UNEMPLOYED WORKERS, CONCERNED VOTERS OCCUPY SENATOR TOOMEY’S OFFICE

Pennsylvanians Pledge to Occupy Office until Senator Toomey Supports Job Creation Policies and Stops Siding with CEOs and Wall Street Bankers over Middle Class Families

ALLENTOWN, PA –Angered by months of unanswered calls to address joblessness, an increase in Pennsylvania’s unemployment and news of an influx of donations to Senator Toomey from the banking industry, unemployed workers and concerned voters marched to Senator Toomey’s Allentown office this morning to call on him to support real job creation efforts, including the American Jobs Act. Refusing to leave the office until Senator Toomey changes his position on critical job creation programs, the demonstrators pledge to continue daily protests during the Senate recess.

“Senator Toomey has turned his back on Pennsylvania’s middle class,” said Shawn Wygant, who has been looking for work since the laundry facility he worked at closed down in May. “Our families are hurting. While we struggle just to keep a roof over our heads, Senator Toomey is working to give more tax breaks to companies that are sending our jobs overseas and taking donations from the greedy CEOs and banks that put us in this mess.”

The unemployed workers and community members are demanding that Senator Toomey:

1. Support the American Jobs Act;

2. Stop making job-killing cuts to Medicare and other services Pennsylvania families need;

3. Make big banks and corporations pay their fair share.

“I’ve been looking for work for months, and there’s nothing out there,” said Dan Haney, who has been out of work since his job and those of 650 of his co-workers were outsourced in February. “Senator Toomey is trying to make it easier for corporations to send jobs overseas when my family needs him to help create jobs here in Pennsylvania. Senator Toomey is siding with the rich CEOs and Wall Street bankers, the 1% that he spends his time with, and has forgotten about the hard-working Pennsylvanians who put him in office.”

The demonstrators are angry about Senator Toomey’s opposition to the American Jobs Act, which would create jobs in Pennsylvania, and his recent proposals to the budget Super Committee, including a territorial tax system which gives tax cuts to corporations that ship American jobs overseas, and his proposal to institute a voucher system for Medicare.

Pennsylvanians have been calling on Senator Toomey to stop siding with CEOs and Wall Street bankers at protests in Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, Allentown,Scranton and Harrisburg. Protests outside of Senator Toomey’s Allentown office will continue throughout the Senate recess with faith leaders and local elected officials adding their support to the unemployed workers.