The House Ditches Jobs Bill to Enjoy Holiday;
AFL-CIO  Leaders  Have  No  Fighting  Answer

By Harry Kelber

The U.S. House of Representatives postponed consideration of a jobs bill on May 28, deciding to go home and enjoy the Memorial Day Holiday that will extend to June 7, when Congress is scheduled to reconvene.

The bill before Congress would save or create one million jobs through various measures, and would extend unemployment insurance (UI) benefits to the end of 2010  for  the 6.7 million  workers who have been without a job for 27 weeks or more.'

The Economic Policy Institute (EPI) estimates that the bill's package of aid to the states, infrastructure projects, extension of UI and COBRA health benefits, creation of summer jobs, loan guarantees for small businesses and other provisions in the bill will help save or create  more than one million jobs. The bill's target of one million jobs  is only about one-seventh of the 15.3 million people officially listed as unemployed by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The bill, costing $143 billion, is running into opposition from  many House and Senate Democrats, who are uneasy about spending more money on job creation, when  they are under heavy pressure from the public and  Republicans to cut the mountain of public debt. They are aware that government spending and budget reductions will be among the key issue in the mid-term elections, and those seeking re-election are looking for political cover.

House Democratic officials are said to have agreed to slash $40 billion from the bill, by a series of cuts, including extending unemployment benefits through Nov, 30 instead of Dec. 31.

A Strategy That  Really Fights for the Unemployed

In the current political climate,  it will take sustained mass action by an aroused AFL-CIO membership to persuade Congress  to approve a new stimulus package devoted specifically to job creation. During the seven days when lawmakers are back in their home districts, delegations of union members should visit each of their homes and offices and take whatever other action they deem necessary to win their votes for the jobs bill  Each Central Labor Council (CLC) should be responsible for targeting the lawmakers in its district.

Further, when Congress reconvenes, there should be sit-downs by at least a half-dozen union members in each congressional office until that legislator agrees to vote in favor of the jobs bill. That's tough action, but it's more likely to lead to public attention and positive results than the e-mails that Brother Trumka is always urging  us to send to Washington. We've bombarded Congress with millions of e-mails over the years, with little to show for it.

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Brother Trumka has turned silence into an art form. He tells members as little as possible about what he is doing, except for his high-flown rhetoric against the bankers. Does he have a plan for rebuilding the AFL-CIO? What are his thoughts on the midterm elections?  What should we be doing about the Employee Free Choice Act? We don't know his views. He won't tell us.

He makes a point of never answering criticism, except with perpetual silence. If you asked him whether that is a good attitude in a labor leader, the answer you will get is silence, deep silence.

He doesn't answer critics because there is nothing that critics can do to him. He can do whatever he wants to do and not worry about charges of unethical behavior. He can have the powers of a despot while considering himself a democratic labor leader.

Why don't union members complain? Why should they?-Harry Kelber