This is a jobs emergency

IN CITIES across the country, activists turned out for local events called as part of a national Jobs Emergency Day of Action on September 15 organized by Jobs with Justice.

In Chicago, "We want jobs!" was the message sent loud and clear to the Illinois Republican Party Headquarters, as about 250 unemployed, community, religious and union activists showed up to protest Republican Rep. Mark Kirk's bad voting record for working families.

Kirk, who is running for Senate, agreed to support legislation to aid state and local governments to prevent the layoff of firefighters, police, teachers and other public workers--and then voted against it while supporting tax cuts for the rich.

"Thirteen hundred teachers have been laid off in Chicago, put on unemployment, their houses and cars being taken, and what do we have? Mark Kirk is up there hiding! Come on down Kirk!" shouted John Kugler of the Chicago Teachers Union. Pastor Michael Stinson of the General Assembly Church of the First Born said, "We know what the solution is. We need a federal jobs program, Mr. Kirk."

At the same time, the choice to hold the protest at Republican Party headquarters was symbolic of the organizers' reluctance to hold the Democrats responsible for the lack of government action on jobs--even though Barack Obama is president and the Democrats have had big majorities in both houses of Congress for the past 18 months.

Lorraine Mora-Chavez, a laid-off research associate from DePaul University and an activist in the Jobs with Justice Chicago Unemployed Workers Council, addressed the plight of the unemployed. "The failure of the government to extend unemployment benefits in a sane way has caused more havoc," she said.

Carole Ramsden, a laid off-union electrician, said about the Tea Party and their Republican backers: "The amount of contempt they have for us makes me want to scream."

Ramsden pointed out the hypocrisy of the politicians of both parties compolaining about the deficit, yet supporting two wars, bank bailouts and tax cuts for the rich. She reiterated the demand for a 1930s-style Works Progress Administration program. "I say no to bank bailouts and tax cuts for the rich. And yes to a real federal jobs program," she said.

In Springfield, Mass., where the unemployment rate stands at 14 percent, about 80 people participated in the March for Good Jobs organized by the Western Mass Jobs with Justice.

Protesters marched and then gathered at a rally where speakers addressed the crowd. Ron James of Arise for Social Justice stated, "We want jobs for everyone. We want good paying jobs. We want union jobs!"

Months back, as the year's hottest days approached, Barack Obama promised a "Summer of Recovery." Now, as the heat wanes, so do illusions of economic relief.

Just two days before the march, mega-billionaire investor Warren Buffett assured the press: "We will not have a double-dip recession at all." When asked to comment on this claim, one protester said, "The bosses will hype up anything. It doesn't cost them a penny. They make these statements, trying to fool people into believing the world is fine."

Several marchers said they felt abandoned by both Republicans and Democrats, who have done little to relieve the 15 million jobless Americans. Activists here are pushing for a new Local Jobs for America Act, but several people said that this measure doesn't go far enough. Don James noted that the bill will provide less than one-tenth of the needed jobs for the country's unemployed.

As part of the rally, a skit was performed in which demonstrators portrayed CEOs who kept the country hostage through student and home loans, benefited from war and restored company profits by laying off millions of workers.

Ron James told the crowd, "The corporations are selling us down river. Now what we need is a party. We don't need a Republican Party. We don't need a Democratic Party. And we sure don't need a Tea Party. What we need today is an Us Party!"

Big business has received hundreds of billions of dollars of our money to stay afloat, and now they should be considered in debt to every American. It's now up to workers to demand what's owed to them.