Members of the Moratorium NOW! Coalition and MECAWI carrying banner and signs at the Detroit March for Jobs, Justice and Peace on Saturday, August 28, 2010. The demonstration was attended by over 5,000 people in downtown Detroit. (Photo: Abayomi Azikiwe)
Originally uploaded by Pan-African News Wire File Photos
http://detnews.com/article/20100901/OPINION01/9010342
Labor Voices: Economic fix requires more government aid
BOB KING
Millions of Americans are hurting right now. When we help them, we're also helping to put the economy back on track.
Our program to rebuild Detroit and America includes these key initiatives:
Investments in our cities, infrastructure, industries and people.
Guaranteed justice for workers.
An end to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Unemployment checks are being spent on necessities, providing a needed boost in consumer spending. More federal assistance to states and cities will prevent layoffs, cuts in services and tax increases that threaten to further squeeze consumer demand and push the economy back into recession. A moratorium on foreclosures will not only keep families in their homes, but also help stabilize neighborhoods and protect housing values.
Aid for the unemployed. Republicans tried to prevent extensions of unemployment benefits for Americans. In July, the Senate finally acted to extend unemployment benefits to jobless workers, but that extension runs out at the end of November.
In the meantime, the COBRA subsidy that allowed many jobless workers to continue health insurance coverage has been allowed to expire. So has the extra $25 per week that unemployed workers were receiving as part of the Recovery Act.
Congress needs to act promptly to ensure that benefits for the long-term unemployed continue beyond November. The 65 percent COBRA premium subsidy and $25 increase in weekly benefits should both be restored immediately.
Aid for cities and states. Cities and states continue to reel from the economic downturn, and their plight is adding to our jobs crisis. State and local governments nationwide have eliminated more than 300,000 jobs over the last two years.
The federal government has the power to stop this destructive cycle by extending financial assistance to state and local governments. Recent congressional action providing $26 billion for Medicaid and education was helpful, but did not go far enough.
Direct job creation. With hiring in the private sector weak, and with states and cities cutting their employment, the federal government should directly fund the creation of public service jobs, as it has done historically in other periods of high unemployment. The Local Jobs for America Act, introduced by Rep. George Miller, D-Calif., would provide $75 billion over two years to local governments and states, targeting those communities where the need is greatest, for programs to put the unemployed to work on community service projects run by local governments or nonprofits.
Moratorium on foreclosures. Foreclosures are devastating neighborhoods across the country. According to RealtyTrac, there were 11,889 homes in foreclosure in Detroit in July, and 100,995 across Michigan. Despite $75 billion in funding for mortgage modifications to assist beleaguered homeowners, financial institutions are dragging their feet.
Meanwhile, another 18,833 foreclosures were filed in Michigan in July, according to RealtyTrac. To give struggling families a meaningful opportunity to save their homes (and to create a push for lenders to work with them toward that end), we support legislation (S.B. 29) introduced in the Michigan State Legislature to establish a two-year moratorium on foreclosures.
Let's put the economy back on track and rebuild America.
Bob King is president of the United Auto Workers. E-mail comments to letters@detnews.com">letters@detnews.com.
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Labor Voices
Labor Voices columns are written on a rotating basis by United Auto Workers President Bob King, Teamster President James Hoffa, Michigan AFL-CIO President Mark Gaffney and Michigan Education Association President Iris Salters.
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