Legislators in Oregon and Washington are considering whether bright employees receive unemployment assistance after recent walksWorkers at Boeing Factory.Nurses in the hospitalandteachersto the Pacific northwest who emphasizedNew era of American labor activity.
Measure of OregonHe would have made her first state to make a salary for picketing civil servants – which do not allow the strike in most states, not to mention the benefits for it.WashingtonI would pay bright employees of the private sector up to 12 weeks, starting at least two weeks on the line.
“The essence is that it helps to align the game conditions,” said the Senator of the democratic state, Marcus Richelli, who sponsored the Washington bill. “Without a social security network, workers face a lot of pressure during the strike to stop the strike quickly or never strike.”
But bills raise questions about how they touch employers, especially against the background of economic uncertainty relatedFederal Financing Cuttingsandtariffsimposed by President Donald Trump.
“It is inappropriate to put the trade table in such a way that makes employers pay for the cost of a bright employee,” said Lindsey Hueer in February, a government director at the Washington Association. “Unemployment insurance must be a safety network for workers who do not have a job to return.”
So far, there are only two states, New York and New Jersey, providing vivid unemployment benefits. The Democrats in the Senate in Connecticut revive the legislation that would provide financial assistance for bright workers after the governor had vetoed a similar measure last year.
The benefits of bills will advance but face the opposition
Measures in Washington and Oregon were taken by everyone’s Senate and are now in the house. The Washington bill faces its final hearings on Friday and Monday.
The Institute of Economic Policy, the Non -Profit Organization, Proble Think Tank in Washington, Colombia District, studied the effects of unemployment benefits and considered it good for workers and employers, said Daniel Perez, a state economic analyst.
First, he said, long blows are very rare. More than half of the American workers end in two days – employees will not pay in these cases – and only 14% last more than two weeks. Secondly, the policy costs very little – less than 1% of unemployment insurance in each state that considered the legislation.
Brian Corlis, a spokesman for the Professional Engineering Society in the Aerospace Union, said the Associated Press that a low-level workers will be a major winner.
“If low-wage workers had financial stability, actually strike for more than a day or two, without risking the eviction, we believe that it encourages the company to actually come to the table,” he said.
During the hearings on the Washington Committee, several republican lawmakers tried to make a change of bill last week to demand bright employees to look for other jobs or cut the time covered from 12 weeks to four. The democratic majority shot these ideas down.
The Republican representative Susanna Schmidt said the bill could be good for workers, but it will hurt the employers.
“We’ve seen the cases of this withBoeing StrikeLast year for the driver, ”she said. Boiling did indeedLose billionsFor months, workers on strike. “
The Oregon’s bill, which would also force the bright workers who have the right to help unemployment in two weeks, provoked a similar discussion among both democratic and republican lawmakers, as well as components, and hundreds of people presented written testimony.
In recent years, the state has seen two great strikes:Thousands of nurses and dozens of doctorsOregon’s eight hospitals in Providens were strike six weeks earlier this year, while a walk in 2023Portland State SchoolsTeachers closed schools for more than three weeks in the largest area of the state.
The Oregon Senate took this measure largely along the party lines, and two Democrats voted against it.
On the Senate floor, Senator -Democratic Senator Jenin Solman said he was experiencing an impact on state employers such as school districts that “do not have access to additional money.” Private employers pay for the State Trusable Unemployment Fund through the salary tax, but few state employers, which means that they will have to compensate the fund for any payments made by their employees.
Democratic Senator Chris Gorsek, who supported the bill, claimed that it would not cost state employer more than what they had already planned for their wages because workers do not pay when they strike. In addition, those who receive unemployment benefits receive no more than 65% of their weekly payment, and payments, limited, limited, limitedAccording to the documentThe officials of the employment department provided by the legislators.
“Unemployment insurance is a partial salary replacement, so unemployment insurance itself is not an additional cost for the employer,” Garssek said. “In fact, the only way that the 916 Senate bill will give additional costs to what has already been put into the budget by the employer when the employer decided to replace the employees.”
Originally this story was presented on Fortune.com
https://fortune.com/img-assets/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/GettyImages-82689559-e1743764589167.jpg?resize=1200,600
2025-04-04 11:05:00
Martha Bellisle, Claire Rush, The Associated Press
