WHEREAS:

In March, 2002 Congress passed a program to provide 13 additional weeks of unemployment benefits to workers thrown out of work by the recession and unable to find a new job before running out of their state unemployment benefits; and

WHEREAS:

House and Senate Democrats proposed several bills in the fall of 2002 to extend the Temporary Emergency Unemployment Compensation (TEUC) program beyond its expiration date of December 28, and the Senate unanimously approved a bipartisan compromise to extend the program; and

WHEREAS:

Rigid opposition by the House Republican leadership and the unwillingness of the Bush administration to intervene effectively killed legislation extending federal unemployment benefits; and

WHEREAS:

The decision of the White House and House Republican leadership to turn their backs on the unemployed means that 830,000 jobless workers will have their federal unemployment benefits cut off three days after Christmas, and another 95,000 who run out of state unemployment benefits each week after that will have no federal extended benefits at all: and

WHEREAS:

By the end of March 2.1 million jobless workers will not have received federal unemployment benefits that they would have gotten under the bipartisan Senate bill, and

WHEREAS:

Unemployment has now increased to the highest level in eight years, and 8 million unemployed workers are competing for just 3.5 million jobs; and

WHEREAS:

Long-term unemployment is higher than at any time in the last 10 years, and more workers have run out of their state unemployment benefits without finding a job than in the last recession in 32 states; and

WHEREAS:

Most economists expect unemployment to remain high well into next year.

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED:

That AFSCME strongly condemns the callous disregard shown by House Republican leaders and President Bush to the hardship and despair of millions of unemployed Americans; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED:

That AFSCME calls on President Bush to seek legislation extending the TEUC program and providing additional unemployment benefits to all workers exhausting their benefits without finding a job and to use his leadership to move this legislation through Congress in early January; and

BE IT FINALLY RESOLVED:

The AFSCME will join with the AFL-CIO, other union affiliates, religious leaders and community advocates in organizing grassroots support for extending the TEUC program and providing unemployment benefits to workers who have already or will in the coming months exhaust their unemployment benefits.

AFSCME International Executive Board
December 12, 2002