With chants of “What do we want? Funding! When do we want it? Now!” and bearing signs reading “Unemployed workers matter” and “Unemployed citizens still have a right to services,” demonstrators on Thursday called on state legislators to fully fund the state’s unemployment call centers.
The protest, outside the Pennsylvania CareerLink office on Wood Street, Downtown, was one of several that took place across the state Thursday, organized by the Service Employees International Union Local 668.
The funding dispute is rooted in a costly and years-long overhaul of the state’s Unemployment Compensation system’s software. As the General Assembly’s session drew to a close at the end of last year, the Republican-controlled state Senate declined to vote on a bill that would have given the state’s Department of Labor & Industry $58 million to continue the project and that Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf said was needed to keep several centers open.
Without the funding, more than 500 workers in the unemployment compensation program were laid off last month and three of the state’s eight call centers — in Altoona, Allentown and Lancaster — were shuttered.
The result has been hours-long wait times for the unemployed seeking assistance, advocates say.
“I get numerous calls per day indicating that people simply cannot get through [to a call center] at all,” said Ed Ehrhardt, chief legal officer for the Mon Valley Unemployed Committee.
“There’s delays in applying. There are delays in claiming benefits for a given week or two-week period. The entire system, in effect, slows down,” he said.
Mr. Ehrhardt said he has been advising unemployed individuals to try to file claims online, email about specific questions, or go to the CareerLink office, where there is a dedicated phone line to a call center, though there can be a long wait time to use the phone.
But many questions need to be handled by actual human beings and can’t be handled online, said Shawn Domenico, an unemployment interviewer who was at the demonstration.
“Each individual case is different,” said Mr. Domenico, who works at the call center in Duquesne, which remains open. “We may need information to determine their eligibility under the law.”
Sara Goulet, a spokeswoman for the Department of Labor & Industry, said claimants should file online if they are able to.
“We do encourage anybody who has been told to call to call, but please be patient,” she said.
Legislators return to the state Capitol in Harrisburg on Monday, though they appear to be no closer to any resolution on the issue than they were in November.
A spokeswoman for Senate Republicans said they need more information about how funds will be spent before approving the money Mr. Wolf has requested.
“This is the governor’s choice,” said Jennifer Kocher. “It was his choice to close these centers in this way without a plan for what to do once the centers were closed. That’s why we have the long wait times, that’s why we have all issues and problems. This was his choice to do that. It was his choice not to provide us the information that we have asked for, and that was a plan, a budget, and a timeline for weaning the program off this supplemental money.”
The Wolf administration has previously said that it provided detailed information and that Senate Republican leaders had committed to vote on the funding.
Powerful GOP state Sen. Scott Wagner, who is also a candidate for governor in 2018, has taken a hard line on the issue.
Union demonstrators Thursday laid the blame squarely on Mr. Wagner, who has been a vocal critic of public sector unions during his time in office.
“He is the bad guy, no question about it,” said Jack Shea, president of the Allegheny County Labor Council.
Also on Thursday, state Auditor General Eugene DePasquale announced he will begin a performance audit of the fund at the center of the dispute, the Unemployment Compensation Service and Infrastructure Improvement Fund.
“I am hopeful that this audit can shed some light on what happened to the funding already provided and help legislators and the governor find the most beneficial path forward that ensures people receive the services they need in the most efficient and effective manner possible,” Mr. DePasquale said in a statement.
Senators Lisa Baker, R-Luzerne, and Kim Ward, R-Westmoreland, the former and current chairs of the Senate Labor and Industry Committee, said in a joint statement they believed the audit would be helpful.
“At a time when taxpayers are demanding greater accountability, we need this hard-eyed look at the financial and operational aspects of the centers, to assure both efficiency and cost-effectiveness are realized. Important questions are being asked about how funds were spent. It appears a lot of money intended to upgrade the system was instead underwriting basic operations. Now, with the closures and layoffs instituted by the administration, Pennsylvania is left with a system that by all accounts is unequipped to serve the jobless, who are owed timely assistance. Our hope is that the audit will yield a blueprint for a better result.”
Kate Giammarise: kgiammarise@post-gazette.com or 412-263-3909 or on Twitter @KateGiammarise.
First Published: January 20, 2017, 5:00 a.m.