Laid-off workers host rally in Altoona
ALTOONA -- Department of Labor and Industry workers held a rally in response to being laid off, as a part of a statewide loss of 600 unemployment office jobs.
The Altoona unemployment office is scheduled to close December 19, when more than 100 people will lose their jobs.
"We already have our furlough letters. We will be shut down," said Dan McDermott, a laid off employee who was at the rally.
Workers at the really said before the downsizing, the office already struggled to keep up with local need.
"People are receiving busy signals right now. There are 2,500 people in the queue. Last week there were 10,000 abandoned phone calls. It's not just about us losing our jobs--it's the public cannot get the help they need. They're cutting us off by fifty percent and if they can't get help while we're here, what's the turnout gonna be when we're not here?" asked Melissa Fisher, another employee.
The layoffs come after State Senate did not vote on House Bill 2375, also known as the Unemployment Compensation Law. The department released a statement explaining that there was not enough money to staff offices without the $57.5 million in funding the bill would have allowed.
Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf released a statement last week saying, "The Senate’s inaction on HB 2375 is incredibly disappointing and frustrating for so many Pennsylvanians. Just weeks after Republicans and Democrats came together to pass fiscally responsible and comprehensive unemployment insurance reform that would provide benefits to 44,000 Pennsylvanians, the failure to move this critical legislation leaves the system’s staffing and operations in upheaval.
The failure to pass this bill now also means that the unemployment-insurance system will be forced to lay off workers and close centers who process claims for the very people who are newly eligible to receive benefits because they are out of work and looking for a new job.Though these impacts will be real and immediate, I will continue to provide workers with additional training opportunities and resources to help them get back to work.”
Martilynne Middleton, of Pennsylvania Social Services Union SEIU Local 668, organized the rally to demand legislators to go back to Harrisburg to vote on the bill.
"It's not affecting them at all. This is not only affecting the 600 people across the state that are put out of work six days before Christmas out of health care benefits six days before Christmas, but every person who needs benefits is gonna wait two three hours if they ever get through, if they ever get that call back," Middleton said.
Workers said legislators have responded to their demands and questions by urging people to move to the online services, including Career Link.
"However, even though you're doing it online, we still have to build the claims in here. Everything is still done manually so just because you go and do it online doesn't mean that there's not people behind the scenes that actually process the stuff for them," Fisher said.
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