Invest in Infrastructure; Invest in Us

By Nate Jackson When a puddle pulls down a power pole, we’ve got problems.

On 15th Ave in the Capitol Hill neighborhood of Seattle, a power pole finally fell to the ground after what neighbors called a “perma-puddle” eroded its core.

The pole literally rotted from the inside out. Even though inspections supposedly happen on a routine basis, the pole plummeted. Luckily, no one was hurt, but this pole problem shows how far politicians have let our infrastructure sink.

When something as basic as a power line falls to the ground because of a puddle, we have work that needs doing--and we need the work.

Infrastructure is the backbone of any working economy. It’s workers building roads, bridges, water-treatment plants and monitoring power lines. It’s teachers educating our kids and health care workers providing quality healthcare to their patients. When infrastructure is built, repaired and maintained we build a stronger, fairer economy where people have good jobs and a better future.

State, federal and local politicians have not invested in the work that is necessary for our everyday lives. They’ve allowed schools to crumble, roads to shred and hospitals to kick out patients because they’ve decided that banks and CEOs deserve tax handouts more than funding these good jobs and services we need. That’s not right and we should show them where their priorities should be.

There is so much work to be done, but they slip under the radar. We’ve all seen rusted swing sets and cracked pavement. We’ve seen potholes, homeless camping on the sides of freeways, foreclosed homes, overcrowded unemployment offices and patients denied because the hours of hospital staff have been cut. Let’s shine a light on these problems. We can tell our elected officials about the work that needs doing by snapping a photo and telling the story.

We need to rebuild this economy and the best way to do it is for us to get back to work. There is work that is needed and we have the skills to do that work. What we need is for politicians and greedy CEOs to stop scratching each other’s backs and instead invest in the real “engine of economic growth”--the workers.

No more power poles crashing to the ground. No more bonuses. No more tax cuts. Invest in our bridges, roads and schools. Invest in good jobs.

Bridges to jobs and a Better Future

by Anne Martens

Holding a banner reading “Build Bridges” in front of the failing Evergreen Point bridge (SR 520), dozens of Working Washington members joined construction workers from the Seattle Building Trades to send a clear and simple message to our elected officials: it’s time to create good jobs by investing in infrastructure.

See the Bridge Action on KOMO.

Our bridge-building event came on the same day as President Obama spoke from a bridge in Ohio to push for the infrastructure investments that are a key part of the American Jobs Act he has proposed to Congress. This would invest an estimated $741 million and create an estimated 9,600 jobs in Washington state alone — jobs that we desperately need, to fix structures that desperately need fixing.

Click here to get sign up for our next bridge action

The members of the building trades who joined Working Washington on Thursday represent the men and women who weld the steel, lay the concrete, and do all the other work that builds our roads & bridges and keeps them safe. But because banks and corporations have drastically cut back their investment in making things, construction workers have been especially hard hit by the bad economy. In many trades, unemployment rates have jumped into the double digits, as good jobs that paid enough to raise a family have simply disappeared.

And yet everywhere you turn, you see broken bridges, unsafe roads, and other infrastructure--schools, hospitals, parks and libraries--that are falling apart. In fact, a recent national report shows that there are a staggering 69,000 bridges across the country which have been deemed structurally deficient by the Federal Highway Administration. This includes the SR 520 bridge where we stood yesterday, and hundreds more across Washington State.

The economy isn’t getting any better on its own, and the big banks and corporations aren’t doing much to help. That’s why we need our elected officials to step up and take action to create the good jobs we need.

There’s work to be done. There’s people to do the work. Let’s tell our elected officials to make it happen: get us to work building bridges.

Not So Sunny in Suncadia

CEOs Hide From Working Families

by Nate Jackson

Cle Elum, Wash.—Waving American flags, over 150 Washingtonians greeted CEOs and business leaders as they sped into the swanky Suncadia resort on Wednesday, avoiding eye contact. They didn’t want to face up to the fact that their bottom-line-only decisions hurt working families.

