Kentucky Union Members Take Fight for Jobs, Jobless Aid
to McConnell’s Doorstep
 
by Mike Hall, 
Jul 8, 2010
http://blog.aflcio.org/2010/07/08/kentucky-union-members-take-fight-for-jobs-jobless-aid-to-mcconnells-doorstep/

Republican Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.)
and his Senate cohorts who have flipped off long-term
jobless workers by blocking unemployment insurance (UI)
extensions and jobs legislation are enjoying a pleasant
week off, with pay. Meanwhile, 250,000 workers this
week and 1.7 million since June 1 have lost their UI
lifeline.

Yesterday in Louisville, union activists led by the
Kentucky State AFL-CIO marched	 and rallied outside
McConnell’s office demanding McConnell lift the
blockade on jobless aid and job creation. Says Kentucky
State AFL-CIO President Bill Londrigan:

     We are calling for Sen. McConnell to reverse his
     votes against assistance to jobless workers and
     funds for job creation and take immediate action
     to get our economy back on track. The message at
     events like this across the country is loud and
     clear: Working people won’t stand for elected
     officials who play politics with people’s
     livelihoods.

(Text JOBS to 225568 and join our AFL-CIO jobs team.)

Kentuckian Brenda Johnson got her final unemployment
check last week. She’s applied for hundreds of jobs in
the past 16 months, with no luck. There are five job
seekers for every job opening in the nation. She told
WDRB TV:

     It’s so hard right now to find a job. I’m not used
     to this, I don’t want to be begging....He
     [McConnell] doesn’t have to worry about where his
     next meal is or how he’s gong to pay a bill.

Kirk Gillenwaters, a retired member of UAW Local 862,
says there is a human toll to losing both a job and
unemployment insurance that seems to escape McConnell
and the Republicans blocking jobless help.

     People have to be concerned about keeping their
     homes, feeding their families and the continuation
     of life. But unfortunately, Mitch doesn’t see fit
     to extend the benefits and doesn’t see the toll
     it’s taking on the people of Kentucky.

If the Republicans continue to block help for the
unemployed, according to the U.S. Labor Department, 3
million workers will be out of benefits by the end of
July, when Congress adjourns for the rest of the
summer.

Some Republicans say that extending unemployment
benefits is a "disincentive" for jobless workers, that
they’d rather collect that great big check (about $300
a week on average) than go look for work. Baloney, says
the National Employment Law Project (NELP):

[L]ong-term unemployment persists because of the
brutality of this economic crisis, not because
guaranteed benefits have made the unemployed complacent
or less aggressive in searching for a job.

In a statement yesterday, McConnell, through his aides,
told the Louisville group he’d just love to extend
benefits if it wasn’t for that darned old deficit.
Double baloney.

Unemployment benefits are one of the best investments
that can be made in a depressed economy. For every
dollar spent on benefits, $1.60 is added to the
economy, according to NELP.

     No other policy has been more effective in
     supporting the economy during this recession, with
     benefits being spent directly and immediately on
     groceries, housing, medical care and other daily
     needs.

If McConnell and his buddies continue their
obstructionist tactics, Londrigan says the jobless are

     going to be losing their homes, their livelihoods
     and they’re going to be a continual drain on the
     economy if they don’t have unemployment insurance
     benefits to see them through.

_____________________________________________

Portside aims to provide material of interest
to people on the left that will help them to
interpret the world and to change it.

Submit via email: [log in to unmask]
Submit via the Web: portside.org/submit
Frequently asked questions: portside.org/faq
Subscribe: portside.org/subscribe
Unsubscribe: portside.org/unsubscribe
Account assistance: portside.org/contact
Search the archives: portside.org/archive