With the March 1 sequestration deadline looming, more than 40 people representing a dozen labor and social advocacy groups rallied Wednesday at U.S. House Speaker John Boehner’s district office in West Chester Twp. to urge him to work with President Obama to stop the automatic across-the-board spending cuts.

The groups had with them a petition containing 50,000 signatures asking Boehner to focus on jobs and not cuts. Rally organizers said they were focused on the Speaker because people are looking to him to lead instead of pushing attacks on the safety net.

Doug Sizemore, executive director of the Cincinnati AFL-CIO, said similar rallies were happening across the nation to raise awareness on these issues.

“Now is the time to close loopholes for Wall Street and the richest 2 percent,” Sizemore said. “We will lose 750,000 jobs with the sequestration.”

A seven-person delegation met with members of Boehner’s local staff for about 20 minutes and presented the petition. Local staff members referred all media questions to Boehner’s Washington, D.C. office.

Brittany Bramell, a spokeswoman at Boehner’s Washington, D.C. office, had no comment other than “people come in to the office regularly to voice their opinion, and we pass along their comments to the Speaker.”

David Kern, chairman of the Butler County GOP executive committee, said he was unaware of Wednesday’s rally, but “I do feel confident that Speaker Boehner will continue to hold firm to try to get our country back on the proper economic track.

“The course Obama is leading us on will lead to the absolute ruination of our country and will make Greece look like a ‘Sunday School picnic,’” Kern said.

Dan Heck, of Working America, said the petition signatures were gathered from across the state and nation. He said Working America has more than 1 million Ohio members and represents those who don’t have the benefit of a union at their workplace.

“Our members are concerned about the attacks on the safety net,” Heck said. “We’re here to say we need jobs and not cuts to Medicare, Social Security and Medicaid.”

Bentley Davis, state director for the Alliance of Retired Americans, said about 2,100 of the 50,000 signatures on were from constituents in Ohio’s 8th Congressional District. Those people don’t want any cuts to the social programs and believe there are savings to be had such as negotiating the costs of prescription medications, Davis said.

Kristin Barker, a peace programs staff member for Intercommunity Peace and Justice Center, said both sides “agree that sequestration is not going to help our country, and our message is that we need jobs. We see the absolute need to protect programs such as Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid that help all working families. We see the ability to cut wasteful Pentagon spending and make smart investments in jobs.”

Barker said she thought the rally “had an excellent mix of labor, community and members of faith communities.”

“We were part of a national effort today and I think it will be an unmistakable message that was sent,” she said.

The co-sponsors of Wednesday’s action included Intercommunity Justice and Peace Center, Cincinnati AFL-CIO, Dayton Miami Valley AFL-CIO, Working America, Alliance for Retired Americans, Cincinnati Council on American Islamic Relations, Ohio Nuns on the Bus, Contact Center, GlobalSolutions.org, Cincinnati Interfaith Workers Center, and the Cincinnati Interfaith Committee for Worker Justice.