Those rich CEOs were out in rural Washington to attend the annual meeting of the Association of Washington Businesses. We crashed their party because the business leaders were discussing how they were going to get more money from working families while avoiding taxes, stripping workers’ rights and focusing only on the bottom line.

They had a selfish agenda, but we have our own ideas on how to make this economy work again. It’s simple:  working families need good jobs and respect.

Truck drivers, janitorial workers, land maintenance crew and other workers who were on their way to work at Suncadia honked and waved in support. Even the sheriffs that barred our way told us they were on our side. They knew that the decisions being made behind closed doors would hurt them.

We don’t want to keep hurting. We’ve taken enough hits. We’ve sacrificed every time they cut budgets, laid us off or ship our jobs overseas. It’s time we, the working people, set the agenda.

What we want are good jobs, fair treatment and a seat at the table when decisions about our economic future are being decided. Working people are the ones who create the wealth and we want to see that hard work rewarded with full time work, good American benefits and a voice in real decision making.

Governor Chris Gregoire was in attendance to give a “pretty please with sugar on top” speech to the CEOs and business leaders who broke our economy. The governor snuck into Suncadia around us, ignoring the people she should be talking to, and then sent out a staffer to parrot talking points.

The staffer talked about shared sacrifice, everyone doing their part and some other claptrap we’ve heard over and over again, but he never answered our real questions. “Will the governor make corporations and CEOs pay taxes?  Will she close tax loopholes that are bankrupting our economy?” we asked. He stuck to his rehearsed statements and we sent him on his way.

We wanted to hear something true, so we shared our own stories of how the greedy CEOs have lost all credibility. They couldn’t be trusted with such important decisions.

Dixie Mitchell told us how she had been taken advantaged of by Chase Bank, one of the many corporations represented in Suncadia. Mitchell is 71-years-old and has owned her house that Chase is trying to snatch away for over 20 years.

“I’m still in foreclosure, but I’m still fighting,” she said grasping a microphone. “I ain’t going out without a fight.”

Greedy CEOs and big corporations are scared of a fight. They hide behind their closed gates and pretend that working people will just take whatever they hand out. No more. We know that the only way to get a more fair economy, where people are treated with the respect they deserve, is to get louder, to get out of our homes, into the streets and take the fight to them.

We’re not going away. We’re not shutting up and we’re just getting started.

The CEOs Just Don't Get It

By Nate Jackson We are having a hard time finding good jobs. We are struggling to find work that treats us with respect and allows us to take care of our families. We are asking the question, “Where are the good jobs?”

Meanwhile, CEOs and lobbyists of the Association of Washington Businesses are asking “Where will the money come from?”  Seriously. That is the title of one of the talks lead by JP Morgan Chase Regional Director Phyllis Campbell at the annual conference held on Wednesday. They just don’t get it and we are going to explain it to them.

The CEOs are meeting at an out of the way exclusive golf resort in Cle Elum to figure out how to squeeze working families for more of our money while cranking up profits. They have an audience of policy makers like Governor Chris Gregoire and other elected officials who are supposed to be representing us.

Gregoire is not only going to sit through such talks as “What are Americans thinking?,” she’s giving the key note speech. She needs to be listening to us, not rubbing elbows with CEOs who broke our economy.

We’re thinking that it is time for greedy CEOs to do their part to create good jobs, not cut working families out of their future. We need good jobs. Not part time, no benefits, no respect jobs that don’t pay our bills or let us have a brighter tomorrow. We need good work right now and we’re telling the CEOs exactly what we think.

No more bonuses. No more bailouts. No more tax breaks. CEOs have had enough handouts from us.  Now it’s time they gave back. The only question they should be asking is “How can we create good jobs for Washington State?”

