Unemployed workers, small business people mobilize calls to Congress for Unemployment Benefits, Jobs

Today, (November 16) unemployed workers will join with small business owners and others concerned with the lack of support for America’s unemployed workers. Unemployed workers will call on Congress to pass an extension of Unemployment Benefits with the same speed they passed bailouts for Wall Street. Unemployed Workers Council and the Illinois Main Street Alliance want to prepare this lifeline to middle class families, small business and the economy.

 Anthony Scorzo, 27, a laid off union electrician from Chicago, says, “Congress has to gets its priorities straight. Why are they bailing out millionaires with tax breaks and cutting my benefits while I look for work and go to school?”

 “Jobs produce customers, period,” stated Dan Sherry of the Illinois Main Street Alliance. “When unemployed workers become impoverished without any support, small business will continue to lose customers and close.”

A Press Conference and Protest on Unemployment Insurance, sponsored by Chicago Jobs with Justice Unemployed Workers Council and Illinois Main Street Alliance, will be held Tuesday, November 16, 11:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m., at the State of Illinois Center, 100 W. Randolph, in Chicago.