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Re: “Workers on strike in WA should not get unemployment benefits” [Feb. 6, Opinion]:
Washington does have decent unemployment benefits — when you can get them. Outside pandemic years, from 2016 to 2022, unemployed Washingtonians had only an average 26% chance of receiving benefits, putting Washington at or below the national average.
With the odds of receiving benefits against them, many unemployed workers don’t apply. For people who do apply, there is a 48% chance Washington will deny the claim. That’s twice the denial rate of other high-wage states like California (18.4%), and more than three times the rate of New York (13.7%) or Massachusetts (13%).
Washington employers have far too much say — before the Legislature and in the workplace — about who receives unemployment benefits. By championing strict laws limiting this basic support for the unemployed, employers have succeeded in keeping their taxes low. A small industry in this state also helps employers fight employee benefits by filing appeals.
Unemployment compensation helps unemployed workers and their communities. House Bill 1893 allows workers thrown out of work during management-labor disputes to scrape by at roughly half normal pay. HB 1893 just gives employers one less ace to play against workers who already have the odds stacked against them.
Anne Paxton, attorney and policy director, Unemployment Law Project, Seattle
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