Georgia wants to rob unemployment benefits from workers

Georgia Teamsters rallied against cuts in unemployment benefits last summer.

Georgia lawmakers are now trying to take away unemployment benefits from laid-off workers who've paid for them.

A bill is moving through the state Senate to prevent seasonal school bus drivers, food service workers and custodians from drawing unemployment benefits. They'd been relying on those benefits to survive during school breaks. Last spring the workers were shocked to learn their benefits were cut off.  Georgia Labor Commissioner Mark Butler had made the decision to do so -- in violation of federal guidelines. Now the Senate wants to make those cuts permanent.

Atlanta Jobs with Justice gives us the background on the bill, SB 227:

SB 227 makes the unemployment benefits cuts imposed on over 64,000 workers by GA Labor Commissioner Mark Butler permanent under law.  The workers that this impacts are private-sector workers in the education industry who are typically laid off multiple times a year during school breaks.  These school workers are living paycheck to paycheck working hard for limited pay and they require unemployment benefits to survive during these breaks. 

Fortunately, the US Department of Labor challenged Mark Butler in his decision to cut benefits for these worker. They claimed that he had violated state and federal guidelines and threatened to cut off $72 million in federal administrative grants to the GA Department of Labor if the benefits were not restored. Unfortunately, the USDOL has not followed through with this action and now this issue has landed in front of the GA State Senate.

Georgians, you can help fight this bill, which is expected to move quickly, by sending your representative an email here.

Brother Ben Speight is the organizing director for Teamsters Local 728 in Atlanta. He argued last May that unemployed workers are a good political scapegoat, but they're not the problem. Wrote Brother Ben:

Cutting benefits for seasonally unemployed workers is not just unfair, it’s bad for the local economy. 

In Savannah, it is not just school bus drivers, food service workers and custodians that have historically drawn unemployment benefits during seasonal layoffs. Hundreds of hospitality workers do too. 

Hospitality workers are not impacted by the new rule change to eliminate summer unemployment benefits. But at the rate Commissioner Mark Butler is going, they may be next. 

Stripping essential unemployment payments from 500 educational workers in Chatham County will directly impact the local economy. According to the non partisan Georgia Budget and Policy Institute, each $1 of unemployment payments creates up to $1.90 in local economic growth as these workers pay for basic necessities from local businesses. That equates to millions of dollars taken out of family budgets and cash registers.