Jobs saved by state labor program (NH Register Editorial)
http://www.nhregister.com/articles/2009/06/29/opinion/doc4a4895c4afb4d703705312.txt
Monday, June 29, 2009
EDITORIAL: At plants in Avon and New Britain, 85 workers for a company that makes reflective materials kept their jobs. In Shelton, 30 workers at a company that makes equipment to seal packages are still at work as are 29 people at a metal fabricator in Berlin. Instead of facing layoffs, they all now work fewer hours, but kept their jobs and benefits thanks to a state employment program.
Connecticut is one of 17 states that has a shared work program. Administered by the state Department of Labor, full-time workers of businesses who enroll in the program can receive a reduced unemployment benefit to partially offset their reduced pay. If a work week is cut from 40 hours to 32 hours, for example, a worker gets 20 percent of the unemployment payment he would be eligible for if completely unemployed.
To be eligible, the workers must have had a 20 to 40 percent cut in their pay and hours as part of a company plan to avoid layoffs that would produce comparable savings.
Similar programs are widely promoted and used in Europe. In the United States and Connecticut, however, the programs are little known. Although Connecticut’s shared work program became law in 1992, last year it was used to help only 250 workers. There are now 5,000 people in the shared work program, as many as 2,000 of whom could have lost their jobs through layoffs.
The program is good for businesses as well as employees. It allows companies to retain a skilled work force and avoid the expense of training new workers. Further, the program protects worker morale from the devastation of layoffs while retaining workers needed when business improves.
The Department of Labor has added workers to promote the program and handle the increasing number of businesses that have enrolled. But in a state that has lost 60,000 jobs in this recession, the shared work program needs to be publicized more widely. Potentially, it can help many more companies and spare many more workers from losing their livelihood.
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