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GREATER BANGOR AREA CENTRAL LABOR COUNCIL
20 Ayer Street, Brewer, ME 04412 (207) 989-4141 jack@gbaclc.org President: Jack McKay, UNITE Local 486 Vice-President: Kendal Dunbar, Machinists Local 1821 Treasurer: Sylvia Perry, AFSCME DC 93 Recording Secretary: Jimmy Cook, IBT Local 340 Trustees: Bruce Robertson, PACE 261; Tim Tracy, AFSCME Local 926; Hilda Chow, AFGE Local 948 |
Unemployment Line
Area Laid-Off Workers and Supporters Give Reality Check
Bangor, October 14, 2004 – A symbolic unemployment line of people waving pink slips will form on the corner of State Street and Broadway on Thursday, October 14th, the day after the first presidential debate. The line, which will run along the John Bapst side of Broadway, will draw attention to the more than eight million Americans who are looking for work and cannot find it.
Organized by the Greater Bangor Central Labor Council, AFL-CIO, the line will consist of participants holding pink slips and standing in a single file line for 45 minutes, from 7:45 am to 8:30 am.
The line will be made up of both employed and unemployed people; students, and members of labor, social service and faith-based organizations. Their action will put a human face on the worst jobs economy since the Great Depression, an economy that has suffered a net loss of nearly one million jobs since 2001.
Unemployment is an especially critical issue in Central and Eastern Maine, where over 3,000 workers have lost their jobs to outsourcing since George Bush took office.
A press center will be established on the John Bapst side of Broadway, close to the intersection of State Street. Several unemployed workers, as well as spokespeople from the AFL-CIO will be there, available for interviews starting at 8:30 AM.
The Bangor Unemployment Line of October 14th, is similar to the one organized in New York City on September 1 during the Republican National Convention in which nearly 8,000 participants formed a 3-mile long line from Wall Street up Broadway to Madison Square Garden.
About the GBA-CLC, AFL-CIO
The GBA-CLC represents over 4,000 workers in the Bangor region. It is the regional group of the National AFL-CIO, which represents more than 13 million working men and women. The AFL-CIO’s mission is to bring social and economic justice to our nation by enabling working people to have a voice on the job, in government, in a changing global economy and in their communities. For more information, visit www.aflcio.org.
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