Unemployed Fox Valley Workers Urge Congress to Extend Benefits

From the Beacon News By Jenette Sturges

If Congress doesn’t pull together and collectively decide to extend unemployment benefits, a lifeline for more than 84,000 Illinois families will be cut off by the end of the year.

That was the message local union representatives from the UAW, IBEW, Letter Carriers and even non-union laid-off workers tried to spread at a press conference Thursday afternoon at the UAW Local 145 hall in Montgomery.

“We’re not talking about a lot of money here,” said Ken Christy of the Illinois Association of Letter Carriers. “It pays the rent or mortgage, buys some food, maybe a bill or two. It’s $27 million that goes back into the economy immediately.”

According to the AFL-CIO, 84,600 Illinois residents will lose unemployment benefits by Dec. 31 if Congress does not approve another extension, which would allow workers to continue collecting benefits up to 99 weeks.

On Thursday, out-of-work laborers pleaded with their members of Congress not to take away what many called their “lifeline.”

“With the downturn in the economy, it’s tough to find employment despite my everyday effort. The money from unemployment is actually keeping my family fed,” said Josh Shaw, who had been working as a painter before he was laid off. “The money we get from unemployment is keeping us from being homeless.”

Across the country Thursday, workers held similar events and protests, but former U.S. Rep. Bill Foster, a Democrat, told the workers in Montgomery that it seemed unclear from the way Congress has been working of late whether both sides of the aisle could come together in the interests of struggling Americans.

“Two hours ago, for the third time in a week, the Republicans in Congress failed to extend the payroll tax cut,” Foster said.

“When the Republicans don’t want a tax cut to expire on the very wealthy, it’s an emergency. But then when a tax break expires for working class people, it’s not as important.”

In addition to the unemployment benefit extension, the payroll tax cut, which saves the average employee about $1,000 a year in deductions from their paychecks, is set to expire Dec. 31.

“When you’re in Congress, you have hundreds of little switches to throw that either help out ordinary people in America or cause wealth to pile up in the top 1 percent ... and when I get back to Congress we’re going to start moving each one of those switches in the other direction,” said Foster, who has moved to Naperville from Batavia and declared as a candidate in the new 11th Congressional District.

Union leaders said that providing benefits to struggling families has moved beyond being a Democratic issue or a union issue.

“Not having this law passed should be a shame on every American,” said Christy. “You can’t pull yourself up by your bootstraps if you don’t have boots.”

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