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Committee hears competing views on extending unemployment benefits to striking workers
Summary
Lawmakers heard pro and con testimony on House File 107, which would allow striking workers to collect unemployment insurance after the first week of a strike. Labor groups and unions backed the change; school administrators, the Chamber of Commerce and business groups opposed it. The committee laid the bill over.
House File 107 would permit workers who are on strike to become eligible for unemployment insurance (UI) after the statutory non-payable week and subsequent eligibility checks, effectively allowing UI payments to striking workers beginning in the second week of a strike under the bill's terms.
Representative Berg introduced the proposal, saying the bill seeks to reduce the economic coercion employers can impose during prolonged bargaining by giving workers a partial wage-replacement lifeline. "This bill would grant striking workers the same access to their…
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