The Chicago Unemployed Workers Council, a project of Chicago Jobs with Justice, staged a jobs demonstration last Friday to coincide with the release of unemployed figures for October. Susan Hurley, Chicago director of JwJ, asked the crowd that since Mark Kirk, newly elected Republican Senator from Illinois, is about to go to work, when will the unemployed go back to work? She pointed out that the private sector isn’t putting people to work, so the government must.

Janet Edberg, a member of the Bridgeport Unemployed Action Center and unemployed for over two years, said that she had worked and paid into unemployment for 32 years and demanded that unemployment be extended to cover the long term unemployed. Millions are in danger of losing their benefits if Congress doesn’t act quickly to restore funding and a 5th tier of benefits.



Photo: Scott Marshall

Janet Edberg and Susan Hurley address unemployed rally in Chicago.