Thacker, Ten Other Union Presidents Protest Sequester’ s Impact on Rail Unemployment and Disability Benefits In a sharply worded letter to all members of the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives, NCFO President John Thacker and the presidents of ten other unions in the Rail Labor Division of the AFL-CIO Transportation Trades Department, blasted the fact that rail workers are the only American workers whose unemployment and disability benefits have been cut—9.2 percent—due to the sequester, since March 1. This, despite the reality that these benefits do not cost taxpayers a single dine. The full text of the August 22 letter appears below. Since March 1, 2013, unemployed and sick railroad workers have had their temporary benefits reduced by 9.2 percent because of sequestration. This reduction hurts those individuals who are most vulnerable in our society, as they have to cope with unexpected layoffs or illnesses for which they are ill-prepared. Moreover, it is incomprehensible that this unfair and onerous reduction is being applied to only one type of worker in our country. Workers who are not employed in the railroad industry do not have their basic unemployment and sickness benefits reduced, only railroad workers. We believe that railroad workers should not be singled out and penalized by having their unemployment and sickness benefits arbitrarily reduced. This is not only unfair but it is harmful to the economy as a whole since almost 100 percent of these benefits is immediately put back into the economy as these individuals struggle to buy food and medicine, pay mortgages, etc. Recipients of these temporary benefits do not save or invest these benefits. Rather, they use them to pay for everyday living expenses. Additionally, because of the “experience rated” funding mechanism that supports these benefits, there is no positive impact on the Federal budget and the deficit, which caused sequestration in the first place, is basically unaffected. We would like to emphasize that while these monies are a part of the United States Treasury, these benefits are fully funded by the United States rail industry and no money to pay these benefits comes from the taxpayers or the government. We join with the industry and request that you rescind this unfair benefit reduction on our most vulnerable workers, and restore their full unemployment and sickness benefits
Posted on: Tue, 03 Sep 2013 04:21:42 +0000
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