We are telling them in their meetings, at their offices and even in the streets. We have plenty to say and they will hear us loud and clear if we join together and keep up the pressure.  Come join us at 3^rd and University in downtown Seattle on Wednesday (today) and tell the CEOs that they need to do more to create good jobs, not dangle us upside down and shake out the last bits of change we have

Budgets and taxes

By Sandra VanderVen Another day, another blow to the Washington State budget. Arun Raha, director of the State Economic and Revenue Forecast Council, just released an updated forecast that sends us 1.4 billion dollars back into the hole.  This is after already making enormous cuts to our state budget, cuts that will hurt most of us. We now have fewer dollars going toward education, health care, and other people-friendly programs.

Here’s how this happened. We fund most state operations—everything from public schools to hospitals to the state patrol—from a state sales tax on things you buy and a property tax on the place you own (which gets passed on to renters in higher rent). But in a recession, most of us are making do with less, which means we are buying fewer things, and so there are fewer purchases for the state to tax. So far, our state legislature has responded by cutting public services like education and health care to bring the budget into line with lower-than-expected tax revenue. The problem is that during a recession is when these public services—things like food stamps and basic health care—are needed most! On the other hand, if we had more access to good jobs, we wouldn't need to rely so much on public services.

What the politicians should be doing is looking for ways to increase revenue, making it possible to continue funding the public services on which we all rely. The money is out there, but the politicians have so far refused to go out and get it, even when we point our fingers at it, even when we sleep in the Capitol Rotunda in Olympia to get their attention.

The truth is that we don’t tax people fairly in Washington. We need to close corporate tax breaks and loopholes. We need to look at a more sustainable tax structure that will fund public services even in tough times. And we need good jobs now so that we can all get back on our feet again.

Corporate Accountability

No more bonuses. No more bailouts. No more tax breaks.

We've had enough. And on Wednesday, Sept. 21st we are going to tell those big corporations and greedy CEO's that we're not going to take it anymore.

Join us up at the luxurious resort of Suncadia in Cle Elum for a full day of action culminating in a People's Summit. Find out more about the Showdown at Suncadia from our friends at Washington CAN.

Or, join us in downtown Seattle at Chase bank's regional headquarters for some street theater. The way Chase treats us is criminal, and we'll visit one of the scenes of the crime to prove it.

Meet us at noon at Chase Bank, 1301 2nd Ave., downtown Seattle.

Click here to sign up!

Tay Yoshitani and the Port of Poverty

By Nate Jackson The latest census data confirmed what we already know; the lack of good jobs is driving more people into poverty. One out of every six people now live below the poverty line of $20,000 per year for a family of four.

Working families gathered in the shadow of the Westin Hotel on Thursday, September 15^th to protest the lack of good jobs at the Port of Seattle. Many of the workers at the port are making minimum wage, paid by the hour but with access to fewer and fewer hours of work. Meanwhile, Port of Seattle CEO Tay Yoshitani received a pay raise at taxpayer expense—he is now one of the highest paid port officials in the country.

Yoshitani calls his domain the “Port of Prosperity.” We call it the “Port of Poverty and Pollution.” Air pollution from dirty diesel torments neighborhoods, and the port’s working families are denied a living wage.

Josh Johnson, a young African-American man looking for work, came to the rally because he was confused about the priorities of the Port of Seattle.

“I thought the port was supposed to be about good jobs,” he said. “It’s terrible that Yoshitani is making $400 grand during this recession when some people can’t even find a decent job.”

Here in Washington State, our rate of poverty is a shocking 12 percent, but the real story behind the numbers is that the increasing poverty rate is caused by policy choices by businesses and politicians. People have been laid off and foreclosed on, banks aren’t lending and businesses aren’t hiring. Yet CEOs are still getting big bonuses and banks are making record profits. The rising poverty rates are happening on purpose, and we know exactly who to blame.

Hosea Wilcox has worked as a skycap for over 30 years. He has seen his wages and hours cut and he talked about how he can’t get any respect from his employer at the port.

“I’m ashamed to tell my children and my grandchildren that I make minimum wage,” Hosea said. “I’m on welfare because they don’t show any of us any respect. I deserve respect.”

Hosea is not alone. Working Families across the country have seen their actual income fall over the past ten years and we make less now than we did in the 1990’s.

