WHEREAS:
Since its inception in the 1930's, the employment security system has played a crucial role in stabilizing the American economy during recessions and providing unemployed workers with temporary wage replacement income and assistance finding jobs when they lose their jobs; and

WHEREAS:
Persistent under-funding by the federal government of state unemployment insurance and employment service operations is jeopardizing the system's ability to respond and is causing many states to support federal legislation to block grant financing of the employment service without delineating specific services and populations to be served because they are not getting adequate federal funds to run their systems; and

WHEREAS:
Block grant proposals and other attempts to devolve administrative financing would expose states and workers to significant financial risk during economic downturns and would give states with low percentages of unemployed workers receiving benefits a financial windfall at the expense of states that provide access to more workers; and

WHEREAS:
Enactment of the Workforce Investment Act and its requirement for locally-run one-stop systems is creating new challenges for the employment security system, including state efforts to privatize and/or devolve employment service operations to the local level; and

WHEREAS:
Continued under-funding of the employment service undermines its ability to help unemployment insurance claimants find work, weakens the federal-state-national public labor exchange, and could relegate it to a marginal, instead of core, role in the new workforce system; and

WHEREAS:
The current period of economic instability has created a renewed interest and consideration of employment security and our nation’s workforce system, thereby providing an unprecedented opportunity to impact the debate regarding this important safety-net program.
 
THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED:
That AFSCME strongly support federal and state actions to shore up this crucial safety net program by providing greater access to unemployment benefits including retention of Wagner-Peyser services, coverage for part-time workers, and by increasing federal funding for state employment security operations; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED:
That AFSCME strongly resist efforts to undermine the existing federal-state employment security partnership by devolving administrative financing to the states, privatizing the public employment service, devolving the state employment service to the local level, or by otherwise breaking the link between the unemployment insurance system and the public employment service; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED:
That AFSCME resist business efforts to secure tax reductions at the expense of needed improvements in the employment security system at the federal and state level; and

BE IT FINALLY RESOLVED:
That AFSCME work to ensure that the state employment security operations play a central role in the new workforce system.
 
 
SUBMITTED BY: Ronald C. Alexander, President and Delegate
Kathy Stewart, Secretary/Treasurer and Delegate
OCSEA/AFSCME Local 11
Ohio