Urgent alert on unemployment benefits extension from NY's Labor Commissioner

[Joanne98]

New York's Labor Commissioner Colleen Gardner today put out an urgent appeal to unemployed New Yorkers, urging them to call their senators immediately.

“As the holidays approach, we’ve got to make sure Congress doesn’t turn its back on unemployed workers and their families again— not even for a day,” the Commissioner said. She asked unemployed New Yorkers to call both their senators today and urge them to continue the unemployment benefits extensions, which are set to expire in two weeks.

The department's website provides the phone number to call and gives point by point arguments on what to say to senators.

New York's unemployment rate was 8.3% in September, the latest month for which figures are available. The state with the highest rate was Nevada, which was at 14.4 percent. The states with the next highest rates were Michigan, 13.0 percent, and California, 12.4 percent, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

New York's labor department made the following points:

"1) Emergency unemployment benefits will expire Nov. 30. 2) It can take a year, 18 months, or even longer for many job- seekers to find work. 3) With five job-hunters for every one opening, the long-term unemployed are in the job search of their lives. 4) Since the unemployment insurance program was created in response to the Great Depression, Congress never has cut federally funded jobless benefits when unemployment was this high for this long. 5) If Congress doesn’t renew benefits soon, 200,000 New York job-seekers will immediately lose their benefits—and by the end of December, 2 million long-term job-seekers nationally will be left out in the cold."

The Commissioner's appeal is in accord with a nationwide push by advocates for the unemployed to call senators today. The toll-free number to call is: 877-662-2889.

NOTE TO UNEMPLOYED READERS:

Do you have a frustrating or humiliating story to tell about looking for work? Have prospective employers interviewed you multiple times, offered you a position, invited you in "for training," or otherwise implied that they are hiring you -- and then not done so? Have you been rejected outright -- even when applying for a volunteer position?

Please send me your story. I will post some of them here.
http://www.examiner.com/unemployment-benefits-in-new-york/urgent-alert-on-unemployment-benefits-extension-from-ny-s-labor-commissioner

[Omaha Steve]

1. Commissioner Gardner urging them to call their senators immediately

That would never happen in Ne.

K&R!