MICHIGAN
Rally for higher jobless pay
Some 2,000 workers took a break from a morning of intense,
mass lobbying in Lansing, Mich., on March 13 to rally at noon
on the State Capitol steps. Efforts to increase unemployment
benefits, frozen for the past seven years, have been subverted
by the reactionary majority in the Michigan State Legislature.
Instead of raising weekly benefits to $415, as sought by the
unions, Senate Bill 1126 would offer only about $350.
The lawmakers also are trying to institute a penalty-waiting
week--the first week of being laid off--when the unemployed
would get no benefits. This "waiting week" was taken out of the
law over 30 years ago. The bill would put a $12 tax on all
workers to pay for any increase in the weekly benefit for the
unemployed.
Speaking in front of a giant banner proclaiming "Jobless
workers can't wait a week to eat," leaders from many unions,
community leaders and religious figures blasted the
mean-spiritedness of the Lansing state officials. Workers had
come from around the state to try to stop passage of this
bill.
--David Sole
Reprinted from the March 28, 2002, issue of
Workers World newspaper
This article is copyright under a Creative
Commons License.
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