Workers World: On the picket line
Workers march for jobs in Illinois
Over 5,500 workers and their supporters stretched more than eight blocks during a “Put America Back to Work” march in Granite City, Ill., on Feb. 10. They included laid-off steelworkers in Granite City and laid-off auto workers from Decatur and Fenton, Mo. More than 2,500 members of Steel Workers Local 1899 were laid off from U.S. Steel-Granite City Works in December. The march, sponsored by local and state labor unions and several community groups, was held to support passage of the federal stimulus bill. The workers, whose output is between 30 and 35 percent construction-grade steel, supported the bill because they hope it will help them get back to work. In its report on the march, the St. Louis Suburban Journals noted that “‘shovel-ready’ infrastructure projects such as roads, bridges and schools could begin within 90 to 120 days” after the bill is signed into law and “each billion dollars spent on infrastructure generates $6 billion in economic activity and provides 34,000 ‘good-paying’ jobs.” (Feb. 10) Imagine if there were marches of laid-off workers demanding jobs all over this country. Better yet in Washington, D.C.
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