A MESSAGE FROM NYS AFL-CIO PRESIDENT DENIS HUGHES

According the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the national unemployment rate in April of 2010 rose to 9.9 percent.  The number of unemployed persons was 15.3 million.  The rate had been 9.7 percent for the first 3 months of this year.  The New York unemployment rate was 8.6 percent.

In an email letter to AFL-CIO constituients, NYS president Denis Hughes had this to say:

The alacrity with which the Senate passed the charter school expansion legislation recently, and the lopsided majority by which it passed is a demonstration that priorities can still be handled promptly, especially when the priority is strongly supported by Wall Street money and particularly by Mayor Bloomberg.

It is unfortunate that the Wall Street crowd doesn't understand that one of the big reasons for continued economic decay, especially in upstate New York, is the continuing failure of the Governor and Legislature to act on unemployment insurance benefits.

In the face of the worst economy since the Great Depression, unemployment insurance benefits have remained set at the level last addressed in 1998. The difference varies for each worker, but a good average number for what union members should be collecting is $150.00 per week short. What kind of a jolt could an extra $150.00 per week, per worker, mean to the New York economy? $75 million dollars per week. (Better than $30 million in furloughs!) Had the UI Benefit been increased in a timely way, that extra $75 million per week would have been paid for by the Feds. The UI dollar is spendable income, going to pay household expenses etc.

It helps communities stabilize in bad times—like now. If you live upstate ask your legislators how soon they will be getting timely, adequate UI Benefits out, so that local taxes won’t have to be driven by rising welfare payments. The most telling point might be the threatened layoff of thousands of workers, none of whom will receive fair unemployment benefits. The maximum legal benefit is now $405 per week, $10.00 per hour.

The average weekly wage is reported at $1109 per week.

The irony is that on the day the NYC Mayor Bloomberg supported the charter school bill a it was being passed, 6,400 teacher layoffs were threatened in New York City. This Federation (AFL-CIO) urges that the Unemployment Insurance Benefit be increased to 50% of the average weekly wage and indexed thereafter so that working families never again have to deal with the disgraceful situation of the last decade. We urge the Senate to remember what you can do when you want to— just as we will remember.

Denis Hughes, President