VUUW
(Visible Unemployed and Underemployed Workers)

The Issues.

• Our Survey on Issues / Rights / Demands..
• Can My Boss Do That? site (www.canmybossdothat.com). .
• Assistance programs are broken, insufficient, or missing. Food, shelter, health, employment. Stating our demands.
• Changing the treatment of the still largely unseen and ignored unemloyed and underemployed.
• Some Talking Points on UU Issues in a .doc file. When the public and press want to talk.

Who.

• - Unemployed. Those of us who need but do not now have a good full-time job.
• - Underemployed. Those of us who --
  • - are being paid at a rate below the true value of our work and our abilities.
  • - and/or are being paid for fewer hours than we actually work or need to work.
  • - and/or are enduring bad working conditions or an unorganized workplace.
• - Supporters of the unemployed and underemployed. Those of us who back uu organizing, whether we ourselves are currently unemployed or underemployed, or neither.
• - VUUW activists. Helping identify organizations and leaders who can bring out numbers of the uu and supporters. Volunteering for a TV or radio interview crew. Making signs and print handouts. . . . .

Family Survival.

• Can My Boss Do That? (www.canmybossdothat.com).
• Rights and actions when leaving a job.
• Unemployment benefits.
• Unemployment Lifeline

Visibility tactics.

• Public plazas presence.

  Visibility; talk to each other, involve allies, motivate officials.

• Demonstrations.

• Media appearances.

• Interviews

  for Internet TV (more crew members wanted). "What should the country be doing for the unemployed and underemployed?" "What are the rights of the unemployed and underemployed?" Sidewalk interviews so far have been in downtown Chicago at the State of Illinois Thompson Center building plaza, and at the Pilsen neighborhood unemployment office. More interviews will be posted soon.
  • Vuuw90812b
    
    
    08/12/2009, near the
    unemployment office in Pilsen.
  • Vuuw90812a
    
    
    08/12/2009, near the
    unemployment office in Pilsen.

Some articles.

• 8/10/2009. Most of the jobs that have been lost are never coming back. And one in five are underemployed.
• 5/21/2009. Organizing the Unemployed. The unemployed tend to be isolated.
• 04/08/2009. Fix the economy for who?. In a growing number of countries--most dramatically in Greece and France--workers are taking to the streets with widespread strikes and protest. Such resistance is needed in the U.S. as well--both to challenge the bailout to the banks and to force workers' needs into the political agenda.
• 3/11/2009. For a Union of the Unemployed.
• 2/13/2008. Strange Stimulation: Too Little for Those Who Need It Most. Aid for the unemployed--particularly the long-term jobless--is urgently needed.

Research.

• 'vuuw' search of Internet Archive. Videos and stills.
• 'Union of the unemployed' search of the Internet using Dogpile.
• 'Unemployed OR unemployment' search for videos on YouTube. 18,000+ hits.
• 'Unemployed' search for videos on YouTube. 6500+ hits.
• 'Underemployed' search for videos on YouTube. 150+ hits.

History.