Realted Stories


Reforming Unemployment 
International President Tom Beffenbarger says that state governments need to take a hard look at their unemployment insurance systems to make sure they are doing the job.
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Unemployment Insurance: More 
Than Just a Benefit:
Unemployment Insurance Stops Recessions from becoming depressions
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Different Flavors of Unemployment
Understanding the causes of unemployment is vital to combatting it.

 
Using Unemployment as a Weapon
Employers have traditionally used unemployment to drive down wages, divide workers, and undermine unions.
 
Resources & Contacts
How you can help effect unemployment reform.


Get the Video
Order "Reality Checks" a free IAM-produced video that explores the current state of the nation's unemployment insurance system.

Email your order to IAM Communications Director Rick Sloan at rsloan@iamaw.org or call the ommunications Department. 301-967-4520.
 

 

 Unemployment Insurance: 
Will It Pay the Bills?
Terry Moore got the word from her manager June 1: she was being "excessed" -- laid off -- from her job at the Boeing plant in Huntington Beach, CA.

"I just looked at him and thought, 'What am I supposed to do, now? I'm 44 years old, a single mother with a 10-year old daughter. I've been coming to work here for 19 years... Everything I had, it had all been stripped away,'" Moore recalls. "I have to start over, that's all there is to it," she says with grim determination. "I've been looking for work, but everything out there is minimum wage and 'Don't call us, we'll call you.'"

Moore made $920 a-week, with full benefits at Boeing. She will receive $230 a-week from Unemployment Insurance, a 75 percent cut in her income. 

Her $675 a-month rent, alone, will consume nearly three entire checks, and there are groceries, utilities, school clothes, taxes, health insurance and all the other necessities of life. Moore is trying to adjust. She withdrew her daughter from private school and enrolled her in public school. She imposed a strict household budget and is busy filling out job applications.

"I still get up at 4 a.m., just like I'm going to work, but I just pace around the house," she says. "My little girl told me, 'Mommy, don't stress out. We're going to make it.' It hasn't really registered with her yet, but after the summer she'll start seeing a big change in her life. Things are going to get real tight after a while." 
 
 

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