9to5 supports our coalition partner Atlanta Jobs with Justice on their campaign for Justice for School Workers. Join us as we celebrate and grow our strength in the April 20 March to Defend Unemployment Benefits.
Here’s the back story: Last Spring, Georgia’s labor commissioner, Mark Butler, unlawfully cut off unemployment benefits to privately employed school workers (like bus drivers, crossing guards, and food service workers) who are regularly laid off over school breaks. When the U.S. Department of Labor declared that the rule change did not comply with state and federal Unemployment Insurance guidelines, anti-worker legislators tried to pass a law that would make these cuts legal. The calls poured in to the State Capitol from Georgia school workers and their allies, and this law did not pass!
In a huge victory for Jobs with Justice and us all, Georgia will now award $8 million to more than 4,000 school workers who were denied unemployment benefits last year! But this fight isn’t over yet. Mark Butler has publicly stated in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that he will seek to deny these workers their unemployment benefits again next year by passing a similar bill.
Join 9to5, Jobs with Justice, and others who support Georgia’s workers as we celebrate this victory and send a clear message–we march on the side of justice, and together we win.
