Triangle workers, retirees call for closing tax loopholes for Wall Street, richest 2%

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Jeremy Sprinkle, Communications Director, 336-255-2711, [email protected]

TRIANGLE WORKERS, RETIREES CALL FOR CLOSING TAX LOOPHOLES FOR WALL STREET, RICHEST 2%
Constituents say North Carolinians in Congress should reject cuts to earned benefits

(Raleigh, NC – 1/26/13) Not even sleet and snow less than 24 hours ago could keep some working families in the Triangle from coming together in Raleigh for a biennial meeting of the local AFL-CIO to get engaged in upcoming legislative battles - including closing tax loopholes for Wall Street and the richest 2% of Americans instead of cutting Social Security, Medicaid, and Medicare. The meeting and subsequent action were part of a build up to a national mobilization on January 30th for tax fairness and against benefit cuts.

Inside the meeting, about 50 attendees of the Triangle Labor Council’s legislative breakfast took advantage of the opportunity to sign letters to Senator Kay Hagan urging her to do away with wasteful tax loopholes and pressed their local lawmakers in attendance to ask their members of Congress to do the same.

Outside afterward, participants carried signs over to the headquarters of the North Carolina GOP, denouncing fringe Republicans in Congress for holding the country hostage to push a radical agenda that decimates family-supporting programs like Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security.

“I don’t care if you’re a Republican or a Democrat,” said Candice Davies of Cary, NC. “Any politician who wants to be taken seriously about the debt ought to be for closing tax loopholes that only benefit a wealthy few and pad already record-high corporate profits.“

“It’s a cold day to be out here,” said Miriam Thompson of Chapel Hill, NC, “but if North Carolina Republicans in Congress get their way and cut the benefits people like me have worked hard all our lives to earn, a lot of their constituents are gonna be put out in the cold.”

“Being a responsible member of Congress precludes political hostage taking or manufacturing one crisis after another,” said James Andrews, President of the state AFL-CIO. “We want our elected leaders to address the real problems facing our economy and not to be part of the problem.”

This afternoon at a different local AFL-CIO legislative meeting in Fayetteville, attendees will also write letters to Congress opposing benefit cuts and tax loopholes for the rich.

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The North Carolina State AFL-CIO is the largest association of local unions and union councils in North Carolina, representing over one-hundred thousand union members, fighting for good jobs, safe workplaces, workers’ rights, consumer protections, and quality public services on behalf of all working families. PO Box 10805, Raleigh, NC 27605.

Video - NC: Triangle workers, retirees demand prosperity, not austerity from NC Republicans in 2013: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2oR_T8DzPtU

More photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/aflcionc/sets/72157632613375585/