Blog: Alexi Talks Jobs in Collinsville

Statement

A day after President Obama campaigned for Alexi Giannoulias to take Obama's old seat in the Senate, Giannoulias appeared with union workers in Collinsville to tout his jobs plan.

Giannoulias spoke among members of International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 309 Friday afternoon, flanked by state Rep. Tom Holbrook, D-Belleville, and state Sen. James Clayborne, D-East St. Louis, remembering some workers who had lost jobs transferred to China and South Korea that he met when touring the metro-east during the primary.

"Unfortunately, it's a story that is all too common," Giannoulias said, citing the Economic Policy Institute in estimating 80,000 jobs lost in Illinois alone from 2001 to 2006.

Giannoulias said the workers he met were in his thoughts while crafting a jobs plan that would close tax loopholes for companies that export jobs overseas, a payroll tax holiday for workers making less than $75,000 and tax breaks for small businesses that add jobs in America.

He had a few words about his opponent, U.S. Rep. Mark Kirk. "The differences could not be more clear," Giannoulias said. [...]

Former union president Mike Fultz, who himself has been laid off twice in the past five years, spoke for Giannoulias. "The day the word comes that they're closing the plant, that's a conversation you never want to have at the supper table," Fultz said. "If we're going to grow this country, grow this state, we have to have those jobs."

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