IN THIS EDITION:
- Senate Passes Major Expansion of Unemployment for Workers Impacted by COVID-19
- Sign up for Organizing Training - Organizing for Power: Coronovirus and Everything After
- BIW Union Leaders Repeat Call for Actions to Protect Workers
- Workers Turn Out for Online Racial Justice Workshop
- Can You Provide Frontline Workers with Protective Gear?
- Please Let Us Know Your Thoughts
Senate Passes Massive Expansion of Unemployment for Workers Impacted by COVID-19
On Thursday, the US Senate unanimously passed a $2 trillion emergency relief package that will greatly expand unemployment insurance (UI) benefits for workers and self-employed individuals who have been laid off or lost work due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The House is expected to pass some version of the bill on Friday.
The Senate version of this latest COVID-19 relief bill, known as the "CARES Act," will provide a $600-per-week across the board increase in unemployment benefits for all workers who claim them for up to four months. Currently, the average UI benefit in Maine is about $350, so this $600 increase is a very big deal. In addition, the bill will provide jobless benefits to individuals not typically eligible for unemployment, such as contract workers or people who are self-employed. The Senate bill also extends unemployment benefits for 13 additional weeks.
It's critical that we immediately provide relief for thousands of Mainers who have been laid off or lost their jobs. Please click here to sign our petition calling on Maine’s Congressional delegation to pass the strongest version of improvements to Unemployment Insurance to keep workers whole through this crisis.
If you need help filing for Unemployment the Maine AFL-CIO Chris Greenleaf can help, chris@maineaflcio.org.
The CARES Act will also provide $1,200 to most adults and $500 for most children. This online calculator helps you determine how much you will be getting in the stimulus check under the Senate bill. The labor movement is pleased that some of these key provisions are in the bill and also disappointed that the bill falls short in protecting front-line workers and does nothing to protect America's pensions.
Free Online Organizing Training - Organizing for Power: Coronavirus and Everything After
At a time when our lives and work have been completely upended by the coronavirus pandemic, veteran labor organizer and strategist Jane McAlevey is offering a free, online organizing trainingabout how to organize and how to build stronger unions during this public health and economic crisis.
The training covers how to organize in the midst of the COVID 19 crisis and how to organize workers and run first contract campaigns in ways that build power and mass participation. Many of our Maine AFL-CIO staff did the training last year and it was one of the best and most useful organizing trainings we’d ever done. We really encourage you to sign up for it. Please click here to register by midnight Sunday March 29th! Let us know if you register - we're trying to recruit a team of folks doing the training in Maine.
BIW Employee Tests Positive for Covid-19, Union Leaders Repeat Call for Actions to Protect Workers
Earlier this week, Bath Iron Works announced that one of its employees had tested positive for the coronavirus after union leaders at the yard had repeatedly asked the company to temporarily shut down and provide workers with full wage replacement to prevent the spread of the virus. Although Maine’s Congressional delegation and legislative leaders have asked the Navy to provide flexibility in delivery dates for the ships to allow the company to temporarily shut down, Assistant Secretary of the Navy James Geurts has told the company that it needs to continue production because its work is “crucial to national security.”
Please click here to send an email to Assistant Secretary of the Navy James Geurts, General Dynamics CEO Phebe Novakovic, BIW President Dirk Lesko, and BIW Vice President Jon Fitzgerald asking them to take action NOW to protect BIW workers, our families, and our communities from COVID-19.
Workers Turn Out for Online Racial Justice Workshop
With social distancing having become the responsible norm, the Maine organizers of last Sunday’s Race & Labor forum quickly pivoted to a shorter online gathering while waiting to reschedule the full day in-person event. Presenters April Sims and Cherika Carter from the Washington State Labor Council were gracefully flexible as we worked together to set up a meaningful couple hours, distilled from a planned full day, that could still be interactive for participants.
April and Cherika walked participants through different ways racism manifests itself and how those occur in our workplaces, unions, relationships and communities and participants shared examples from their own lives. Maine’s fledgling A. Philip Randolph Institute chapter handled logistical organizing for the event. APRI member Garrett Stewart said afterward “They talked about things that we can use and bring to other people so they can know what to look for at work – there was just a lot of information.”
A diverse group of approximately 35 members from 18 different union locals participated in the event. The hope is to reschedule the full event for later this fall after the election.
Can You Provide Frontline Workers with Protective Gear?
Across Maine and the nation, health care workers and emergency responders are reporting shortages of personal protective equipment (PPE), especially respiratory face masks. If you or anyone you know has access to these masks, please fill out our donation form.
Please Let Us Know Your Thoughts
The Maine AFL-CIO would like to know what your needs are and how we as the labor movement can be most effective during this global health & economic crisis. Please take a moment to fill out this survey and let us know your thoughts.