“Scott Brown, Stop Voting Against Jobs.”
That was the chant heard in Danvers last night as 50 teachers, first responders, unemployed workers and community activists gathered outside the Co Co Key Hotel, where Scott Brown was speaking to a group of CEOs.
This demonstration came in response to Brown’s vote last Thursday to block the Teachers and First Responders Back to Work Act. With that vote, Brown blocked 400,000 education jobs that could have been saved or created and stood against funds that would have prevented thousands of layoffs for cops and firefighters.
Matthew Reddy, a firefighter from Lynn, has experienced first hand the consequences of shrinking resources for our community firehouses.
“Scott Brown went to Washington to make Massachusetts a better place. How are we a better place when you vote against teachers, firemen and police officers?” Reddy asked his fellow protestors in Danvers. “Just because he drives a pick up truck, doesn’t mean he understands people like us.”
Several area teachers raised their concerns about the impact of Brown’s vote on their already strained classrooms.
“Every year, we bite our nails and worry about whether we’re going to have a job next year,” said Jennifer McCabe, a teacher from Malden. “These classrooms are overcrowded and our teachers are exhausted. We need staff in our schools. We’re here to tell Scott Brown that we’re not backing down.”
This vote just adds to Brown’s long anti-jobs voting record. Earlier this month, Brown voted to block the American Jobs Act, which would have invested upwards of $850.7 million in Massachusetts’ bridges, roads and transit systems – creating at least 11,000 local jobs. Brown has also voted eight times against extending unemployment insurance — even while millions of Americans are struggling to find employment.
