Its been a very long time since the close of 3rd shift. Unfortunately I have been on unemployment since then. With the extensions and a new benifet year falling at just the right time, I have been able to stay on unemployment this whole time and only lost 1 week of pay. (new waiting week for new benefit year). I have had a part time job on and off to help keep me busy. But its been very hard.
My unemployment is about up though, I am on my last 20 week extension, and this one requires weekly paperwork on job search's. I spoke to a rep from the main office of IDES in Chicago for about an hour yesterday. The Rockford area has the worst Unemployment rate of anywhere in the state, and anywhere in like a 200 mile radius. In her time at IDES she has never seen a local area get hit as hard as the Rockford area, and predicts that it might take well over a year to fix, if the economy righted it self this week.
I was hoping things would turn around, and with enough people taking the buyout, some new people would get into the plant. But heck, the full time people there cant even stay working.
I have been looking for work, but looking for jobs that pay well enough to warrant going off unemployment and make the 40 hours a week worth it. In over a year I have not found anything of that nature. But with a firm date in hard of when the money will stop, I will have to take what I can get. I am even considering moving back to my hometown in KY and trying to find work there. If it was a good enough job of moving the family down there.
I have hated being on unemployment this long. Feel like I am milking the system, and to a certain extent I have. But I also had to do whats best for the family, and frankly, unemployment was more $$ than what 90% of the jobs around here are paying, and its dam rough trying to compete for that last 10% of the good jobs. You have no clue how many great interviews I have had, and walked out feeling really strong about. Only to get a rejection letter on. Its rough out there right now.
Oh well, hopefully something will come along. I saw a post that 2nd might not close. I was called for vacation relief work, hope that will come to fruition.
My story is similar. I was never unemployed this long in my life (and didn't want to be), but absolutely nothing in this area that I'm qualified for is either hiring or paying a wage that will pay the mortgage. Wages are back to what I was earning for similar work in 1982!
I get one letter from IDES saying that I need to send in some paper work and continue my job search, and then I get another letter from them (the same day) saying that I am ineligible for benefits because I didn't make anything in the base period, even though I was on a Federal extension!
What? A new "benefit year" doesn't allow you to finish the extension you were already into? I was told it would be extended until September, but now it seems the rug has been pulled out from under me. I'm calling them Monday to see what's with the contradictive mailings. Government!!!
Anyway, my thoughts and prayers are with all my fellow unemployed and underemployed brothers and sisters out there. Take courage. His eye is on the sparrows, so He surely will take care of us. I haven't seen any starving sparrows. As a matter of fact, most of them seem fairly plump!
Anyway, my thoughts and prayers are with all my fellow unemployed and underemployed brothers and sisters out there. Take courage. His eye is on the sparrows, so He surely will take care of us. I haven't seen any starving sparrows. As a matter of fact, most of them seem fairly plump!
I know its hard out there. it is hard to find a job that out pays unemployment right now. $539 a week if you have children. That equals about $13.40 an hour. most jobs are around the $11 an hour range. As tough as it is, I encourage anyone that is near the end of unemployment to take the $11 an hour job. Remember thats a starting point. Right now I am making less money now then when i did in 2003. It was a set back but I must move forward and keep reaching for the sky. My prayers are with all of ya.....Good luck
This is for Michael Lee Victor I guess. I am another former ETE that may be in the same position you're in as far as being in the federal extension but crossing over the new benefit year date. I'm sure there are hundreds of others finding this out too this week. I am just wondering if you contacted the unemployment office about this issue and what the response was? I am going to try calling them too. Just seems that I can never get through when I call. I would hope under these times and with the current unemployment rate around here that they would allow us to finish the extensions if one needs it. After all we more than qualified with the initial claims for which they then created these very extensions. A lot of people were under the impression we would get the entire extension if they needed it. It's gonna get even harder around this area when everyone starts falling off the unemployment rolls and they still have not found decent work that will pay the bills. Gonna be ugly. I too wish everyone good luck and pray we all make it through these tough times wether you are still in the plant, on unemployment, or what have you. If anyone has solid, factual, firsthand info on this matter please fill us in. Thanks.
As far as extensions and benefit year. Your new benefit year always overides your extension. So if you roll into a new benefit year (which I think some are getting read to if you claimed unemployment for that shut down week), you have to use those weeks first before you finish your extension....Problem with that comes into a new benefit year will recalculate your weekly amount. So if you did not go back and work at the 14$ rate and are still collecting at from the March 7 layoff date, then you are going to take a huge hit in your weekly payment. Because each year is based off the last 4 quarters. Also, you have to have income during the past year in order to qualify for a new benefit year. Those that signed up for unemployment during the second years change over are going to be in a rough space. Myself I did not apply for my waiting week in July. I did not apply till the Oct/Nov 2 week shutdown, then we worked till march.. So when my second benifet year rolled around, I still had all the time from Oct to march built up. So my second benifet year suffered no lose of money.
