Union officers in Georgia are pushing for $ 300 federal unemployment profit

Georgia labor attorneys and state lawmakers on Wednesday urged Governor Brian Kemp to reverse his decision to end federal expanded unemployment benefits next month, saying the move would harm low-wage workers during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The governor’s announcement last week that he would end the additional $ 300 monthly unemployment controls on June 26th rocked many Georgia communities where unemployed workers have relied on the benefit for months on end to get rent, groceries, and more To cover utility bills.

Local union leaders protested Kemp’s decision outside the State Department of Labor building in downtown Atlanta, arguing the $ 300-a-month loss would cripple many Georgians who are still struggling for jobs during the pandemic.

They also wondered where the abandoned federal dollars would go instead, since the Biden government has approved the additional federal benefits to stay through September.

“This is not the time to take advantage of families,” said Nancy Flake Johnson, president and CEO of the Urban League of Greater Atlanta. “Taking these modest resources away from families now is nothing less than inhuman.”

Kemp and opponents of the federal additional benefit have argued that the $ 300 checks caused many unemployed Georgians to avoid reintegration into the labor market, putting a strain on local businesses that are still economic for more than a year Recover damage from the pandemic.

State labor officials plan to end several federal pandemic unemployment programs on June 26, along with the additional $ 300 benefit, including an additional $ 100 for mixed-income Georgians, an extension of regular benefits, and support for the self-employed, Part-time workers and gig workers.

“If we emerge from this pandemic, Georgians deserve to return to normal,” Kemp said in a statement last Thursday. “And [last week’s] The announced stimulus package will help more employees and businesses across our state. “

Critics accused Kemp of overlooking the persistent difficulties many unemployed Georgians faced while looking for a new job or without processing their jobless claims for months.

Marcellus Rowe, a former Atlanta public transport worker, said he struggled to find a similar job after losing his job in November 2019. The $ 300 federal grant was crucial to keeping his finances afloat, he said at the protest on Wednesday.

“We’re tired and frustrated,” said Rowe. “And as a black person, begging and pleading are no longer an option.”

Several workers’ representatives and Democratic lawmakers have criticized Georgia Labor Commissioner Mark Butler, a Republican who, like Kemp, faces re-election next year. They criticized the ongoing closure of state employment offices due to the pandemic while urging Georgians to return to their jobs.

“We all know this system is broken and needs transparency,” said MP Kim Schofield, D-Atlanta. “If you want people to go to work and look for work, open those doors.”

Butler said his office had struggled to process nearly 5 million jobless claims, which resulted in an average of 60,000 calls a day from unemployed Georgians, all with understaffed staff and a tight budget that lawmakers left largely unchanged during the 2021 legislative session that ended on March 31st.

Still, Butler Kemp has reiterated, citing the additional federal benefit as a damper on workers’ return to the labor market, and also noted that his agency has paid out nearly $ 22 billion in benefits since the pandemic began.

“Right now the state has a historic number of jobs listed on Employ Georgia,” Butler said in a statement last week. “We’re seeing some of the highest pay scales with improved performance and signing bonuses.”

Workers’ representatives and lawmakers, however, rejected the argument that laid-off workers and workers on leave were responsible for the labor problems, stressing that many Georgians are not making enough to make ends meet even with jobs due to the state minimum wage of $ 7.25 an hour get.

“What we hear from our leaders is blame, false assumptions, and downright disrespect,” said State Senator Tonya Anderson, D-Lithonia, chairwoman of the Georgia Legislature’s Black Caucus. “Georgia will never make progress if our people are not prioritized.”