Category Archives: Economy

Community, Economy, Organizing, unemployment, Wall Street, Youth and students

OWS in Allentown, Youngstown, Toledo

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Occupying the Rust Belt: In Three Deindustrialized Cities,

Protesters Find Friendly Cops, Determination and Despair

Americans here are beaten down. But in occupations around the country they have found a space where they can speak of their struggles, burdens and aspirations.

Photo: Youngstown occupier

By Arun Gupta
Beaver County Blue via Alternet.org

Oct 25, 2011 – The surefire method to find occupations in small cities is to head for the center of town. After leaving Philadelphia on our Occupy America tour, we drive an hour north to Allentown. Pennsylvania’s third-largest city at 118,000 residents, Allentown has been weathered by years of deindustrialization in the steel, cement and textile industries that once made it an economic powerhouse.

Along MacArthur Boulevard, one of Allentown’s main drags, tidy but weary brick row homes line outlying neighborhoods. Close to Center Square, site of the requisite Civil War monument, the neighborhoods are heavily Latino and buildings exhibit signs of disrepair.

Occupy Allentown has taken up residence in Center Square, inhabiting one of the four red-brick plazas on each corner. There are a handful of tents, a well-supplied kitchen pavilion and an information desk. A large blue and gray nylon tent, which 12 people crammed into the first night of the occupation, has laundry hanging off a clothesline in back and a cardboard sign on the front that reads “Zuccotti Arms,” in reference to the original Wall Street occupation.

We’ve come in search of Adam Santo, said to be the local leader of a leaderless movement. A handsome, boxy-glassed youth a few years out of college, Santo says he knew about the planning for Occupy Wall Street prior to Sept. 17.

“I wanted to go to New York, but I’ve been unemployed and finances were tight, so I thought wouldn’t it be cool to have an occupation in the Lehigh Valley,” where Allentown is nestled. Eight months earlier he and three co-workers were laid off from their jobs at a local bank because of a “lack of work.”

Continue reading OWS in Allentown, Youngstown, Toledo →

Economy, GOP, labor, unemployment, Wall Street

USW’s Leo Gerard Takes Apart GOP Diversionary Tactics on Jobs

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The GOP’s New Job Scam: The 99% Seek

A Just Economy, Not Just An Economy

By Leo Gerard
Beaver County Blue via Alternet.org

Republicans jammed together a mess of old, failed and vague schemes and called it a jobs bill. Sen. John McCain conceded the reason for the rehash: “Part of it is in response to the president saying we don’t have a proposal.”

They still don’t. This despite the fact that they promised voters during their campaign to take control of the U.S. House one year ago that they’d create jobs. That they’d focus on jobs. That nothing was more important to them than jobs.

Now, what they’ve offered instead of actual jobs is a polyglot of GOP talking points. It’s certainly no vision to move the country forward. It’s a plot to set the country back – to repeal the health care law that will soon help provide coverage for the nearly 50 million Americans without insurance, to rescind the Wall Street reform law designed to prevent another financial sector-caused meltdown, and to thwart regulations, like those that stopped distribution of listeria-infected cantaloupe that killed 25.

GOP Sen. Rob Portman of Ohio called the Republican polyglot a “pro-growth proposal to create the environment for jobs.” It is, in fact, a pro-business proposal to permit corporations to destroy the environment for humans.

It is another GOP ploy to appease, accommodate and absolve corporations. It is another GOP ruse to firmly establish in America an economy designed for, dedicated to and directed by corporations rather than a just economy controlled by and beneficial to the 99 percent.

Continue reading USW’s Leo Gerard Takes Apart GOP Diversionary Tactics on Jobs →

Economy, Organizing, unemployment, Wall Street, Youth and students

‘There Are No Jobs Out There…’

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Global Jobs Crisis Takes Biggest

Toll On Struggling Youth Everywhere

By Lila Shapiro
Beaver County Blue via HuffPost

Oct 20, 2011 – Of all those that have suffered from global joblessness, it could be the young job seekers in developed economies that have paid the highest price. And the collective frustration is beginning to add up.

At the end of last year, there were an estimated 75.1 million young people around the world struggling to find jobs — a group nearly the size of the population of Iran. The group of job hunters, ages 15 to 24, has expanded by 4.6 million since the Great Recession began, according to a new report by the International Labour Organization, a specialized agency of the United Nations.

The burden is heaviest for the young in Europe, the U.S., and other advanced economies, where the youth unemployment rate saw the biggest overall jump between 2008-2010. Adding to the concern: While other regions of the world saw youth unemployment rates peak in 2009, these countries were among the few, globally, that continued to see the unemployment rate creep up.

