By Bob Gelbach

Let’s not miss this chance!
It’s time to pass an Unemployment Bridge Program.

UIDN has worked for over six years to help our immigrant friends care for their families despite a world of rules and regulations that desperately need reform for the sake of simple fairness. Now, a legislative proposal, the Unemployment Bridge, promises real change.

For decades federal and state unemployment insurance has cushioned the blow for most workers when — through no fault of their own — they are laid off and cannot immediately find new work.

According to the Immigration Research Initiative more than 750,000 New Yorkers (some of whom already have unemployment fees deducted from their checks) not currently covered by unemployment insurance could benefit from a bridge, including:

  • immigrants lacking work authorization
  • freelancers and the self-employed
  • those paid in cash, such as domestic workers and landscapers
  • individuals re-entering the labor force after incarceration or in immigration detention

In 2021, groups like UIDN from across the state formed the Fund Excluded Workers (FEW) Coalition. We lobbied successfully for an emergency program to serve workers left out of federal Covid relief programs. FEW’s Unemployment Bridge Program will cost much less than the emergency program and fund benefits that are comparable to federal and state unemployment insurance.

At UIDN, we see that the lack of unemployment insurance is a huge hardship for our friends. Impossible choices must be made: Pay the rent or put food on the table? Get health care or go without?

We can help, but UIDN is no substitute for the steady work our friends seek. Passing the Unemployment Bridge Program is a key step our state government can take this year. It will help the families UIDN serves as well as local businesses and landlords who rely on them  as customers, even when jobs are scarce.

So what will it take to enact an Unemployment Bridge?

A bridge needs to be passed by the state legislature and funded as a permanent state initiative under the Department of Labor. State senators and assembly members are already signing on as co-sponsors. Legislative committees are working to put together drafts including ways to pay for the program. As of mid-February, most drafts provide benefits comparable to existing unemployment insurance.

To be eligible workers must have a recent history of employment, been laid off through no fault of their own, had an income less than the NY median, and be ready and available to work. Maximum benefits would be $1,200 per month for up to six months.

Analysts expect that about 30,000 of the newly-insured workers would apply for benefits in the first year. The mid-Hudson Valley’s share is projected to be about 1,200 claims the first year.

How to help

UIDN joined the FEW Coalition to make a case for this important legislation in Albany. We have written and spoken to legislators. Now we ask you to join us. By April 1 the leaders of the state assembly and house and the governor aim to have negotiated a budget for final approval by the legislature. The Unemployment Bridge Program needs to be in that budget.

Contact your state legislators

Assembly member Sarahana Shrestha is already on board as a co-sponsor and outspoken advocate. She deserves our thanks. Call her Kingston office, 845-338-9610; email shresthas@nyassembly.gov or use the Assembly website; post on social media, Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram.

Our state senator, Michelle Hinchey, has not yet taken a position. Ask her to support an unemployment bridge by co-sponsoring the program and speaking in favor during budget negotiations and in party conferences. Email Hinchey@nysenate.gov; phone 518-455-2350; or post on social media Instagram, Facebook, or Twitter.

If you’re a freelancer or self-employed send a testimonial

FEW wants to hear more from freelancers who will be helped by this program. Share your story about what it’s like not to have unemployment insurance.

Learn more, spread the word

Download a one page fact sheet from the Immigration Research Initiative. Or, download a 2-page fact sheet from the Fund for Excluded Workers Coalition in English or Spanish.

An Unemployment Bridge will:

  • Extend permanent unemployment protection to about 750,000 New Yorkers in categories described above.
  • Protect workers in seasonal industries like agriculture. Society needs them in season, but our social policies do not help during down times.
  • Help workers reentering the labor market after incarceration. They have an especially difficult time finding work and short-term help will enable them to focus on getting and keeping jobs.
  • Cost $500 million dollars annually — less than a quarter of the earlier temporary program.
  • Be paid for by a proposed tax on very large corporate sales of digital advertising. Such a tax will make the bridge revenue neutral.

We think it’s a good program, long overdue. We welcome your help in getting it passed.