Media Advisory For: Contact: Carlyn Foster, 202-730-7125
Thursday, May 14 Ali Jost, 202-730-7159
Historic Factory “Sit In” Grows as Hart Schaffner & Marx Workers, in Second Factory this Week, Vote to “Sit In” to Save their Jobs from Liquidation by Bailout Recipient Wells
SEIU to Launch “Keep
National Campaign will Support Small Business Owners and Workers Facing Job Loss as Ailing Banks Deny Credit, Push for Company Liquidation
May 13, 2009—This Thursday, the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) will announce the creation of a toll-free hotline and website—Keep America Working—to support small business owners and workers facing job loss across the country.
Big banks like Bank of America and Wells Fargo received more than $410 billion in taxpayer bailout funds so they could remain solvent and start lending again to get the economy moving. Instead, they’re freezing loans and putting small businesses in danger of closing their doors and putting workers in the unemployment line.
The Keep America Working Hotline represents an opportunity for workers and small business owners to preemptively protect jobs in our communities and hold taxpayer-financed banks accountable for actions that undercut a meaningful economic recovery.
Rep. Jan Schakowsky
Andy Stern, SEIU President
Tom Balanoff,
Ruby Simms, 32-year veteran of the Hart Schaffner & Marx factory in
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Workers United, an SEIU affiliate, is a union representing more than 150,000 workers in the US and Canada who work in the laundry, food service, hospitality, gaming, apparel, textiles manufacturing and distribution industries. Workers United is a new union with a history of more than 100 years, and includes members from many predecessor unions, including the ILGWU, ACTWU, UNITE and UNITE HERE unions.
SEIU - With 2 million members in