UNIONS JOIN TWO COALITIONS CAMPAIGNING FOR SECOND STIMULUS

Sunday, December 21, 2008

(PAI)

WASHINGTON (PAI)--The Steel Workers and SEIU joined a large coalition to actively campaign for quick congressional passage of a second, big stimulus package, while AFSCME and other organizations formed a second group with the same goal.

In a mid-December telephone press conference, leaders of the first group, including USWA President Leo Gerard, said the package should be at least $900 billion over two years and should include many ways to reinvigorate the depressed economy. That figure “may be too little, rather than too much,” said one leader, Robert Borosage.

Congressional Democratic leaders vowed to craft and pass a stimulus package by Democratic President Barack Obama’s inauguration on Jan. 20. Borosage, Gerard and other speakers outlined key components they and their coalition are pushing for:

* “Strategic investments vital to our long-term future:” Investing in rebuilding the nation’s roads, airports and bridges -- infrastructure -- and also in energy-efficient retrofitting of public facilities.

Gerard called the retrofitting “a double hit.” It’s also part of USWA’s long-touted Apollo Alliance for creating industrial jobs while fostering energy conservation. And the retrofitting could put thousands of people to work immediately, he added.

“I’ve never seen unions hit as hard as we’ve been with the virtual collapse of the industrial economy. Steel, aluminum, tires, pulp and paper and the chemical industry all are running at less capacity than ever,” Gerard said. USWA represents those workers.

* Renewal and expansion of the Children’s Health Initiative Program (CHIP). A Senate GOP filibuster blocked that in the now-finished 110th Congress.

* Aid to state and local governments to help cope with rising Medicaid costs as more families are thrown out of work and lose health care coverage. Aiding the state and local governments -- which share Medicaid spending with the feds, but which face falling revenues -- is a key goal for both AFSCME and SEIU.

* Mortgage relief, including “fixing the bailout” of the banks to target money to hurting homeowners. “We’ve made our focus on Wall Street, the top of the food chain and not on Main Street, where people make things,” Gerard said. Quoting independent analysts, he put the total aid to all financial institutions at a promised $8 trillion.

“There has to be quick, systematic and sustained investment in infrastructure, health care and schools,” Gerard said. He noted Obama wants to implement such a

program, but the GOP does not.

The second coalition includes AFSCME, SEIU and the independent National Education Association, the nation’s largest union.

That “Campaign For Jobs And Economic Recovery Now” began its lobbying on Dec. 18 with events in 50 cities nationwide to push lawmakers to approve the second economic stimulus package Obama’s administration will craft, organizers said. That legislation has elements Gerard and Borosage cited, plus health care modernization in a first effort to cut costs. And they’re campaigning for a plan with “use or lose it” accountability, leaders said.

“Obama understands that we need to fast-track improvements in our roads, bridges, schools and other infrastructure. He knows public investments create jobs and help the economy in the long-run. He also recognizes there needs to be accountability, which is why his people are working closely with governors and mayors to identify projects that are called ‘shovel-ready,’ and are based on national priorities and not political considerations,” McEntee said.

NEA President Dennis VanRoekel pushed to add school reconstruction to the infrastructure spending. “All roads to economic security and prosperity go through our public schools. Public investments in the nation's infrastructure, and especially our public schools, provide immediate, short-term economic stimulus and build the foundation for long-term economic growth,” he contended.

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