Workers shortchanged with jobless money

With a good - but in many areas of the state, not great - summer of work opportunities, many Hardhats are seeing signs of a return to the reality of the boom-bust cycle of construction industry.

That means that increasing numbers of building trades workers are relying on state Unemployment Insurance to help get them over the rough financial spots - and as we've pointed out several times in the last few months, they're finding they're not getting as much help as they might have expected.

Every few months, we get a press release wherein the Michigan Unemployment Agency continues to tout the state's business climate while rubbing salt into the wound of the state's workers.

Late last month, their press advisory announced that Michigan's unemployment benefits trust fund is at a record-high $3.1 billion. In addition, the estimated tax rate for Michigan employers dropped in 2000 to 2.60 percent from 2.66 percent in 1999.

"Michigan gave most employers a 10 percent across-the-board cut in jobless taxes last year as well as a reduction in one of the tax rate components," the press release said. "The cuts were triggered by a high cash reserve in the state's unemployment insurance trust fund."

Good for the employers. But workers are continuing to get the short end of the stick. In an era of record trust fund reserves, the Unemployment Insurance benefit has been capped at $300 per week since 1995, with no allowance to adjust for inflation. That task was taken care of by Gov. John Engler and the Republican-dominated state legislature.

If that bill had not passed into law, and the old rules were still in effect, the maximum Unemployment Insurance benefit would now be $414.39 cents a week.

Proposals to increase that benefit amount by democratic lawmakers have gone nowhere.

Wage increases move higher

Through mid-year 2001, wage and benefit settlements in the U.S. construction industry have resulted in an average first-year increase of $1.54 or 5.0 percent.

The report, released by the Construction Labor Research Council, said the "East North Central Region," which includes Michigan, had the largest number of contract settlements compared to the rest of the nation, and that helped weight the average to a higher level.

Last year, the average construction increase was $1.23 per hour or 4.1 percent. Most new contracts are for the traditional three-year periods, but "a number of four-year contracts have also been signed," the CLRC said. The group said a more detailed report will be issued later in the year.

Prevention is focus of new chief OSHA

President Bush's acting chief at the Occupational Safety and Health Administration said injury prevention and compliance "assistance" will be the focus of his department.

R. Davis Layne said the "message to me" from his immediate boss, Labor Secretary Elaine Chao, "is that we have to do more to reach the workplace to prevent unsafe or unhealthful working conditions from occurring before OSHA gets there, and not after the fact."