National AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka on the June Jobs Report:

June's unemployment numbers should be a wake-up call to Republicans in Congress who’ve refused to act to create jobs, stop layoffs and help the jobless.

Their repeated no votes on jobs are a slap in the face to America's Working Families as Congress heads out for a long holiday recess.  

Republicans stubbornly refuse to recognize that the private sector's job-creating machine is dead in the water, creating only 83,000 jobs last month.

In the Senate this week, every Democrat but one voted to extend unemployment benefits and all but two Republicans voted to block those same benefits.

Overall, the economy shed 125,000 jobs in June as the Census reduced its temporary workforce. 

The unemployment rate fell to 9.5% in June, but only because 652,000 workers left the Labor Force.  

The economic recovery is still far too weak to power the job growth we need to offset the almost eight million jobs lost since the recession began. 

Meanwhile, 14.6 million workers are formally unemployed, and nearly half of them have been unemployed for more than 26 weeks.  

Every effort to dig us out of our 10.5 million jobs hole is being stymied by excuses about the deficit.  This is not to say the federal budget doesn't need attention - it does, but over the long term.  Right now we have an immediate jobs crisis.  And unless we address it soon, we'll only make the Nation's economic conditions worse.  

It is a national disgrace that members of Congress headed home to celebrate our Nation's birthday after having voted repeatedly not to create jobs or to extend unemployment aid.

All Americans have been impacted by our jobs crisis, with some families bearing multiple burdens of job loss, foreclosures and benefit cuts.

We're teetering on the brink of a historic national and global depression and Congressional Republicans are pushing closer and closer to the edge.

National AFL-CIO President Trumka On New Legislation To Strengthen Job Safety Laws:

The National AFL-CIO welcomes and strongly supports the new safety and health legislation that was unveiled last week to strengthen the Mine Safety and Health Act and Occupational Safety and Health Act. 

The bill, H.R. 5663 - which was introduced by Representatives George Miller (Democrat-California), Lynn Woolsey (Democrat-California) and Nick Rahall (Democrat-West Virginia) - would strengthen oversight and enforcement at the Nation's mines and other dangerous workplaces, provide for tougher penalties for employers who flagrantly violate the law and enhance the rights of workers who report job hazards and injuries.

Too many employers in this country - including Massey Energy and BP - have put profits and production ahead of worker safety and other protections. 

The result is the worst mining disaster and worst environmental disaster in decades and many other workplace tragedies that have claimed dozens and dozens of workers' lives. 

The killing of workers must stop.

Employers who put workers in danger and who violate the law must be held accountable. 

This legislation will save workers lives.

We call on the House and the Senate to stand with the Nation's miners and workers and move immediately to enact this legislation to prevent more unnecessary workplace tragedies and deaths.