Local citizens rally for good jobs and the middle class in Portsmouth, showing solidarity with Occupy Wall Street and other national movements.

For 20 years, Somersworth resident Larry Silk worked for the government, assembling, repairing and maintaining submarines. But he lost his job in May 2010 and has been unemployed ever since. Silk has submitted upwards of 70 résumés and applications, all to no avail. He’s getting desperate.

“It’s become quite the juggling act, paying one bill one month, paying another bill another month, getting shutoff notices, having the gas shut off,” Silk told a crowd gathered in Prescott Park. “With a family of five to support and unemployment pretty much drawing to an end, the outlook is pretty bleak.”

Silk was one of several New Hampshire citizens to speak at a rally for good jobs in Portsmouth on Saturday, Oct. 15. Part of the national America Wants to Work movement, the rally was orchestrated by the New Hampshire AFL-CIO and Protect New Hampshire Families. Organizers circulated a petition urging the Legislature to stop making “reckless” budget cuts and focus on job creation.

Many of those present spoke against Republican-led initiatives to reduce bargaining rights for unions and continue tax cuts for the wealthy. They distributed lawn signs reading “Protect New Hampshire’s Middle Class” and called on legislators, both local and federal, to support President Obama’s new jobs plan.

Many of the rally’s talking points echoed those of the ongoing Occupy Wall Street demonstrations taking place in cities around the nation. The prevailing message is that Americans are fed up with policies that benefit the ultra-wealthy while leaving middle class and low-income families gasping for air.

That sentiment was encapsulated in a number of signs held at the rally, as well as a repeated chant of “Where are the jobs?”

Judy Stadtman, community organizer for the N.H. AFL-CIO, cited data from the N.H. Economic & Labor Market Information Bureau indicating the state has more than 38,000 unemployed workers and another 45,000 underemployed workers. Although New Hampshire has boasted a relatively low unemployment rate during the recession, 11.4 percent of the state’s workforce is either unemployed or underemployed.

Of the 10,700 jobs created in New Hampshire in the last 12 months, Stadtman said, 9,000 were in the leisure and hospitality industry and pay less than the state’s median hourly wage of $16.98. In fact, 7,400 of those jobs were in the food service industry and pay less than $10 per hour on average.

Meanwhile, Stadtman says, in the last year, New Hampshire has lost 2,300 state and local government jobs, 1,800 service jobs, 900 construction jobs, 600 transportation and utility jobs, 500 federal government jobs, and 200 manufacturing jobs. In the last month, she said, the state has shed 1,000 health care and education jobs, which have a median wage of more than $24 per hour on average.

“Our demands are simple,” Stadtman said. “We want our elected representatives in Concord and in Congress to stop promoting policies that attack the middle class and kill living wage jobs and start really doing something to revitalize our economy and create the jobs that we need to put New Hampshire back to work.”

Paul O’Connor, president of the Metal Trades Council at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, outlined some of the national actions and policies that have negatively affected New Hampshire’s workforce.

“Let’s talk about a pulverized industrial base in this nation. Let’s talk about unfunded wars. Let’s talk about continued tax breaks for millionaire job creators—and how has that philosophy worked for us in the past 10 years?” he said. “Let’s talk about Wall Street corruption. Let’s talk about corporations miraculously evolving into people. It’s madness. It has to end. America needs a jobs bill that works for all of us.”

O’Connor rallied to help rescue the shipyard from closure in 2005, but he said politics are again threatening the yard. He referenced the “Committee of 12” created as part of this summer’s debt limit deal, which is charged with recommending $1.5 trillion in savings over the next decade. If they do not come up with a plan by Nov. 23, or if Congress fails to approve their plan by Dec. 23, a series of automatic spending cuts will be enforced, which could jeopardize the shipyard. That would result in the loss of thousands of jobs and hundreds of millions of dollars from the local economy.

“We have to trust this Committee of 12 to do the right thing for our nation. I’m not there. I don’t have that trust,” O’Connor said.

