Stand Up and Fight for The American Jobs Act
 
On Sept. 8, 2011, President Obama announced the first real plan to get our nation back to work and our economy back on track. The "American Jobs Act" would help get laid-off teachers, firefighters, police officers, Sheet Metal Workers and so many others backto work. It would rebuild our schools, infrastructure and rail systems while increasing our energy efficiency through new work in our industry.
 
We cannot afford not to push for its passage. Take action by contacting your local newspaper about your support for this plan, then pass on this information to your friends and family. Make sure you check back here often for updates.


Step 1 - Select a Recipient

Our Letter to the Editor tool makes it simple to contact your local media outlets.  If you wish to personalize your letter some more, you can with some useful tips below.

1. Keep It Short
Make your letter clear, concise, and focused on one point. Length requirements vary but 150 – 200 words max is a good rule of thumb.

2. Keep It Simple
Use simple, everyday language. Avoid catch phrases and fancy terminology. Make it easy for the average reader to understand.

3. Personalize It
Use our talking points as a spring board, but put them in your own words and personalize them with your own experiences.

4. Include Contact Info.
Include your name, snail and email address, and the number where you can most easily be reached. This information is kept private, however, the paper must have it as they will not print a letter to the editor from anyone they have not first contacted and verified as the author.

5. Make It Exclusive
Don’t make multiple submissions. It’s tempting to blast your letter to multiple outlets, but papers want exclusives. If you don’t hear back from a paper in a few days, then submit the same letter to another paper.

6. Rewrite and Resubmit
If your letter gets published, notify the other outlets you’ve sent it to so the same letter isn’t published twice. (Papers get very peeved if you do this.) If you wish to get published in a second paper, recraft and rewrite a new letter on the same subject.

7. Promote Your Success
Give your published letter extra mileage by announcing it on facebook, twitter, to organizations and blogs that support your sentiments, and of course send us an email so we can post it here.   Most importantly, send it to your representatives with a cover letter.

Look for papers within miles of zip code

Step 2 - Write your message





Click on a point to add it to the letter.
  • The President’s plan includes $50 billion in immediate investments for highways, transit, rail and aviation, helping to modernize an infrastructure that now receives a grade of “D” from the American Society of Civil Engineers and putting hundreds of thousands of construction workers back on the job.

  • It will also take special steps to enhance infrastructure-related job training opportunities for individuals from underrepresented groups and ensure that small businesses can compete for infrastructure contracts.

  • The call for greater infrastructure investment has been joined by leaders from AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka to U.S. Chamber of Commerce President Thomas Donohue.

  • The President is proposing a $25 billion investment in school infrastructure that will modernize at least 35,000 public schools – investments that will create jobs, while improving classrooms and upgrading our schools to meet 21st century needs.

  • The President is proposing to invest $15 billion in a national effort to put construction workers on the job rehabilitating and refurbishing hundreds of thousands of vacant and foreclosed homes and businesses.