Most of LIJWJ’s work is centered on where workers spend the majority of their time – workplaces and their communities. But we also engage with the political establishment to advocate and organize around policies that provide relief to workers.

The most prominent example of this is our support and advocacy for the Unemployment Bridge Program. LIJWJ got involved fighting for workers excluded from the Unemployment Insurance (UI) system during the pandemic. As part of a statewide coalition of other worker and community organizations, we helped win the establishment of the historic Excluded Workers Fund in 2021. During the pandemic, the $2.1 billion fund was accessed by 130,000 NY workers who were denied pandemic relief and badly needed to cover their basic necessities.

As great an accomplishment as it was, the fund was only temporarily and quickly exhausted because of the desperate need. The UBP (S3192/A4821) would establish a permanent fund for workers excluded from UI as a safety net if they lose their jobs.

The idea that some workers have access to UI while others don’t simply because of the work they do is arbitrary and outdated. As a general economic trend more workers have been increasingly pushed into the gig economy and other freelance jobs which are ineligible for UI, while mostly immigrant cash workers have never been eligible at all. Additionally, people who’ve been incarcerated cannot collect UI for work they did while in prison.

As long as workers continue to be excluded from UI, the broken system serves as another austerity measure to keep money extracted from workers in the hands of bosses. Bosses benefit from structuring their businesses to use excluded labor, not least of all because it saves them from paying UI taxes. An economy that excludes is an economy that ignites and allows for exploitation!