Ohio AFL-CIO President Joe Rugola on the “Road to Recovery”

On Sunday, Ohio AFL-CIO President Joe Rugola began what will become an approximately 300-mile trek around the state of Ohio.  Pres. Rugola decided to undertake this massive effort to bring attention to the fact that in the last eight years, 1,098 job sites closed down or held mass layoffs.  Those shut-downs and layoffs represent about 180,000 jobs that have left our state since Bush took office. 

Pres. Rugola is walking to underline Ohio’s great need for a responsible national economic policy, and a concerted effort by our next President to rebuild the American economy and restore jobs to our country.  His road is a road to economic recovery – and he’s making it clear that Barack Obama will help lead us down that road, while McCain offers only more of the same policies that have left our state with a 7.4% unemployment rate in August (that’s the highest it’s been in sixteen years). 

“Our goal is to highlight and demonstrate to Ohioans that there’s a reason why we’ve lost so many jobs and why our economy’s been wrecked and so many lives devastated,” said Rugola.

His tour began in Youngstown, at an IUE-CWA facility.  He walked surrounded by a caravan of cars, the RV in which he’ll rest on the road, and supporters like Barb Phillips, an OAPSE member and President of the Ashland-Wayne-Holmes Labor Council.  “I decided to walk today to help Joe bring focus on how many jobs we’ve lost in the state of Ohio.  In my heart I believe it’s definitely going to work,” Ms. Phillips said.