This course does not appear to be changing, at least not any time soon.

Continue reading ‘There Are No Jobs Out There…’ →

Community, Economy, trade unions, Wall Street, Youth and students

‘Occupy!’ Wakes Us Up from Our ‘Zombie States’ of Mind!

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Occupy The Rust Belt:

Notes From The Pittsburgh Protest

Occupy Pittsburgh crowd massed at Freedom Square in the Hill District. (Photo © Karen Lillis)

By Karen Lillis

Annalsofamericus.com

On October 15, I marched with Occupy Pittsburgh, the city’s first action in solidarity with Occupy Wall Street. I watched excitedly as the crowd grew throughout the day, building from a modest gathering when my partner and I arrived at Freedom Corner at 10:00 a.m., to a rally in the low thousands by the time the march reached Market Square at 1:00 p.m.

In sharp contrast to national anti-Occupy jeers against the “dirty hippies” and stereotypes of black-clad anarchists, a broad spectrum of the population showed up to march. College students and parents with small children. Union members and nine-to-fivers. Retirees and laid-off workers. Voters and tax-payers. The underclass and the working class and the middle class and self-identified members of the 1%. At one point I found myself between an old man in a motorized wheelchair and a young girl being pulled in a wagon.

I also noticed who didn’t show up to the march. My friends and many acquaintances in Pittsburgh are artists and writers, musicians and freelancers, actors and librarians, small business owners and academics. Most are progressives and free-thinkers who exist well left of the current Democratic party. But I saw less than 20 people I knew in the four hours I spent with the demonstrators. The first two folks I recognized were a barista and a waiter who have both served me food and drink.

“Hurray for service workers!,” I thought, having spent almost two decades of my working years in restaurants or retail.

Continue reading ‘Occupy!’ Wakes Us Up from Our ‘Zombie States’ of Mind! →

Economy, trade unions, Wall Street, Youth and students

‘Occupy Pittsburgh’ Joins Growing Global Movement

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Photo of Oct 15 Rally in Pittsburgh. Leo Gerard of the Steelworkers in lower right corner.

‘Occupy’ Anti-Finance Capital Protests Spread Around the World

Thousands march in Rome, Sydney and Madrid as Occupy Wall Street protests go global

The Guardian, UK, Oct 15 — Protests inspired by the Occupy Wall Street movement in New York and the "Indignants" in Spain have spread to cities around the world.

Tens of thousands went on the march in New York, London, Frankfurt, Madrid, Rome, Sydney and Hong Kong as organisers aimed to "initiate global change" against capitalism and austerity measures.

There were extraordinary scenes in New York where at least 10,000 protesters took their message from the outpost of Zuccotti Park into the heart of the city, thronging into Times Square.

Only 36 hours earlier, police were preparing to evict the protest from Zuccotti Park. On Saturday they escorted thousands of marchers all day as they made their way uptown through Manhattan, and looked on as they held a rally at a New York landmark.

Occupy Wall Street protesters take part in a demonstration at Times Square in New York. Occupy Wall Street protesters take part in a demonstration at Times Square in New York. Photograph: Eduardo Munoz/Reuters

Dave Bonan, who was at Occupy Wall Street on the first day of the protest a month ago, said it was "a little surreal" that the protest had spread. "I didn’t expect it to last more than 15 minutes," he said. "The fact it lasted more than a day inspired people all over the world to capitalise – no pun intended – on our success."

In Madrid, tens of thousands of people take a part in a demonstration in Puerta del Sol square in Madrid, home of the "Indignants" movement, which has been building through the summer as Spain’s economy faltered.

Demonstration in Puerta del Sol square in Madrid Tens of thousands of people take a part in a demonstration in Puerta del Sol square in Madrid on Saturday, part of the global movement against corporate greed. Photograph: Arturo Rodriguez/AP

Continue reading ‘Occupy Pittsburgh’ Joins Growing Global Movement →

Banks, Economy, Steelworkers, Youth and students

Steelworkers in Solidarity with Wall Street Protests

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USW Supports the

‘Occupy Wall Street‘

Protest Movement

PITTSBURGH, Sept. 30, 2011 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ — Leo W. Gerard, International President of the United Steelworkers (USW), North America’s largest industrial union with 1.2 million active and retired members, today issued the following statement in support of the Occupy Wall Street protest movement:

“The United Steelworkers (USW) union stands in solidarity with and strongly supports Occupy Wall Street. The brave men and women, many of them young people without jobs, who have been demonstrating around-the-clock for nearly two weeks in New York City are speaking out for the many in our world. We are fed up with the corporate greed, corruption and arrogance that have inflicted pain on far too many for far too long.

