Labor's wish list: jobs, jobs, jobs

Thousands of members of Working America -- the non-union member community arm of the AFL-CIO -- got on a telephone town hall Tuesday night with Sen. Bob Casey Jr., D-Pa., spending most of the time discussing the need to attack the unemployment rate, with health care now (nearly) in the rearview mirror.

"We have made progress in helping to move our economy in the right direction, but more needs to be done to spur economic growth and get Pennsylvanians back to work," Casey said, according to a news release issued by Working America, citing the need to further extend COBRA and unemployment insurance, which the Senate has only temporarily extended.

Callers also asked Casey about Wall Street reform and health care, but most of the focus was on jobs legislation designed to revive the middle class.

“This economy is moving away from things that create good solid middle-class jobs,” said AFL-CIO Deputy Chief of Staff Thea Lee. “At the end of the day, we had a financial meltdown because you can’t have a good economy without good jobs.”

Working America represents 500,000 people in Pennsylvania and 3 million nationwide, a large bloc of support to advance labor's agenda and likely a player in the midterm elections.