Post by TonyV on Feb 1, 2011 15:24:50 GMT -5
HOOSIER WORKERS FACE WORST CUT IN UNEMPLOYMENT BENEFITS EVER
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Unemployed Hoosiers are facing the largest benefit cut in the history of the state. Call your Senator and tell them to oppose House Bill 1450!
House Bill 1450 will cut unemployment insurance benefits for Hoosier workers unemployed through no fault of their own by an average of 25% according to the fiscal analysis prepared by the nonpartisan Legislative Services Agency. At the same time, it cuts the unemployment insurance taxes for corporations paying into the fund by as much as 33% per year. And this comes after the tax cut to employers of some $358 million last year.
Though some politicians like to say Hoosiers enjoy Rolls Royce style benefits, Indiana ’s current average benefit amount is just $283 per week and ranks 31st in the nation. After this bill passes, our average benefit will be the fifth lowest in the nation. Fifth lowest!
And that’s not the whole of it – this benefit cut is designed to impact hourly workers – middle and lower income workers specifically. In fact, if you make more than $43,000 (higher than Indiana ’s median income) in the year before you lose your job, your benefit amount will be the same. Unless, of course, you are affected by a plant re-tooling shutdown or a buyout when your job disappears – those workers are singled out for extra pain.
On the floor of the Indiana House of Representatives this past Thursday, many amendments were offered to soften the blow of the benefit cuts included in HB 1450 and to help ensure that working Hoosiers have a fair shot at getting a job and getting off the rolls all together.
Arguing for an amendment to ensure that workers receiving a buyout when their manufacturing plant closes remain eligible for unemployment insurance, Representative Battles (D-Vincennes) spoke movingly about a couple he met while campaigning this past summer – both worked at Whirlpool, “both certain they had a life established, both certain they had security” and now with the plant closing, “both struggling, literally tears running down their faces, [asking] ‘what are we going to do?” as he urged legislators not to walk away from these workers.
Rep. Tyler (D-Muncie) urged his fellow legislators to think about the unemployed worker who testified before the House Labor and Employment Committee earlier last week who, when asked what would come next if his benefits were reduced, answered simply “we’d lose our house – that’s next.”
Representative VanDenburgh answered arguments that her amendment, which would have ensured that the new calculation method in HB 1450 would not penalize workers who have taken FMLA or military leave in the year prior to being laid off, was too difficult for DWD to administer by declaring “I’m not here to legislate for any government agency, or for any politician,”… “I’m here for the people of my district and the State of Indiana .”
Arguing for an amendment which would prohibit employers from discriminating against unemployed workers or prohibit them from applying for jobs – a growing trend, Representative Pierce (D-Bloomington) argued that “there’s pretty much been a primal scream from the people of Indiana and that scream has been ‘for God’s sake isn’t there somebody in this government who will help me and bring some fairness to this economy.”
On Thursday, the primal scream received an answer – but not the one that people want. Every amendment was rejected on a party line vote. You can listen to some of the debate highlights here. It’s worth it.
This bill will likely pass out of the House today. Click here to watch the vote live. Start calling your Senators now and tell them to oppose HB 1450.
