Unemployed workers, Monroe residents call on elected officials to invest in infrastructure, create jobs
With no end in sight to the jobs crisis, unemployed workers and local residents gathered in Monroe, MI today to call on elected officials to invest in infrastructure to create good-paying construction jobs and jumpstart Michigan's economy.
Fixing crumbling bridges, roads would create good-paying construction jobs
MONROE, MI (October 20, 2011) – With no end in sight to the jobs crisis, unemployed workers and local residents gathered in Monroe today to call on elected officials to invest in infrastructure to create good-paying construction jobs and jumpstart Michigan’s economy. Similar actions are planned across the state this week in Lansing, Ann Arbor, Detroit, Sault Ste. Marie, Kalamazoo and Monroe. The rallies are being organized by We Are the People and the BlueGreen Alliance.
“Politicians in Lansing and Washington need to get their priorities straight,” said Ernie Whitside, an unemployed veteran from Monroe. “It’s time for our leaders to stop the power struggles and focus on creating good jobs that pay a fair wage. Fixing our crumbling bridges will put people back to work and get our economy moving again.”
Rebuilding America’s crumbling roads and bridges is one of the most effective ways to put Americans back to work. For every $1 billion we invest fixing roads, bridges, and transit systems, it creates about 30,000 jobs.
“People are ready to work and Michigan needs jobs now,” said Mark Schauer, national co-chair of the BlueGreen Alliance Jobs21! Campaign. “By investing in our crumbling roads and bridges, we can create almost millions of construction jobs across the country. A strong infrastructure has helped make America great and only by rebuilding it will we be able to compete globally, while putting Americans back to work.”
President Obama’s American Jobs Act includes $50 billion to create jobs by fixing crumbling roads and bridges. Hundreds of out-of-work Michigan construction workers could be put to work repairing local infrastructure, including the Macomb Street Bridge.
Community organizations throughout country are participating in a national project to post photos of beat-up roads, crumbling bridges, rundown schools and neglected parks to WorkThatNeedsDoing.com, a website that calls attention to the thousands of projects left undone while politicians in Washington fail to create jobs and rebuild the economy for the middle class.