San Francisco Labor Council Resolution in Support of March for Jobs in Pittsburgh, Sept 20, 2009
Support the March for Jobs and Global Week in Solidarity with the
Unemployed -- Pittsburgh, Sept 20-26, 2009
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
G20 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 G20 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
US 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 September 20, 2009, and the Global Week in Solidarity with the
Unemployed, on the occasion of the G20 summit in that city.
--Adopted
unanimously by Executive Committee, San Francisco Labor Council, August 3, 2009
