Alaska Union Members Protest Senator For Extended Unemployment Befenfits

[Bad_Daddy 2,209]

http://www.ktuu.com/news/ktuu-alaska-aflcio-members-stage-march-at-sen-lisa-murkowskis-anchorage-office-20111213,0,6636177.story

Alaska AFL-CIO Members Stage March at Sen. Lisa Murkowski's Anchorage Office

by Rhonda McBride

December 13, 2011

About 30 protestors staged a noon march in front of Sen. Lisa Murkowski’s downtown office building on Monday. Most of those who took part belong to labor unions.

Their mission: to put a face on Alaska’s growing jobless problem.

Vince Beltrami, president of the Alaska AFL-CIO, says his group targeted Murkowski, because members fear Republicans will not support extending unemployment insurance benefits.

Beltrami says 3,400 Alaskans will be directly affected, if extended benefits are allowed to expire on December 31st. Beltrami says others will feel the impact as well.

“Those paychecks circulate a ton of money that will hurt businesses, that will hurt services, that will put a strain on those safety net agencies that are already bursting at the seams,” said Beltrami.

After demonstrating outside, marchers headed inside the Peterson Towers and took the elevator up to Murkowski’s office on the sixth floor.

They gave her staffers not just one copy of a list of Alaska social service agencies, but 3,400, to be sent out, should Congress fail to extend jobless benefits.

One of those in the crowd, David Littleton, is an out-of-work concrete liner. Littleton says he would prefer to have a job, but until then, he needs unemployment insurance benefits to keep his family afloat.

Littleton says construction work is hard to come by these days in Alaska, and he doesn’t hold out much hope for the immediate future. Littleton believes the state is already feeling the impact of reduced federal spending, which has fueled construction work in recent years.

“Instead of just working for one contractor, which I usually do, I wound up going to three different contractors on four different job sites around Anchorage,” said Littleton, who was employed about six months this year.

Sen. Murkowski was surprised to learn of the protest and called it premature. She says she and other senators are working on a legislative package that would deal with a range of employment issues, including extending payroll tax cuts and jobless benefits.

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

Deadbeats. Six months of benefits is enough. 99 weeks is ridiculous.

[james&olya 1,121]

Voters must decide if they want their government to be 'of the people, by the people, and for the people' or, as the republican party increasingly seems to acknowledge (with too many DINO's as well) a government 'of the corporations, by the corporations, and for the corporations'! The 1% or the 99%! The real issues are the economy and tax policy. Gay marriage, abortion, etc are just distractions being used by the repugs to get the gullible and naive to vote against their own economic self-interests.

[Bad_Daddy 2,209]

Deadbeats. Six months of benefits is enough. 99 weeks is ridiculous.

That one guy crying about having to work for three employers in a years time...he's a whiner. It's common to work for multiple employers in construction. But 99 weeks is just about right. It gives ya time to relax and contemplate about the wrong turns one made in life to get in this position in the first place.

[slim 1,530]

Welfare moms don't pretend to be better people.

[Obama 2012 1,714]

wait, so let me get this straight...

Union members are protesting instead of working?

Isn't this normal?

[Bad_Daddy 2,209]

Welfare moms don't pretend to be better people.

So how much do welfare moms pay into the system?

wait, so let me get this straight...

Union members are protesting instead of working?

Isn't this normal?

They be busy protecting the rights of the working man. That and construction is usually pretty slow this time of year with everything being frozen solid.

[Usui Takumi 1,562]

I personally agree that in 2012 the benefits should be scaled back to 59ish weeks and then cancel the program for 2013.

[slim 1,530]

So how much do welfare moms pay into the system?

The same as out of work union tradesmen.

[Bad_Daddy 2,209]

The same as out of work union tradesmen.

You have a link showing that right? Last time I checked you had work in order to get unemployment insurance benefits, but maybe they do it different down in Ohio?

EMPLOYEE TAXES

—Only Alaska, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania levy UI taxes on workers. The tax base is that applicable to employers except in Pennsylvania where employee contributions are calculated on total gross covered wages paid for employment. Worker taxes are deducted by the employer from the worker’s pay and forwarded with the employer’s taxes to the state agency. In Alaska, the tax rate is equal to 20% of the average benefit cost rate, but not less than 0.5% or more than 1.0%. In New Jersey, the tax rate is 0.3825% effective July 1, 2004 and thereafter. Depending on the adequacy of the fund balance in a given year, Pennsylvania employees pay contributions ranging from 0.0% to 0.09% on total gross covered wages paid for employment.

http://www.city-data.com/forum/unemployment/620789-employees-do-not-pay-unemployment-insurance-3.html#ixzz1gSQbUbok

Edited December 13, 2011 by Why_Me

[slim 1,530]

You have a link showing that right? Last time I checked you had work in order to get unemployment insurance benefits, but maybe they do it different down in Ohio?

Out of work tradesman pays to government - $0

Out of work welfare mom pays to government - $0

Do you really need a link?

The fact that your labor was responsible for money going into the kitty earlier in the year is wonderful. However, your income tops what you paid in fairly quickly and you begin to take money from other people. The same people paying welfare moms to do nothing too.