Instead of providing good jobs and security for their workers, most of the wealth is handed out to the few. Tay Yoshitani, a public official, raked in nearly $400,000 dollars in 2010, that’s almost twice as much as the governor, while many of the positions at the ports make minimum wage. We’ve allowed them to dole out our tax dollars to CEOs who are supposed to be working for us. We’re sick of it.

Norm Conrad, a retiree who has been forced back into work, wasn’t surprised that the public CEO made so much money.

“Yoshitani should be ashamed of himself,” he said.

It’s time for us to come together and fight back. We can’t just let CEOs like Yoshitani live the high life while working families can’t even afford food and shelter. We need to hold the big corporations and greedy CEOs accountable for their failure to create good jobs here in Washington State.

Too many of us have stared poverty in the face, and we know that it is something to be scared of. So let’s give the CEOs something else to be scared of – our unrelenting demand for justice. No more bonuses, no more bailouts, no more tax breaks. It’s time for justice.

Who We Are-Dixie Mitchell

Dixie Mitchell talks about how she is facing foreclosure from a big wall street bank.

White House Talks to Us about the Jobs Act

By Sandra VanderVen There’s a lot going wrong in politics today, no one would dispute. The good news is that in some cases, the challenges we face are being met with creativity and verve. One instance is the way the White House is engaging states to help pass the proposed Jobs Act.

It doesn’t make sense at first glance—isn’t it Congress’ job to pass this?  What do the states have to do with it? Experience tells us it won’t work to just sit back and wait for Congress to act on the will of the people. If we don’t pressure them to pass it, they’ll end up listening again to the corporate lobbyists who got us here in the first place.

Let’s make sure we know what we’re fighting for. Here are some tidbits from this fact sheet.

• Washington state will receive $365,100,000 in funding to support as many as 4,700 school improvement jobs.
• This act will provide $627,800,000 in funds to Washington to support up to 8,500 educator and first responder jobs.
• The President’s plan will make immediate investments of at least $741,100,000 in Washington that could support a minimum of approximately 9,600 local construction jobs, while improving infrastructure.

Brad Jenkins, the Associate Director of the White House Office of Public Engagement, realizes this.  “The only way that we see the president able to push Congress to get this passed is through your work, educating communities on things that matter, and mobilizing.” It is up to groups like Working Washington and MoveOn.org and many other organizations to let people know what the jobs bill will do for us, and then it is up to us to join together to push our members of congress to pass it.

There are things we can do that will make a big difference.  We can influence the public, the media, and our elected officials if we lift our voices.  Consider writing a letter to the editor of your local newspaper. Email or call members of congress. Turn out to show strength in numbers when you hear of a MoveOn or Working Washington event. Talk to your neighbors.

The work we did during the August congressional recess-- calling out Members of Congress at town halls or even when they refused to appear in public--was heard loud and clear in the other Washington (DC).

The truth is that many Members of Congress are going to vote up or down only if their biggest donors will permit them to. It is up to us to make sure they add one more factor to their calculations: the anger of their constituents.

Work that Needs Doing

With millions unemployed across the country -- hundreds of thousands in the state of Washington-- we need to get people back to work. Luckily, there's lots of work that needs doing:

Look around. In virtually every community you’ll see work that needs doing. Rundown schools. Crumbling bridges. Neglected parks, recreation centers, and playgrounds. Buildings that need to be more energy efficient. Energy sources that need to be more environment-friendly.

WORK THAT NEEDS DOING is a project designed to bring these pictures to light. With the support of community, labor, and advocacy organizations from coast to coast, we’re gathering photos of work that needs doing and making sure our nation’s policymakers and elected officials see them.

Our mission is to put America back to work repairing our infrastructure and meeting our education, healthcare, and clean energy needs. Not only will it give our economy and middle class a desperately-needed boost, but it’s the only way to reduce the deficit in the long run.

So let's prove there's plenty of work that needs doing. Take some photos and upload them to the Work That Needs Doing website.