Union of Unemployed: 'First Things First'

WASHINGTON, March 26 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The most urgent social justice issue confronting the nation at this moment is not health care, not banking reform and not climate change – it is the abandonment of 31 million unemployed and underemployed Americans.  

"These are desperate hours for America's unemployed," said Rick Sloan, acting director for Ur Union of Unemployed. "And the failure of lawmakers to respond in a meaningful way is pushing many beyond their ability to cope."

Ur Union of Unemployed, also known as UCubed, is calling for a large and immediate response to the crisis, with federal funds being allocated to employ millions of jobless Americans at the state, local and federal level.

"Anything less than a sweeping federal program to immediately provide jobs will extinguish the last hopes of these workers, who have waited while politicians attended to banks, insurance companies and investment conglomerates," said Sloan, who cited the Works Progress Administration (WPA) as the type of rapid response that is needed now.

In the first four months after the WPA was established, more than four million out-of-work Americans were hired to build swimming pools, playgrounds, schools and roads.

"Without a program of that scale and size, we are relying on the trickle down theory of economic activity to get these people back to work," said Sloan. "This is a humanitarian and economic crisis of epic proportions and deserves more than political pablum and economic junk food."

Ur Union of Unemployed is a community service project of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM) designed to assist the millions of unemployed and underemployed Americans, and to provide them with a structure that allows them to take advantage of their growing numbers. For more information, visit Ur Union of Unemployed.

SOURCE International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers

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