State Legislatures Attack Jobless Workers Rather than Create Jobs
Andy Richards on our Field Communications staff sends us this.
Many state legislatures have gone back into session this week and some state lawmakers aren’t looking to create badly needed jobs. Instead, the first item on their agenda is to attack jobless workers and their families.
The legislature in South Carolina is among them. This week, a senate panel approved legislation that would require unemployed workers to pass drug tests to get their unemployment insurance (UI), volunteer a minimum of 16 hours a week and look for only full-time employment opportunities after a certain period. The legislation will now go before the full Senate Labor, Commerce and Industry Committee for review and could be approved as early as Thursday.
At the same time, the executive director of the South Carolina Department of Employment and Workforce, Abraham Turner, announced new changes to agency policies that would go into effect Thursday, including forcing jobless workers to take a job at minimum wage after receiving 20 weeks of unemployment insurance.
Gov. Nikki Haley—who has used much of 2011 attacking the National Labor Relation Board (NLRB) and President Obama while she watched her approval rating hit bottom—said in October that she “so wants” drug testing for unemployed workers. Unfortunately for Haley, the claims she used to back up her arguments were debunked as exaggerations.
Unemployed Workers Win Jobless Aid Extension
Congress this morning extended for two months unemployment insurance (UI) for America’s jobless workers. Republicans in the House earlier this week had blocked the UI extenstion, but after suffering badly in opinion polling, they announced they’d join with 89 out of 100 senators from both political parties who’d already voted to renew unemployment aid for two months—with no cuts and no strings attached.
Media headlines throughout the week–including the conservative Wall Street Journal–and Republican stalwarts such as Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), had decried House Speaker John Boehner’s (R-Ohio) refusal to move the UI bill, which gives a lifeline to 2.8 million jobless Americans who otherwise would lose UI after Dec. 31.
AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka described the victory for jobless Americans as “not a hnndout or a free ride” but “a lifeline.”
In the fight to extend aid for the jobless, the 99 percent went on the offense against 1 percent politicians. And we won. And if working people keep it up, we’ll score more victories and build a better future. Not every time—two steps forward, one step back. But look around. People all across the country are saying our economy and our democracy are out of balance. And they’re winning the public debate.
2.8 Million Jobless Americans to Lose Unemployment Insurance Because of House Republicans
When House Republicans left town for the holidays Wednesday, they didn’t even leave behind a piece of coal in the stockings of some 2.8 million jobless workers whose unemployment benefits are about to expire over the course of the next two months. At least a piece of coal can be burned for heat.
An analysis by the National Employment Law Project (NELP) finds that come January, some 1.8 million will lose their unemployment insurance (UI), with another 1.1 million meeting the same fate in February.
NELP Executive Director Christine Owens explained in a statement: Read the rest of this entry »
Act Now: Tell House Republicans to Stop Holding Jobless Hostage
UPDATE: The Republican-controlled House Rules Committee early Tuesday morning voted to block a full House vote on the bipartisan Senate compromise that extends unemployment insurance (UI) benefits for the long-term jobless. The current program expires Dec. 31.
House Republicans tonight are expected to reject a bipartisan Senate compromise that extends unemployment insurance (UI) benefits for the long-term jobless and also extends the payroll tax cut for workers and employers. Without House approval, the UI benefits and tax cut expire Dec. 31.
Call House Speaker John Boehner at 202-225-0600. Tell him to stop playing politics with the lives of working familes–pass the Senate’s bipartisan bill to extend unemployment aid and middle-class tax cuts now.
Says AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka:
While the bipartisan compromise negotiated by Senate Republican and Democrat leadership and approved overwhelmingly by 89 senators is not ideal, it would give millions of working families some assurance as they head into the holidays that their unemployment benefits will not be cut off in January. Read the rest of this entry »
No Time to End Unemployment Benefits
The human costs of killing the extension to unemployment benefits
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This is a cross-post by Heather Boushey from the Center for American Progress.
Unemployment insurance is the primary government mechanism providing financial assistance to workers who are unemployed through no fault of their own. These benefits are set to expire on December 31. If Congress does not address this problem by the end of December, 2.2 million unemployed workers will lose their benefits by February. In 22 states, more than 30,000 unemployed workers will lose benefits.