Postal worker Ed Barnes, steward of his local mail handlers union, warned of another imminent closure in Portsmouth, that of the postal distribution center, which will close by the end of the month, taking with it 90 middle-class jobs.

Barnes accused U.S. Rep. Frank Guinta (R-N.H.), who sits on the House Oversight Committee, of failing to act in support of the postal service. Statewide, he said, the collapse of the postal service will result in the loss of 2,000 middle-class jobs. His comments spurred a chant of “Shame on Frank.”

Barnes also criticized Sen. Kelly Ayotte (R-N.H.), who recently voted against hearing Obama’s jobs plan in Washington, D.C. Ayotte said in a press release that she voted against proceeding on Obama’s plan because it would raise taxes on “our nation’s job creators,” a.k.a., the super wealthy. 

“She wants relaxed regulations and ongoing tax cuts for millionaires and billionaires,” Barnes said. “Where has that taken us? Where has that gotten us?” A noisy chant of “Shame on Kelly” ensued.

A couple of local small business owners also spoke at the rally. Jack Bingham, owner of Seacoast Energy Alternatives and a resident of Barrington, spoke of the need for increased investment in alternative energy sources.

“Saying that alternatives don’t need assistance is to suggest that Exxon got there all by themselves, and we all know that’s not true,” Bingham said. “There are no self-made men or women. We’ve all done our part and we all need to continue to do our part. This is not the time to horde our wealth.”

Nancy Beach, co-owner of Atlantic Media and host of the WSCA radio show “Wake Up, America,” criticized legislators who, like Ayotte, insist the key to improving the economy is maintaining tax cuts for the nation’s wealthiest citizens.

“They say that we can’t ask those who have prospered the most over the past 10 years to sacrifice and pay their fair share, because after all, they’re the job creators. So I ask, where are the jobs? You’ve had 10 years of a tax credit. Where are the jobs?”

She accused New Hampshire’s Legislature of promoting policies that have nothing to do with job creation or would result in lost jobs, such as loosening gun laws, cutting the minimum wage, abolishing the Department of Education, repealing marriage equality and establishing a state militia.

She also accused House Speaker William O’Brien and other state Republicans of taking a tax-funded trip to a conference sponsored by Americans for Prosperity, a conservative political advocacy group founded by the Koch brothers, and then bringing AFP’s “ultra right-wing legislation” back to New Hampshire. Such legislation has included a proposed repeal of the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, she said.

Although Bingham and Beach have managed to maintain their businesses, others haven’t been so lucky. Kristin Fredrickson, of Lebanon, said she has gone on close to 70 job interviews over the past two years and has only managed to secure a few temporary jobs in that time.

Maria Carrasquillo, a sophomore at the University of New Hampshire, said some of her friends and relatives have been unable to find good jobs after graduating from college. As a result, she said, New Hampshire is losing its young population.

“We have hundreds and thousands of college graduates who are leaving their schools to find that there aren’t well-paying jobs for them once they graduate,” Carrasquillo said. “If we can only offer them poverty-level, low-paying jobs, they’re not going to stay in New Hampshire.”

Carrasquillo spoke in support of Obama’s jobs plan. Others at the rally urged attendees to contact their local legislators to push their message. Still others expressed support for the Occupy Wall Street movement, which has spread to Granite State cities like Concord, Manchester and Nashua.

“Support Occupy Wall Street and take back Main Street,” Beach shouted. “We want what’s best for everyone in New Hampshire. We want what’s best for everyone in this country, not what’s best only for those that have the most money. Let’s show our legislators we mean business.”

Larry Silk, who is still searching for a job after 17 months of unemployment, suggested his own solution to the nation’s economic woes. He noted that members of Congress accept an automatic annual pay raise and receive a generous retirement package when they resign, even if they only serve one term.

“If Congress really wants to do something about jobs, if they’re really taking this stand about creating jobs, why don’t they stop taking a paycheck until they can create those jobs, until they can make sure the rest of us have paychecks?”