AFL-CIO and Working America Offer Lineline to America's Unemployed

Unemployed and Need Help? Go to UnemploymentLifeLine.com

The nation’s largest labor organizations, the AFL-CIO and Working America, have launched an online Unemployment LifeLine campaign to give America’s unemployed workers more resources.

“To stay afloat, people who are out of work need a lifeline to keep them connected to their communities and economic services,” said AFL-CIO President John Sweeney. “UnemploymentLifeLine.com corrals resources for people when they and their families need them the most.”

UnemploymentLifeLine.com is an online lifeline—a Yellow Pages meets Wikipedia—for unemployed workers. On the site, people can enter their ZIP code and see a listing of available resources for workers in their area, such as where to go for unemployment insurance, nutritional assistance, heating subsidies, credit counseling, job training programs and much more.

The AFL-CIO and Working America, the 2.5 million-member community affiliate of the AFL-CIO, have created and presented the largest set of data on resources for unemployed workers currently available. The groups say it is about helping families find the information and support they need to ride out the worst recession in decades. In addition, at unemployment offices across the country, Working America canvassers are talking to unemployed workers about the issues that matter to them and getting information into their hands.

“Greedy corporate executives rewrote the rules, stole billions of dollars and left our economy in ruins,” said Karen Nussbaum, executive director of Working America. Every month, more than 600,000 U.S. workers lose their jobs; about 12.5 million U.S. workers are unemployed.

“Working America and the AFL-CIO are fighting for good jobs and an economy that works for all,” Nussbaum said.

The program was developed to assist workers like Susan Flashman, 54, of Mount Rainer, Md. Flashman lost her position as an electrician last year and has been using her savings and unemployment insurance checks to cover basic needs and health care.

“The construction industry was built on the American dream of home ownership,” Flashman said. “That dream has been undermined by Wall Street’s bad loans.”