Unemployed workers to State: This is a crisis — do your job

— from Sage Wilson for Working Washington —

Unemployed workers speak out about their experiences and call on government to do its job: pay benefits promptly and extend federal relief
Four months into the coronavirus crisis, hundreds of thousands of people are still out of work — but far too many still aren’t getting the benefits they need to stay safe, stay healthy, and pay the bills.

Washington State’s Employment Security Department has failed to meet the need and failed to pay benefits promptly to unemployed workers. Instead, many unemployed workers have been trapped in endless delays, seen their benefits halted with no explanation, and even had bank accounts frozen. Meanwhile, the federal government is intentionally excluding undocumented workers from relief programs and has so far failed to renew the $600 additional weekly unemployment benefit, which is set to expire at the end of the month.

This is a crisis, and workers are calling on government to do its job: provide relief and keep our economy going by paying benefits promptly to workers in need.

Who: Unemployed workers from across the state, with special guest Congressmember Pramila Jayapal. More than a dozen workers will share their experiences, and several hundred more have already RSVP’ed to join by livestream.

What: Speak out about experiences with endless delays, halts to benefits, unfair denials, frozen bank accounts, and other issues with ESD. Unemployed workers will also speak about the impacts of these delays on their lives and finances, as well as the looming threat of the federal $600 unemployment expiring.

When: THURSDAY, July 16, 4 p.m. Workers participating in the speakout are available for comment ahead of the event — contact Sage Wilson at 206-227-6014 or sage@workingwa.org to arrange

Where: LIVE ONLINE: Our speak-out will be streamed live on the Working Washington Facebook page. RSVP here for additional details & a direct link when it’s live.

This is a crisis, and thousands of unemployed workers have stories to share about their struggles to get benefits. That’s why unemployed workers are raising their voices and speaking out about what it’s going to to take to fix the system, protect expanded federal benefits, and make sure government does their most important job: paying benefits promptly to those who need them.

More information:
Our open letter to state leaders lays out the changes we need to see to make our unemployment system put workers first. Unemployment Law Project has filed suit against ESD for failure to pay benefits promptly. We detailed how ESD’s fraud response has harmed legitimate claimants.

Working Washington is the voice for workers in our state. Working Washington fast food strikers sparked the fight that won Seattle’s first-in-the-nation $15 minimum wage. Working Washington baristas and fast food workers led the successful campaign for secure scheduling in Seattle, and our members across the state helped drive forward Initiative 1433 to raise the minimum wage and provide paid sick days. We successfully drove Amazon to sever ties with the right-wing lobby group ALEC and improve conditions in their sweatshop warehouses, and got Starbucks to address inequities in their corporate parental leave policy. And we’ve continued to make history by organizing for the landmark statewide paid family leave law in 2017, winning the groundbreaking Seattle Domestic Workers Bill of Rights in summer 2018, and leading the fight last year to restore overtime protections to salaried workers. For more information, including our press kit, visit workingWA.org.