Our union has been standing up and fighting these captains of finance who promote Wall Street over Main Street. We know firsthand the devastation caused by a global economy where workers, their families, the environment and our futures are sacrificed so that a privileged few can make more money on everyone’s labor but their own.

Wall Street and its counterparts on Bay Street (Toronto), The City (London) and across the world tanked our economy in 2008. They caused a crisis that we’re still suffering from – record job losses, home foreclosures, cuts to schools, public services, police, fire and so much more. They’ve gambled with our pension funds and our futures for far too long.

They should have gone to jail. Instead, they got bailed out, while we got left out. And now they want us to go down the same path.

The Occupy Wall Street movement represents what most Americans believe: Enough is enough! It’s time to hold those who caused our economic crisis accountable, to ensure they don’t get away with it again, and to demand that everyone pay their fair share. It’s time to stand and fight for the creation of real wealth by focusing on making real things and creating family- and community-supporting jobs.

The USW is proud to join with the brothers and sisters of the Occupy Wall Street movement as we continue this important fight for a more just economy and a brighter tomorrow.”

The United Steelworkers is the largest industrial union in North America and has 850,000 members in the U.S., Canada, and the Caribbean. It represents workers employed in metals, rubber, chemicals, paper, oil refining, atomic energy, airline, health care, public sector and the service sector. For more info: http://www.usw.org .

Contact: Connie Mabin, USW, 412-562-2616 or cmabin@usw.org

SOURCE United Steelworkers (USW)

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/usw-supports-the-occupy-wall-street-protest-movement-2011-09-30

Economy, fair trade, unemployment

Manufacturing Jobs: New Trade Deal Will Hit Us Hard

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The 4th Congressional District of Pennsylvania Will Lose 7,623 Jobs If New Trade Deals Pass

4th CD Breakdown:

299   in Motor Vehicles & Parts

158  in Other Transport

812  in Electronics

4092 in Metal Product

2025 in Iron Metals

130  in textiles

116  in Apparel

Join the AFL-CIO National Call in to Congressman Altmire on Oct. 4th to stop the Korea Free Trade agreement.

The history of NAFTA shows that Pennsylvania and the 4th CD suffer from free trade deals. We need fair trade.

Pennsylvania lost 313,839 manufacturing jobs (or 35.8 percent) during the NAFTA-WTO period (1994-2010), according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.* This figure is for total manufacturing employment, so it takes into account both jobs created by exports and jobs displaced by imports, among other causes of net job change.

The percentage of all private sector jobs that are manufacturing jobs in Pennsylvania declined from 20.1 percent to 11.7 percent during the NAFTA-WTO period.
These are aggregate numbers, but the Department of Labor tracks instances of specific workers at specific workplaces who applied for special benefits for trade-displaced workers. In Pennsylvania, there are 149,519 such workers certified as having lost their job due to imports or offshoring under the Trade Adjustment Assistance program. (Note: This program is difficult to qualify for, and this figure only includes those workers who were certified.)

The Economic Policy Institute found that 26,300 jobs have been lost or displaced in Pennsylvania – and over 680,000 in the United States – due to the rise in the trade deficit with Mexico alone since NAFTA was enacted in 1994.
The Economic Policy Institute also found that 95,700 jobs have been lost or displaced in Pennsylvania – and over two million in the United States – due to the rise in the trade deficit with China since it joined the World Trade Organization in 2001.

2012 Election, Economy, Environment

Save Us from the ‘Business Guy’ Candidates

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Mitt Romney at Screen Machine in Ohio

By Carl Davidson
Beaver County Blue

Some things just drive you nuts.

Take Mitt Romney. Yesterday the GOP’s presidential wannabe toured Screen Machine, a factory in Pataskala, Ohio, just outside Columbus.  The plant make heavy construction equipment, rock crushers to be exact.

Romney and the owners, Doug and Steve Cohen, held a typical photo-op. Mitt took the occasion to blast both Obama and ‘government’ as ‘bad for business.’

Really? What did Mitt have in mind? A wimpy stimulus package? A failure to build more infrastructure? In that case, he might have a point.

Continue reading Save Us from the ‘Business Guy’ Candidates →

Economy, trade unions

One Graph, One Thousand Words: Why Unions Are Important

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What Happens When Your Don’t Have Enough Trade Unions, and the Lobbyists for the Wealthy Write the Tax Laws

Beaver County Blue via Alternet.org