"Excluded workers" march across Manhattan Bridge calling for unemployment benefits in state budget
NEW YORK -- Hundreds of workers marched across the Manhattan Bridge on Monday, calling for unemployment assistance for people with nontraditional jobs, like freelancers and those who are self-employed.
CBS2's Natalie Duddridge spoke to workers about their demands. They carried signs with messages like "Fund workers not billionaires" and stopped traffic for an hour to get state legislators' attention.
"We are here to march in solidarity with all the workers who are currently excluded from unemployment benefits," advocate Janet Rolon Fry told Duddridge. "They contribute, they pay taxes, but they're not considered for basic labor protections."
Rolon Fry said 750,000 people in New York state -- freelancers and self-employed workers, many of whom are undocumented -- cannot file for unemployment compensation if they lose work.
"At the beginning of the pandemic, I lost a bunch of my regular contracts, a bunch of our members lost their regular contracts -- until pandemic unemployment was expanded," said freelance writer Eric Thurm.
"It was very hard in 2020, when the pandemic was there, everybody lost their job. I used to work in a deli. I lost my job, I had no work. I was not getting any stimulus from the government. But I had to survive, I had to pay my rent," worker Aadit Siwakoti said.
A $2.1 billion Excluded Worker Bill was passed to provide support for people with nontraditional jobs, but workers say it dried up quickly.
"The grant that was given in 2020 was not enough. The grant was gone. Out of, I don't know $2.3 billion, $15,000 each was not much to us," said Siwakoti.
They have been seeking a more permanent solution -- an annual $500 million Unemployment Bridge Program. But they say for a second year in a row, Gov. Kathy Hochul did not include it in her budget.
Workers say other states have passed similar programs, so why can't New York?
"We help the New York economy run, especially during the pandemic, those workers did not stop working," Rolon Fry said.
They say they will continue to try and push this legislation forward before the April 1 deadline.
CBS2 reached out to the governor's office for comment, but we have not heard back.