UAW President Bob King to join Rebuild America: Jobs, Justice and Peace march on Saturday, Aug. 28

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:  Friday, Aug. 27, 2010 

DETROIT -- UAW President Bob King will join the Rev. Jesse Jackson, founder and president of the Rainbow PUSH Coalition, elected officials and community leaders on Aug. 28 as thousands of union members, and activists take part in the Rebuild America: Jobs, Justice and Peace march.

Who:   

•  Bob King, UAW president, and members of the UAW International  Executive Board
• The Rev. Jesse Jackson, founder and president, Rainbow PUSH Coalition
• Elected officials
• Community leaders

What:  Rebuild America: Jobs, Justice and Peace march

When:  Saturday, Aug. 28, 2010, 10 a.m., Press Conference 10:30 a.m., March

Where:  UAW-Ford National Programs Center, 151 W. Jefferson Ave., Detroit

Contact:   UAW Public Relations Director Michele Martin, (313) 926-5291

 

The march begins at 10:30 a.m. starting at the UAW-Ford National Programs Center at 151 W. Jefferson Ave. next to Hart Plaza. In addition, a news conference is scheduled there at 10 a.m. The march ends at Grand Circus Park, located at 1601 Woodward Ave., the site of a rally scheduled to begin at 11:30 a.m. with a host of speakers, including King and Jackson. 

Other speakers include Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm, Detroit Mayor Dave Bing, Lansing Mayor - and Democratic nominee for governor - Virg Bernero and Mary Kay Henry, President of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU).

"UAW members and their families are proud to be a part of this massive campaign that brings so many concerned citizens together in the name of peace and mobilizing forces for change," said King.

"Every community has in some way witnessed the affects of the nation's economic meltdown. We need industrial and employment policies that work to keep jobs and manufacturing in the United States," said King. "Workers need to earn decent wages to provide for their families and help keep their neighborhoods and communities viable."

The Rebuild America: Jobs, Justice and Peace campaign calls on national leaders to rebuild America by focusing on:

• Jobs: economic reconstruction driven by targeted stimulus, reindustrialization and trade policy that will create jobs, support manufacturing in America and put workers first.
• Justice: enforcement of the law regarding workers rights, civil rights, industrial regulation and creation of strong urban policy, and a fair and just education, economic and health policy.
• Peace: ending the ongoing wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, saving lives and redirecting the war budget to rebuilding America.

Also, the campaign focuses on home foreclosures and calls for a moratorium on the practice that forces hard-working Americans from their homes while at the same time bailing out Wall Street executives and paying them million-dollar bonuses.

The Aug. 28 Detroit event commemorates the 47th anniversary of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech in Washington on Aug. 28, 1963.

In June 1963, the civil rights leader delivered a version of the now-famous address at Detroit's Walk to Freedom demonstration, a march of 125,000 people down Woodward Ave.

The Rebuild America campaign is supported by organizations including:

Rainbow PUSH Coalition                                              

UAW                                                    

SEIU

NAACP-Detroit

Detroit Urban League

AFSCME Council 25

AFT

SCLC, Michigan Chapter

Union of Part Time Faculty,-AFT Local 477

U.S. Labor Against the War

Metro Detroit AFL-CIO

USW District 2

Michigan Legislative Black Caucus

Progressive Democrats of America

Detroit Area Peace with Justice Network

Jobs with Justice

Coalition of Black Trade Unionists-Detroit

Huntington Woods Peace, Citizenship & Education Project

Moratorium Now!

Council of Baptist Pastors of Detroit and Vicinity

Highland Park NAACP

Michigan Emergency Committee Against War & Injustice

WarIsACrime.org

Labor Council for Latin American Advancement

Earth Day Network

United for Peace and Justice

Michigan State AFL-CIO

Code Pink/Michigan

Teamsters Local 299

The United Communities of America

Green Party Michigan/Detroit

Michigan Welfare Rights Organization

11th Hour for Peace

Democrats.com

Retirees for Single Payer Health Care

United National Antiwar Conference

National Assembly to End U.S. Wars and Occupations

Farm Labor Organizing Committee

Amalgamated Transit Union Local 268/Cleveland

Progress Michigan

Planned Parenthood of Michigan

 

Bail Out the People Movement