Janesville Auto Worker Layoffs: Unemployment Running Out May, 2010

More than 3000 employees from the Janesville auto sector lost their job futures when General Motors reported in 2008 that the assembly plant would be closing. And the plant did close as scheduled; and less than one year later, the first wave of workers was laid off as promised. In that area, those 3000+ hardworking Americans have been biting their nails as the deadline grew nearer and nearer to the end of their unemployment benefits. For some, their benefits have already been depleted. Others will still receive some type of assistance until the middle of 2011.

The Janesville auto worker layoffs are projected to drive the local economy to the brink of bankruptcy, beginning in summer or autumn of 2010.

In most cases, unemployment benefits for individuals are available for 26 weeks and have a maximum payout of $388 each week. However, new federal extensions concerning unemployment benefits make certain workers eligible to receive unemployment benefits up to 99 weeks. These 73 extra weeks of benefits were implemented beginning in July, 2008.

It was in June, 2008 that GM cut one of its 2 work shifts at its SUV production facility in Janesville. Chevrolet Tahoes were manufactured there and the last one left the line on December 23, 2008. The medium-duty pickup truck that was also produced at the plant stopped production the following April. Since the last wave of layoffs, GM workers demonstrate the following statistics:

• As of November 30, 2009, 466 of the 2200 original employees laid-off were still receiving unemployment benefits;
• 900 workers left GM with conditions stipulated in attrition packages;
• More than 500 more GM workers transferred to other production facilities;

The laid-off GM auto workers are also able to receive Supplemental Unemployment Benefits from a special program developed specifically for the state. Under the program, laid-off workers are able to receive 95% of their normal take home payments. It ends up that they receive approximately 72% of their normal gross income. That might sound pretty good, but you have to understand that just 18 months ago, they were in far better financial positions.

It was originally intended that, during the first wave of layoffs from GM in the middle of 2008, auto workers would be able to receive unemployment benefits, from the state, for 26 weeks only. Then, they would receive additional funds from the Supplemental Unemployment Benefits program. The end result would have been that laid-off Janesville autoworkers would have received 95% of their normal take home payments for a full 48 weeks.

Then, GM filed bankruptcy. And, the federal government initiated extensions for unemployment benefits. The original plan was rewritten.

So what's happening to the laid-off GM auto workers from Janesville now?

Workers that lost their employment from the first wave of layoffs in mid-2008 are now running out of benefits. The majority of them will receive nothing more after May, 2010. Others who were laid off later, in January, 2009, and then again in April, 2009, will see their unemployment benefits be depleted by December, 2010 and March, 2011 respectively. And of course, it isn't just the paychecks that will stop coming; health insurance coverage will also end.

Even after all applicable federal extensions, company programs, long-time performance considerations and all else, the laid-off auto workers from Janesville are looking into a future where no money will be coming in. And so what is left? Changing careers? Relocating families? Many Americans are angry because hundreds of billions of dollars of federal money was used in order to bail out the auto industry, but that doesn't seem to help the more than 3000 that lost their livelihoods in Janesville. What's left for them? What's left for any person or society led by corrupt and inefficient governmental standards?