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NOVEMBER 2001
Hard-hit workers need help NOW
by Rick S. Bender, President of the Washington State Labor Council, AFL-CIO

More than 600,000 American workers are out of a job or face a layoff in the near future because of the economic shocks caused by the September 11th terrorist attacks.  Our national leaders deserve high marks for going after the terrorist networks behind the horrific acts against us.  It’s vital for our freedom and our future that we succeed in this undertaking.

But another vital undertaking that will affect our future is not being successfully addressed.  It took only a few days for Congress and the President to pass a $15 billion bailout package for the airlines, but today, not one dime in assistance has yet to be appropriated to help rank-and-file victims of the economic damage done to the backbone of our economy. The terrorist attacks staggered what was already a sluggish economy.  Major parts of our economy, from aerospace to tourism, remain stunned.

The unemployment rate last month took the biggest one-month jump in more than 20 years.  Millions more American workers are at risk as companies caught in the downturn downsize or go out of business completely.

Workers in the aviation industry are front line victims.  Boeing is undertaking accelerated layoffs of some 30,000 employees over the next few months.  United Airlines, and several other major carriers have laid off more than 100,000 airlines pilots, flight attendants, mechanics, reservation clerks, baggage handlers and airport workers.

Many other local Washington businesses have recently announced cutbacks.  For example, Goldendale Aluminum, the largest family-wage employer in Klickitat County, just cut another 80 workers.  Port Townsend Paper laid off 95 employees.  Longview Aluminum eliminated 900 jobs, Trident Seafood in Bellingham will close its doors and lay off 120 workers shortly.  AgriFrozen in Walla Walla laid off over 120 workers, and another 300 workers in Grandview and also in Grandview, Safeway Juice cut another 80 workers.  The list continues to grow.

President Bush is proposing a $75 billion stimulus package to jump-start our economy, and once again working people come up short.  His plan does almost nothing to help most working families earn a paycheck.  The Bush plan provides virtually no new assistance for unemployment benefits to laid off workers.  Adding it all up, almost $6 of every $7 in the Bush plan will go for additional tax breaks for corporations and wealthy individuals.

America’s working families deserve better.  What is needed now is an economic-stimulus plan that primes the economy immediately by putting dollars into the pockets of people who will spend them, instead up pumping cash into the bank accounts of the privileged few.

The first priority should be significant support for the workers who have been hurt the worst—those laid off workers in the aerospace, aviation, tourist and hospitality industries are front line victims.  They need expanded unemployment insurance protections.  They need full funding for job re-training and they need help in maintaining family health care coverage.

Now is also the right time to invest in boosting our public health system, improving our bridges and roads, and building new schools.  These solid investments will create thousands of good jobs and help our economy climb out of recession.  This is the kind of stimulus package that will put money into the hands of low and moderate-income families who need it most and who are the most likely to go out and spend.

The tax cuts for big corporations and the wealthy being proposed won’t help most workers and won’t help our economy.  Federal Reserve Board Chairman Alan Greenspan reports that only 18 percent of the tax rebates already distributed earlier this year were actually spent.  If consumer spending is the way out of this recession, we need to provide the kind of stimulus that will actually result in consumer spending.  That’s why we need to put the economic engine in drive and move forward by investing in America’s working families.

Rick Bender is President of the Washington State Labor Council, AFL-CIO, the largest labor organization in the state.

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Copyright © 2001  Washington State Labor Council, AFL-CIO