With the Massachusetts jobless rate now at 9.1 percent and rising, workers are increasingly frustrated by the mentality of “corporate greed” that has taken over their employers and the failure of politicians and policy makers to address the growing jobs crisis.
Next Thursday, October 1, thousands of workers will march and rally to demand that corporations be held accountable for the good jobs our communities need. The event is supported and co-sponsored by the Massachusetts AFL-CIO, the Greater Boston Labor Council, Jobs with Justice and more than 75 other labor and community organizations.
Banks are stalling loans on important construction projects. Because corporations don’t pay their fair share in taxes, state and local governments are slashing critical public services and eliminating jobs – just when we should be expanding them. And universities with fat endowments like Harvard and hospitals like Boston Medical Center are making cuts while paying their CEOs millions.
October 1 is the one-year anniversary of the Bush administration’s bail-out of the banks and insurance companies. The government gave these companies hundreds of billions of dollars with little or no accountability.
“Working families have been hit the hardest by this recession – building trades, healthcare workers, manufacturing workers and public employees,” said Robert Haynes, President of Massachusetts AFL-CIO. “Despite signs that the economy is improving, everyone knows it’s a ‘jobless recovery.’ The official numbers don’t reflect reality or the impact on workers…We need jobs now.”
Richard Rogers, head of the Greater Boston Labor Council, said too many profitable companies – like Verizon and Hyatt – are “exploiting the recession to cut their headcount and further boost profits. It is absolutely unconscionable.”
“Taxpayers poured billions of dollars into banks that were “too big to fail,” said Alexandra Pineros-Shields, board member of Jobs with Justice. “Then the banks gave outrageous bonuses, foreclosed on people’s homes, gouged consumers and spent millions to lobby against new laws that would hold them more accountable. Where are the jobs for working people?”
The march will kick off on the Boston Common at 4:00 PM and proceed to stops at the Hyatt Hotel, the Bank of America and Verizon’s Franklin Street headquarters. Everyone will end up at the Federal Reserve Bank for a short rally at about 5:30 p.m.
Rand Wilson has worked as a union organizer for more than 40 years. An activist in Somerville, Massachusetts, he helps convene a community-labor coalition, Somerville Stands Together and is also a board member for the Job Creation and Retention Trust.
