WA bill to offer unemployment pay to striking workers falls short
A group of Homegrown workers walk the picket line outside the Westfield Southcenter mall in late January. (Lizz Giordano/Cascade PBS)
A bill to extend unemployment benefits to striking workers failed to pass the Washington Legislature before a key deadline last week. The House approved House Bill 1893 in mid-February, but the legislation hit a roadblock in the Senate and never made it to the floor for a vote.
Sen. Karen Keiser, D-Des Moines, who chairs the Labor and Commerce Committee, told the Washington State Standard the bill had come really close to passing.
“It was a big, new idea and it was a short session,” Keiser said. “I think there was a caution and a reluctance. A lot of people were just not comfortable taking on a big, new idea in a short session.”
Supporters of the bill said it would help level the playing field between workers and employers who refuse to negotiate fairly with their workforce. Opponents said the legislation could increase business costs or prolong work stoppages.
The state’s Employment Security Department projected the bill would increase unemployment benefit payouts, on the high end, by less than 1%.