New Hampshire AFL-CIO

For Immediate Release                          Contact: Heidi Mitchell, 603-289-6333

Statement by New Hampshire AFL-CIO President Mark MacKenzie On the State of the Economy and the Jobs Report

October 3, 2008

Now that Wall Street is getting a bailout, what about the middle class? With each day it seems the news for working families gets bleaker. Today’s no exception with the announcement that another 159,000 jobs were lost nationwide in September.  Over three quarters of a million
workers are out of a job across this country, including 130 workers at the Freudenberg NOK plant who were handed pink slips this week.  This should drive our leaders to pass an economic recovery package that would provide real help for working families as those same families pay taxes
to bail out Wall Street.

This past weekend, the New Hampshire AFL-CIO endorsed a slate of legislative candidates at its annual convention.

The union endorsed all 24 Democratic state Senate candidates and Gov. John Lynch (D-Hopkinton). They also endorsed three of the four Democratic candidates running for the Executive Council and a slew of candidates for state representative. The most prominent Republican the union endorsed was Executive Councilor Ray Burton (R-Bath).

For Immediate Release                                                                   Contact Heidi Mitchell 603-289-6333

New Hampshire AFL-CIO Endorses State Candidates at Legislative Convention

Workers endorse full slate of candidates and boost grassroots mobilization for election

This morning, New Hampshire AFL-CIO members voted to endorse state legislative candidates who will fight for working families in Concord.  The vote was part of the New Hampshire AFL-CIO's bi-annual Legislative Convention held in Hooksett.  AFL-CIO members from across the state gathered, along with Rep. Carol Shea-Porter, Bill Shaheen, State Sen. Maggie Wood Hassan, State Rep. Bette Lasky and State Senate candidate Daphne Kenyon to discuss issues important to New Hampshire's working families. The convention provided union members the opportunity to learn more about the AFL-CIO grassroots mobilization, including an educational forum with endorsed candidates.

Social Security cake: Photo credit: PolitickerNH.comMANCHESTER-- A coalition of organizations gave U.S. Sen. John Sununu (R-Waterville Valley) a birthday cake. The cake though was not for Sununu's birthday. It was to celebrate the beginning of Social Security.

The New Hampshire Alliance for Retired Americans and members of the New Hampshire AFL-CIO stood outside Sununu's senate office to argue that Sununu's voting record on Social Security has been a "disgrace."