Extending unemployment benefits is critical because our economy remains mired in one of the worst labor markets since the Great Depression. There are currently 13.9 million Americans unemployed, with the unemployment rate at or above 9 percent for 28 of the past 30 months. In October, the last month for which complete data are available, nearly half of those unemployed (42.4 percent)—5.9 million workers—had been out of work and actively seeking a job for at least six months. (See map above.)
No Strings, No Cuts: #ExtendUI Now!
Today, starting at 11 a.m. ET, we’re joining with Working America, NELP, MomsRising, HERvotes, USAction and a slew of other organizations and bloggers to launch an #ExtendUI tweet-a-thon.
We’re sending a clear message: No Strings, No Cuts: #ExtendUI Now!
The first thing you can do to join the tweet-a-thon is visit our tweet-a-thon page and tell your friends what’s happening.
Once you’ve done that, browse our unemployment stories website and find and tweet individual stories you find compelling. Please also sign our act.ly Twitter petition to @RepDaveCamp.
Don’t use Twitter? You can still read compelling stories and share them on Facebook.
And, of course, send as many #ExtendUI tweets as you can today.
With your help, we’ll make a powerful case to #ExtendUI without cuts or preconditions that hurt the 99 percent.
Republicans Vote Big Cuts to Jobless Benefits
House Republicans tonight voted (234-193) to cut more than in half the number of weeks jobless workers can collect unemployment insurance (UI) benefits next year. The bill also cuts pay for public employees, cuts preventive health services, reduces premium assistance for low- and middle-income individuals buying health insurance and raises premiums for many Medicare beneficiaries.
A new report from the National Employment Law Project (NELP) says the legislation:
abandons millions of U.S. workers and those communities hardest hit by the most severe jobs crisis since the Great Depression.
While the legislation extends the federal UI program that is set to expire Dec. 31, the huge reduction in weeks of benefits and other changes in the UI program are “reckless and irresponsible,” says NELP Executive Director Christine Owens.
To jobseekers and states hit hard by long-term unemployment, this proposal offers a cold cynical shrug. Anyone serious about helping workers and businesses get going again needs to know that is neither a serious nor acceptable way forward.
The bill also extends the payroll tax cut for workers and employers, but rather than Read the rest of this entry »
Check Out Visits by Jobless Workers to Lawmakers’ Capitol Hill Offices
Jobless workers and members of the faith and labor communities visited lawmakers in Congress yesterday to urge them to extend unemployment insurance (UI) for the long-term unemployed. Hundreds gathered for a rally on Capitol Hill before fanning out to talk with individual lawmakers.
Check out these video clips of visits to lawmakers from New Hampshire, Colorado, Florida and North Carolina.
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Join Day of Action and Prayer to Extend UI Now
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Tomorrow in a prayer vigil on Capitol Hill and at actions at dozens of congressional offices around the nation, workers, activists and people of faith will demand Congress act now to extend long-term unemployment insurance (UI) benefits that expires Dec. 31. As many as 6 million people could lose their benefits next year if Congress does not act.
At the prayer vigil that will take place at 11 a.m. (EST) at Upper Senate Park (on the corner of New Jersey and Constitution Aves., NW), participants will wear and distribute white carnations to symbolize the millions of jobless workers who are threatened by congressional inaction.
If you can’t be there in person, Interfaith Worker Justice (IWJ) invites you to join the prayer event online. If you are on Facebook, click here to RSVP for the online prayer vigil. In an “Open letter to the 1 Percent” yesterday, the IWJ executive board wrote:
During this time of financial crisis and economic disparity, we affirm the God-given dignity of every person. We believe God loves all 100 percent of us and wants to use us to create a more just society.
Jobless Workers Tell Congress Extend UI Now
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In Joliet, Ill., Marvin says his unemployment insurance (UI) benefits are no substitute for a paycheck, but:
I’m grateful that I have it. I’m able to keep a roof over our heads….I’d like Congress to walk in my shoes for a day.
His story is one of hundreds on a new AFL-CIO website where jobless workers and families are sharing their experiences to spur Congress to extend long-term UI benefits. The program expires Dec. 31 and could cost as many as 6 million people their benefits. Click here to read their stories or share yours.
You also can share the stories on Facebook and via Twitter with the hashtag #extendUI.
With the clock ticking and congressional Republicans delaying action, hundreds of unemployed workers, their allies, community and faith leaders will hold a prayer vigil Thursday, Dec. 8, at 11 a.m. near the U.S. Senate. Read the rest of this entry »
