Change to Win  Joins  the Parade to Offer
Proposals to Create Millions of New Jobs

By Harry Kelber

Leaders of Change to Win offered  a series of solutions to the jobs crisis that would “immediately start putting paychecks back into the hands of America’s workers.”  Speaking in behalf of 5.5 million members, CtW  Chair Anna Burger pledged: ”We will put the strength and values of our members, and all working families, firmly behind policies that reward work and give millions of Americans struggling to make ends meet the economic power of a paycheck.”

The CtW’s jobs proposals were quite similar in broad content to the 5-point plan offered by AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka at  President Obama’s Jobs Summit. It called for investment in building and maintaining our state and local infrastructure, from public safety to health and education, from roads and bridges to water and sewage systems.

It also emphasized the need to stimulate investment in emerging industries, from weatherization to the development of new energy sources; generate additional jobs through addressing the growing hunger crisis across America, with broadened food stamp eligibility.  There should also be a new job-creating trade policy that would promote U.S. exports.

With more than 15 million people unemployed and about a third of them having been without work for more than 27 weeks, both labor federations emphasized the urgency of creating jobs quickly.

What Will Make Congress Act on These Jobs Proposals?

Congress won’t enact jobs legislation, simply because organized labor has come up with some good ideas to create jobs. Our lawmakers in Washington are not going to act on jobs unless we  put massive pressure on them to get their attention. But neither the leaders of the AFL-CIO nor the CtW are willing to involve their members in a militant campaign. Will their ideas alone carry much weight in Congress?

Moreover, labor has avoided  providing details about how millions of newly-created jobs will be distributed, and who of the 15 million unemployed will be the lucky ones to get hired.  What will be the wage rates on these jobs and will they be uniform? Lots of other practical questions will arise, besides how many jobs will be created.

Even more daunting, will Congress be willing to finance an enormous jobs program that will require multi-billions to create and sustain, especially now, when it is obsessed with the size of the federal budget and the crushing cost of two wars?

Yet, can we abandon the millions of unemployed, including our union brothers and sisters? We’ve got to do more, lots more, than making proposals.
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There is no reason why the AFL-CIO and CtW shouldn’t join forces to fight for a common jobs program. It would create labor unity on a fundamental issue at a most opportune time.--Harry Kelber



A Correction:  In LaborTalk (20), dated Dec. 10, I criticized Labor Notes for its lack of coverage of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. I apparently overlooked an article  by Jane Slaughter in Labor Notes, dated October 29, in which Afghanistan was mentioned. H.K.