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| Some thug. |
We buy food and distribute it to workers whose earned benefits were arbitrarily cut off by the state of Georgia.
This spring, the Department of Labor suddenly cut off the unemployment benefits earned by 64,000 Georgians who had no work during the summer. They were employed by educational institutions or by companies that contracted with educational institutions.
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| Lots of food for lots of hunger. |
The workers are facing eviction, repossession and hunger. There is no work for them in Georgia. There is no pay.
Teamsters from Local 728 in Atlanta bought $3,000 worth of food and set up a food distribution center. Several hundred union members whose unemployment benefits were cut picked up groceries at the IBEW Hall in Savannah on Saturday and Wednesday. Local 728 will also deliver bags of groceries to the homes of 50 unemployed school bus drivers at Fort Stewart later this week.
Remember "Thug" stands for "those helpful union guys (and gals)."
SOURCE: Teamster Nation
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No more unemployment checks for seasonal workers
By Annalyn Censky @CNNMoney May 31, 2012: 10:09 AM ET
NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- Should seasonal workers be allowed to collect unemployment checks in their downtime?
America's Jobs Crisis
"Individuals who work in a truly seasonal industry know that the work will not continue past a certain time," said New Jersey assemblyman Sean Kean, when he co-sponsored the bill. "Therefore, it makes sense to end seasonal workers' unemployment benefits. This is a common sense measure that will save taxpayers and help the state's unemployment insurance fund."
In all, about 15 states currently restrict the payment of unemployment benefits to workers who earned some or most of their wages in seasonal jobs. They all define seasons differently, some based on time frames and others based on industries.
Who gets benefits and who doesn't?
Federal law already prohibits professional athletes from accessing unemployment benefits between two seasons. Similarly, teachers who work directly for school districts have been ineligible to take unemployment during the summer, ever since Congress amended federal law in the 1970s.
But for other workers, it's up to the states to decide. For example, private educational contractors -- like bus drivers, crossing guards, janitors and cafeteria workers -- have been entitled to unemployment benefits in many states, any time school is out of session.
Landscapers and construction workers can often apply for unemployment in the winter.
Entertainment workers like actors, stagehands, television producers, ballet dancers and opera singers sometimes collect between seasons.
And in some states, even workers in the hospitality industry can submit claims when the tourist season ends.
Check the unemployment rate in your state
Now, some policymakers are picking and choosing specific industries to restrict, with school contract workers being a common target.
Jerome Irwin has collected unemployment benefits every summer, for the last 10 years. A school bus driver in Savannah, Ga., he is typically out of work for two to three months each year. During that time, he relies on unemployment benefits, usually amounting to about $285 a week.
But this year, the unemployment checks won't come. Not after Georgia's Department of Labor enacted a rule restricting school contractors from jobless benefits. School bus drivers in the state are planning a protest against the rule this week.
"We're going to have people losing their homes, losing their cars, and not being able to feed their families," Irwin said. "Once we reach our last paycheck, we have to apply for some kind of assistance -- welfare, food stamps or any other kind of assistance we can find."
Tennessee passed a similar law last year, and Massachusetts appointed a task force to study the issue. Arizona and Kansas already have specific restrictions for school contractors written into their laws.
"Our limited resources for unemployment benefits are reserved for people who have lost their job through no fault of their own and are seeking another job," Mark Butler, Georgia's Department of Labor Commissioner, said in a statement explaining the change.
"They're not unemployed. They know they're coming back. They always come back," Loupassi told the Richmond Times Dispatch in January. "They just have a job that's seasonal. Baseball players don't get to collect unemployment in the off season."
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