally have no options this winter.

Fifteen million Americans are currently unemployed, with more than 278,000 in Missouri. By the end of December, 2 million people will have lost this critical lifeline unless Congress acts to extend unemployment insurance. Never before has Congress let unemployment benefits expire when this many people have been out of work.

Missouri AFL-CIO President Hugh McVey put it this way:

Time is running out for Congress to take action before massive pain—and even homelessness—hits long-term job-seekers. Our society and our government must not ignore our friends, family and neighbors who are unemployed through no fault of their own.