Monday, 5pm, be there!

     Tell Congress

       We Stand with the 99%

     We Need Good Jobs!

Monday Oct. 10 5pm Westlake Park

The economy is rough and the jobs still have not come back. Monday at 5pm in Westlake Park, we are standing with the 99 percent of Americans who have not received bailouts and $1 million bonuses. We stand to tell Wall Street no more bonuses. No more tax cuts. Invest in good jobs, and invest in us.

President Obama has proposed to create jobs by putting $50 billion into our bridges, roads and transit systems. This would be paid for with a tax on millionaires.

But Congress says "NO". It wants to do nothing.

 

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Work That Needs Doing: Union Gospel Mission

Nonprofits struggle to stave off suffering as CEOs refuse to hire. by Nate Jackson

Unfortunately, the Union Gospel Mission is having a busy year.

Lines of people outside Union Gospel Mission

The Union Gospel Mission is a nonprofit that provides emergency shelter as well as other “last resort” services to folks who have been hit hard by this still continuing recession. State services have been chopped and many nonprofit organizations in the area, including the Mission, have had to pick up the slack created by politicians gifting tax giveaways to CEOs while cutting off public services.

Policy makers need to reinvest in us instead of handing out money to CEOs who don’t need it. There is work that needs doing and we need good jobs in our communities.

The Mission provides emergency shelter to over 500 people per night, which is up from previous years. It’s privately funded through individual donations and foundations, but has seen more working families turn to its services. The Mission is partnering with other community groups and is asking for those with the means to help support the organization.

It is cleaning up the mess made by policy makers who have sided with CEOs instead of struggling working families.

We’ve seen savings disappear and back up plans dry up as we’ve stayed unemployed. We’ve fallen through the cracks of social services as state money is ripped away due to budget cuts. We want to work, but when corporations are giving bonuses to millionaire CEOs instead of creating good jobs in our communities we’re stuck.

We are potential wasted.

Without fully funding basic services, education, health care and holding corporations accountable to hire instead of rewarding layoffs we cannot move forward. The work that needs doing is not just roads and bridges, but also growing and supporting workers. How many of us are stuck, forced to rely on services, instead of living up to our full potential?

We have the talent and the skills. We have the potential and the experience; we just do not have the opportunity to get back to work. Society can’t afford to forget us. We the working families are the strength of our economy, not greedy CEOs or out of touch policy makers. We need to invest in our communities not just by building bridges and fixing schools, but also by funding public services that help us get back on our feet and back to work.

We can’t afford to wait anymore. No more tax giveaways to greedy CEOs and out of state corporations. No more rewarding companies for firing people. No more bonuses for putting working families out on the street. We have work that needs doing right here and giving a helping hand to those of us who feel forgotten is a good place to start.

Invest in Infrastructure; Invest in Us

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

Telephone poles are Work That Needs Doing

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

Working Washington holds banners above 520

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.

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.

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

Woman holding"no more corporate greed" sign 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.

Workers hold a sign saying "Cut Corporate Tax Loopholes, not Social Services"

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 3rd 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.