So in short to answer you question. You will have to do a new year first, and then get the rest of the extension when you run out of your new year. But if the recalculate it the way I think they will. You will take a huge hit, and if you have no new income during the last year, you wont even qualify to get a new year.
. I am just wondering if you contacted the unemployment office about this issue and what the response was? I am going to try calling them too. Just seems that I can never get through when I call. .
Try pressing 2 then 2 again in the automatic system to get a real person
heres what i have done to get to a real person. i call the unemployment office and keep hitting zero till i get a human...then i tell him or her that i need to talk to their boss. then i get a voice messaging system. I leave my message to and ask him to call me back. within an hour he calls me. just a suggestion.
Sorry I've been away from the keyboard for awhile. Since I posted last, I did get in touch with IDES, and they said that often the computer system will send out mailings that do not reflect all the facts of a person's case. I did get a bye week, and then resumed the extension I was on at the previous $ level. I heard on Fox News Sunday a Democratic and a Republican congressman both say they would vote for another Federal UC extension (and were assuming most of congress would), but they don't get back in session until September.
This current extension only lasts until September (I was laid off 3/7/0, and like I say, there isn't anything I've been able to find that I'm qualified for that pays anything. I live up in Beloit, so I may look harder in Dane County. Their unemployment level is something like 6.5, while Beloit is 19.7! That's bordering Great Depression levels! I don't want to have to drive that far, especially in winter, but I'll do what I have to.
You are all in my prayers. Like Tevye the Milkman said, "We may not be rich, but we don't starve either." Thank God for that!
Beginning in September, hundreds of thousands of Americans will begin to exhaust their unemployment benefits every month unless Congress acts, and today Rep. Jim McDermott, chairman of the Income Security and Family Support Subcommittee, did just that. McDermott, whose subcommittee oversees the nation’s UI system, introduced legislation today, H.R. 3404, to extend UI benefits. It builds upon prior legislation by McDermott that was overwhelmingly passed on a bipartisan basis last year in response to the national economic crisis.
“Today there are at least five Americans looking for employment for every one available job and without extended benefits there will be a gaping hole in the economic lifeboat these Americans are in through no fault of their own; I don’t intend to let that happen,” Rep. McDermott said.
The legislation will add an additional 13 weeks of UI benefits for workers in states where the overall unemployment rate on a three-month rolling average is at or above 9%; as of today, 20 states plus the U.S. Territory of Puerto Rico, would qualify. In addition, the legislation would continue provisions in the Recovery Act that are now set to phase out at the end of the year, including provisions providing extended benefits and increasing the amount of the weekly UI check by $25. An overview of the legislation follows.
Already the legislation has garnered 20 original co-sponsors including Ways and Means Chairman Charles Rangel. Rep. McDermott said he will push for quick passage in the House in early September to ensure that UI benefits continue to flow uninterrupted to those affected.
“This is a time when people need to know in word and deed that their government is standing by their side during this economic crisis,” Rep. McDermott said.
Emergency Unemployment Compensation Extension Act of 2009
The legislation would continue several current-law unemployment compensation programs through 2010 (without this extension, these programs would begin to phase-out at the end of 2009). The programs continued by the bill include:
Emergency Unemployment Compensation or EUC, which provides up to 33 weeks of extended benefits to workers exhausting their regular unemployment benefits.
100% federal funding for Extended Benefits or EB, which provides up to an additional 20 weeks of extended benefits in high unemployment States. Federal Additional Compensation or FAC, which increases unemployment benefits by $25 a week. The legislation also would provide an additional 13 weeks of EUC benefits in States with a three-month average total unemployment rate of at least 9 percent or an insured unemployment rate of at least 6 percent.
Under current unemployment rates, this provision would extend benefits for an estimated one million workers who would otherwise run out of benefits by the end of the year in States with high unemployment.
States that now meet the required trigger for additional weeks of benefits include AL, CA, DC, FL, GA, IL, IN, KY, MI, MS, NV, NC, OH, OR, PA, PR, RI, SC, TN, WA, & WI. Additionally, a number of other States are within one percentage point of this standard and may meet it within the coming months, including AK, AZ, DE, ME, MA, MO, NJ, NY & WV. States with lower unemployment rates may still trigger additional weeks under the current EUC and EB programs if unemployment rates rise.
Chrysler Brings Back 2nd Shift, was announced in the www.rrstar.com today. There were no real details there, however if you call the plant and get a hold of someone in HR, they are taking names of ETE's that would like to return! Good luck to anyone wishing to go back.
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, and like I say, there isn't anything I've been able to find that I'm qualified for that pays anything. I live up in Beloit, so I may look harder in Dane County. Their unemployment level is something like 6.5, while Beloit is 19.7! That's bordering Great Depression levels! I don't want to have to drive that far, especially in winter, but I'll do what I have to.
