New Report Offers Economic & Policy Prescriptions for African-American Workers to Improve Social and Economic Justice

WASHINGTON, DC-Next Wednesday, the 1.9 million member Service Employees International Union (SEIU) will honor the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. by hosting a press briefing with leading black economists to discuss the impact of today's economy on black workers. They will also release a policy report and action agenda: Beyond the Mountaintop: King's Prescription for Poverty."

The report challenges the nation to take up King's vision of social, political, and economic justice through a five-point action plan aimed at improving "a two-dimensional job crisis: an unemployment crisis and a low-wage crisis"for black workers.

The recommendations come at a critical time for America's working families as the nation struggles with a failing economy, a mortgage crisis, weak consumer confidence, stagnant employment, and soaring gas prices.

WHO:  Gerry Hudson, SEIU International Executive Vice President welcoming remarks;
Craig Jones, SEIU member and Cincinnati janitor and
other SEIU members to share personal stories on impacts of current economy;
Memphis sanitation worker who marched with Dr. King in 1968;
Steven Pitts, a labor policy specialist with the University of California-Berkeley Center for Labor Research and Education;
William Spriggs, chair of the Howard University Department of Economics; and
A dozen leading African-American economists

WHAT:  Press briefing and policy discussion about black workers in today's economy
WHEN:  Wednesday, April 2nd, 11 AM ET.
WHERE:  SEIU, 1800 Massachusetts Avenue, NW (Metro Red Line, Dupont Circle)

For an embargoed copy of the report, please contact Kawana Lloyd, 202-730-7087, kawana.lloyd@seiu.org, or Nadia Stefko, 202-730-7125, nadia.stefko@seiu.org.  

The policy brief will be distributed to the members of the Bush administration, Congress members, African-American civil rights and service organizations, and heads of Fortune 100 corporations.

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