Labor support for unemployed march in Pittsburgh grows

The following resolution was adopted by delegates of the San Francisco Labor Council on Aug. 10. Similar resolutions were also adopted by the International Longshore Warehouse Union Local 10 executive board on Aug. 11 and by the Golden Gate Branch #214, National Association of Letter Carriers on Aug. 5 in support of the March for Jobs and Global Week in Solidarity with the Unemployed–Pittsburgh, Sept 20-26:

Whereas, there is no recovery in sight from the current economic crisis, although government measures have enabled Wall Street to pocket hundreds of billions of taxpayer dollars, still unemployment, foreclosures and poverty continue to soar; and

Whereas, in September the eyes of the world will be on Pittsburgh, where the G-20 countries will meet on what to do about the global crisis, and this will be an excellent opportunity for labor and its allies to present OUR workers’ recovery agenda; and

Whereas, while the G-20 meets in Pittsburgh, a Global Week in Solidarity with the Unemployed will highlight the suffering, desperation and anger of the millions whose lives are being devastated by this crisis, and demand that the U.S. and other governments address their needs; and

Whereas, a March for Jobs will take place in Pittsburgh on Sunday, Sept. 20, calling for a real jobs program to provide full-time, living wage jobs. Instead of bailing out banks and funding wars, there must be money to create jobs, provide healthcare, stop foreclosures and bail out the unemployed; and

Whereas, from Sept. 19-26 a tent city dedicated to the unemployed, poor and underemployed will be erected next to Monumental Baptist Church, located in an historic part of the African-American community in Pittsburgh called The Hill, not far from the G20 summit; and

Whereas, “March for Jobs” caravans of unemployed people and supporters from across the country will converge on Pittsburgh to join the march and tent city, similar to the marches for jobs that took place in the 1930s; and

Whereas, Martin Luther King Jr. once called “the second civil rights movement” the fight for the right to a job or a guaranteed income. King dedicated the last year of his life to planning a mass movement for jobs, and his dream has to be revived; and

Whereas, the San Francisco Labor Council in January 2009 called for a National Recovery Plan, stating, “To end this recession and prevent a depression, there needs to be gainful productive employment for all” and “any bailout needs to be for workers, their families, children, students, seniors, small farmers, small business–the everyday folks,” and calling for a massive, publicly supported jobs program as existed in the 1930s; therefore be it

Resolved, that the San Francisco Labor Council endorse the March for Jobs in Pittsburgh on Sept. 20, 2009, and the Global Week in Solidarity with the Unemployed, on the occasion of the G-20 summit in that city.