Partisan showdown undermines needs of Maine workers

Contributed by Rep. Flaherty to the Augusta Insider March 1st, 2010

Let me preface this, my first contribution to the Augusta Insider, by saying that I honestly believe most folks who are elected to go to Augusta believe that they can work in a bipartisan fashion. I serve on the Utilities and Energy Committee, which last session had the highest percentage of unanimous committee reports. I can count on one hand, the number of bills that we didn’t come to a consensus on. And, if my memory serves me correctly, only one of those unresolved issues was a result of partisan disagreements.

So I can say with certainty that most of us up here really want to find a way to come together and help the people of Maine.

However, a debate last week on the House floor devolved into a partisan showdown, and Maine workers nearly paid the price.

Under current Maine law, laid off workers have to wait until their unused vacation pay is used up before they can receive unemployment benefits. The legislation in question allows for laid off workers to begin collecting unemployment immediately, regardless of how much vacation pay they have earned.

The rationale behind the bill is simple. Vacation days aren’t salary; they are earned benefits that all workers are entitled to receive should they get laid off. And the fact that a worker saved up some vacation time should not stand in the way his or her access to one of the most important safety nets that our country offers; unemployment.

The issue was one of fairness, and it’s an issue many other states have already addressed. Maine is just now, join them.

Yet despite what should have been a bi-partisan vote in favor of the legislation, what ensued was a nearly completely partisan debate and vote on the bill. Nearly 90 percent of dissenters were Republicans.

Why would Republicans take issue with workers receiving both their unemployment benefits and their unused vacation pay? Because corporate lobbyists suggested that this would result in a .08 percent increase in unemployment insurance. Let me repeat that statistic – .08 percent increase! This equates to those workers being able to potentially receive unemployment benefits a little sooner, when they need it the most.

The bill did not increase unemployment benefits. The bill did not extend the length of time people could receive unemployment benefits. The bill simply stated that a worker doesn’t have to wait to collect their unemployment just because they saved up some of their vacation days.

It’s a matter of equal treatment, in my mind. How is vacation pay any different than the “golden parachutes” that top executives get when they get laid off? It’s not. And the laid off executive doesn’t deserve to collect unemployment any faster than the construction worker who worked hard and saved his vacation time.

I support businesses in Maine and I believe my voting record would prove that. I am also a member of the Bipartisan Moderate Caucus which focuses exclusively on small business issues and attempts to work on a bi-partisan basis to improve (or defeat) legislation that affects Maine businesses.

But today’s vote should not have been framed as anti-business or pro-worker. It was just common sense.

I don’t understand how an elected official could go back home, look their constituents in the eye, and say to workers, “you don’t deserve to receive your unemployment until your old vacation time runs up because it may result in a .08% increase to the unemployment insurance that the people who laid you off may have to pay.”

Too often, we forget that it’s real people, not just statistics, who work these jobs. And it’s working families who suffer the most during hard times.

If there was ever a doubt as to which party is fighting for working families in our State, and which one supports the corporate lobbyists, there shouldn’t be now!